All Forum Posts by: Axel Meierhoefer

@Anne Villanueva It is too complex to write in a post here. I would suggest to schedule a call, determine exactly what you want to do and then see how I might be able to help you, assuming you decide to invest here. I'll be happy to arrange a call. Feel free to PM me

@Anne Villanueva As stated by some others, turnkey investing is the way to go unless you decide to invest directly in Dubai. IF you want to do TK investing in the US as an expad (non citizen, non-permanent resident) there are a bunch of rules but I am in your situation (from Germany) and could help you if you like. I own 9 turnkey rentals in the US.

@Hunter Schulz I am just finishing up a similar project for 12 doors using TK providers. If you like I can let you know who I ultimately selected and how they have worked with me and what I like about them. The point that @Steve Vaughan made is valid but properties at the very low end of the price scale in the current environment are probably not advisable anyway. Happy to go over my journey and make all the intros. Just PM me

@Kerry Baird you are welcome. AMEX has been paying about 2% interest and I know its not a lot but much better than checking accounts. I connect it to my company checking and can move funds pretty much immediately.

As a general note, I have learned that this is business and everybody I am supposed to get money from takes 30 days to pay me, so I established that as a rule for my payments as well. "Get me an invoice and my accounting department (meaning my wife) will process and pay it".

@Kerry Baird Well, you can only have 2 All in One's anyway and if you think about it you would want to have one on the property with the highest value.

There is more to discuss on this. If you have 1 or 2 properties I have always put the vacancy, reserve, CAPEX, etc. into my AMEX High Yield Savings account. You can get an unlimited number of these accounts, so I have one for each property.

In my own portfolio, I am now getting to a point where the amount of rental income is such that it does not appear to make sense to stringently putting the money into these savings accounts and let them grow and grow. The issue becomes a matter of probability. In a nutshell, if enough rental income after paying mortgages comes in to replace a roof on a property and you think about how likely that is to happen more than any few years the question becomes how large these reserves should grow. I am still learning myself. Just be aware that there is a difference when having only a few properties versus a larger portfolio (IMHO)

@Eric Telese The All in One loan is the name of a loan product offered by Ridge Lending. I am using them for all my deals. I am not sure why they chose that name exactly, but in my view it is a proper name because it is a 30 year mortgage that acts like a HELOC for an investment property. In the first 10 years you are not required to pay any principal, which is something that would help you during the renovation phase of a property, and then when you are done, all the benefits of a regular HELOC become available. I am not sure if the loan value can be adjusted if you get a new appraisal with the true ARV. That would be something you would need to find out. I can introduce you to the folks at the lender and you can discuss your exact situation with them. The only slight disadvantage to an amortized mortgage I can see is the attachment to the LIBOR as the basis of the interest calculation. On the other hand, the whole world seems to be moving towards zero FED rates, so I think you will not be at risk and if in 5 of 7 years the interest situation changes you can always refi it. Let me know if you like to make an intro.

@Eric Telese If I were you I would put the property under contract right away so it is not on any market and nobody else can buy it. You can put a generous earnest payment, maybe $5K to demonstrate you are serious.

For lending I would suggest you get an "All in ONe " loan. You don't have to pay any principle for 10 years, so you retain the option to refi after reno or just have a new appraisal and get the loan amount limit increased.

If you like, I can make an intro and you can discuss the details with the lender.

@Bryant Hull I totally agree, although I can imagine that some people might like to have continued service, similar to a home office. I know that normally only applies to very wealthy families or investors, but I could imagine the concept could appeal to some. 

Generally though, I agree and the goal would be to not only get on a path to independent retirement free from external dependencies as well as overcoming the hesitation to take the steps necessary independently, without my help or mentorship.

@Bryant Hull I am thinking of a percentage of the deal size. My focus ideally would be on people who have believed in the traditional model of saving in 410K plans and hoping for social security or younger people who are starting to realize that in a gig economy where automation is reducing employment every year, they will have to plan much shorter than the traditional 40-year work life. Sadly our education system does not arm the young folk and the lobbies of the corporations and stock/mutual fund investment firms have been getting the older folks for many many decades. Just this week I spoke to a friend who had kept the tragic death of both parents within a 6 months span a secret until she has gone thru her grieving and is now able to speak about it. Her bank got her a chase investment expert who put all her inheritance into the stock market and she is already down 10% and going crazy with the volatility. I don't even want to imagine what she will do when the next correction hits.

All these kind of situations are of a kind where I could help a lot to use my now established relationships to lenders, providers, accountants, corporate structure developers, tax expert, etc. to use real estate as a long term solution and tool to develop passive income.

For me, it would not be a volume deal but more a personal custom solution that is built on trust.

I am only a few years away from retiring and use passive income as my source of passive income when I get there. The process to create a portfolio of properties was not easy, took a lot of learning, getting educated and dedication. When I asked on Bigger Pockets as part of a discussion if anybody would pay me to help them, the response was: "if someone wants to get into real estate, they can just go to an agent and get started". I do not agree with that - yes, they could but that is not a full-service approach to all the things to consider. The purchase of "a" property is one thing and services for that are easy to find. The rest if more involved and I still wonder if people would pay me for the service so they don't have to learn it all themselves.

What do you think and what should that service include if you were to consider hiring me to help build your passive income retirement portfolio?

Thanks to everybody who is willing to provide his opinion

Axel