All Forum Posts by: Elisabeth Lernhardt

I had to evict a tenant in March just before the ban. She totaly ruined the place in 1 year and caused a $15K liability issue due to water damage. She drives 2 cars a Miata coup and a Mercedes SUV! So I grit my teeth fixed it up and sold. To avoid taxes I 1031 exchanged it into 2 commercial properties in DSTs. Hopefully  this works out, at least I do not have to deal with tenants like her, nor with Trumps desperate pitch to win a second term. Don't get me wrong I even got a Trump/Biden sign, but I do not appreciated being thrown under the bus for a part of the population, that is too lazy to vote period. 

I got out of a contract last month , when I found out one of the tenants lost her job, and refused to take available jobs in her field of expertise. Bought commercial DST instead. This stay is clearly violating my constitutional rights. Just called my congressman and suggest you do the same.

I am aware of these details. The basic fact still stands: the government took over my property rights! And if you ever had to evict a tenant you know you can't win, even if you prevail.

2 months ago congress women AOC rallied for a stay on evictions and rent forgiveness! Today I am shocked to learn President Trump wants to do just that. He plans to stay evictions until the end of this year for renters who lost their job and make less than $99K.  I worked all  my live to buy my rentals to retire with the income, which is less than $99K. Why are the little private investor thrown under the bus? In 2008 the big banks went bancrupt due to their poor lending decision and they got bailed out. Please share your view.

In order yo be a cash flowing real estate investor, you have to do the math. And when you do that you realize that you will not have positive cash flow on a financed property above a certain prize just around 250k in most markets/ Also if you are willing to go with higher down payment your ROI will be lower. If you bet on market appreciation you are gambling. The other side is how much rent growth does the local market allow. You do not want to own the mansion that rents for 6k in Omaha, but it may be a valid rent in San Francisco.

After reading all the replys I am not sure I want to be a landlord. That said I only had to deal with 2 evictions in 20 years. The second one was a mistake by the so called professional manager I had hired, who never checked on anything. The reason I know is I called on the previous land lord, who confirmed all my worries: major drug issues, destroying the property eviction etc. He also said I was the first one to call!  I would like to add another word of caution about being a landlord in certain areas. Ask some real estate professionals if they have rentals there. If not ask for the reason. When I first moved to the Sierra foothills of California I bought a nice rental house on 2 acres, fixed it up and rented it. within months I found out the problem was in this area nobody was serious about paying rent. During the eviction process I also found out the police was on first name base with my tenants! One reason for the attitude was the police hired officers with prior bankruptcies. All the realtors had their rental properties in other counties!

A privacy trust can do the same. And it does not get recorded. Even works in California. But as you pointed out it works best in combination with an LLC that is formed in a privacy state like Wyomimg.

very good info! I would like to add this, not identifying as the owner is an excellent strategy. There is a asset protection strategy using privacy trusts. The trust owns the property, you are the beneficiary, an independent trustee makes the decisions. You can be fully transparent and declare you are not the owner. Most attorneys are not even familiar with this. Every state allows it. And the trust does not need to be registered by the secretary of state. If you want to double your benefit find an American Indian you trust as trustee. Then federal law applies.