All Forum Posts by: James Masotti

Unfortunately I work Saturdays and will not be able to make it. Maybe one day my schedule will change and I'll be able to make it to meet everyone!

Welcome @Francis E. Bromwell JR.!

Best of luck to you as you look into making your first acquisition! Taking the first leap is always the hardest part!

James - For starters I'm no expert at all in these areas, but if I were in your shoes this is what I think I'd probably do. 

1) Get in touch with a title company. They will be able to tell you if there are any liens on the property, such as a mortgage, and the tax lien you're already aware of. 

2) Get in touch with the bank that has the lien to find out what the balance is. I wouldn't be surprised if their is a balance on the mortgage that the property isn't also in the foreclosure process since the mortgage is likely to be as equally back due as the taxes are. 

3) Based on the results of the above your next steps could be any number of things, but a good estate/probate attorney might be a good start as they can likely help you untangle some of the mess...then again a real estate attorney may also be helpful to guide you through the issues with the bank and tax liens

4) If you do decide to you're not completely scared away by what's going on and want to do more due diligence than I'd consult an accountant as well. Most likely there will be a way where you can mitigate some of the cost of the acquisition of the property with some serious reductions in your tax bill. 

Best of luck and keep us posted how things go!

Jacinta,

I'm rather new to this myself...so please take this answer with a grain of salt and consider other's responses with equal or greater weight.

It is not uncommon for companies in the US to form their LLC's in Delaware for asset protection. It will be far more likely that you will be able to find a CPA in the Saint Louis area who knows the tax laws of Delaware, than it is that you will find a CPA in Delaware who knows Missouri tax law. You don't necessarily need a CPA in Saint Louis...and assuming your property is on the Missouri side and not the Illinois side you could just go with any CPA in the stat of Missouri, a CPA that is not in the "big city" will be less expensive for you. However if you plan to own real estate in both Missouri and Illinois than having someone in Saint Louis may be better, as they're more likely to have knowledge of both states' tax laws.

Unfortunately I can't really help with a ballpark for pricing. Most CPAs that I've come across have different rates depending on what you're doing. If you want tax planning and strategy the hour rate will be higher than simply preparing and filing the mandatory annual tax forms. Also the CPA I spoke with I wasn't pleased with their knowledge for the rate I was being billed...so I'm shopping for a new CPA myself. 

 Mine is simple - Start direct mail campaign. 

I've been tracking the MLS since August...and there just isn't anything there for what I'm looking to do in my area (that I've seen so far). Need to go off market and hope for better success there.

@Chewie G. - I'll send you a message with who I used. 

The earliest I'm out of work on a Thursday is 4...usually closer to 5 though...so by the time I get to Trolley from Philly would be another hour or so. Depending on what time everyone starts to meet up would depend on if I'm able to swing that. Definitely keep me in the loop, but I guess you don't need to plan around my schedule.

It will be up in the air for me as I'm leaving the next day for San Diego. Keep me posted on the details and if work cooperates I'll be able to attend...if not than have fun without me!

@Gerald Gatyas - Gloucester and Camden Counties 

@Mindy Jensen - Its been awhile but I have listened to both of @J Scott's podcasts. I do remember him saying about building your profit into the flip. That's one of the nice things about the BP Fix and Flip calculator is that it makes you put in a a profit number (although I guess you could put in zero? I've never tried that since it just seems silly)