All Forum Posts by: Drew Shirley

I might know a guy.

*** This is not legal advice and I am not your lawyer. ***

This is a pretty good summary of the eviction process in Texas. Very important to know exactly what the lease says and what the statutes require.

*** This is not legal advice and I am not your lawyer. **

Do not sell on a lease option in Texas. Do not. Too many legislative landmines and severe penalties for Landlord-Sellers who don't jump through all the hoops. I don't do lease options any more.

Selling on a wraparound mortgage is much safer and foreclosing in Texas, if it comes to that, is the easiest in the nation. 

I might know a guy. :)

Selling on a lease option is not worth it in Texas. There is so much red tape and the penalties are so severe if you don't jump through all the hoops correctly. Plus, Texas is the most foreclosure-friendly state in the union. Owner finance, give them the deed and foreclose if they don't pay.

In Texas at least, it's pretty clear that the licensing requirement is there... for investors doing more than 5 deals a year. Of course, 99.9% of investors don't do more than 5 deals a year, so they really shouldn't worry about it until they get deal #5 under contract.

For those who are doing lots of deals, one possibility is to find a licensed originator to originate your loan for you, then sell it to you right after closing (just like the banks do).

Bienes, are these your first properties, or do you have others? If these are your first properties, pardon me for saying so, but you probably don't have tons of "assets" to protect, so asset protection shouldn't really be the #1 concern. Add on some liabilty insurance to your homeowner's policy and an umbrella if you still feel it's needed.

What are you envisioning happening on the property that would subject you to more than $300k in liability??

*** This is not legal advice ***

There are certain benefits to having an LLC, but for the new investor, "asset" or "liability" protection is not very high on the list. Sounding professional and tax benefits (perhaps) are some of the top benefits.

LLCs may protect you from personal liability in many circumstances, but if you don't have any money, what are you protecting? If all your wealth is in the LLC, then you don't want the LLC to be sued.

Plus if you do have an LLC or corp., you want it to be completely separate from you personally. Buying a property with an LLC but borrowing against it in your own name basically erases the line between entity and individual, so your protection goes away.

If you are doing your first deal(s), do the deals and tack on some liability insurance to your properties. It's cheap. Once you have built up some personal wealth, then worry about LLCs.

Austin's all right...

First of all, I taught Chuck Norris everything he knows.

Secondly, without sounding like that guy, there's a long article on my website that explains how to sell a house on a lease option in TX without getting in trouble.