All Forum Posts by: James R. Copeland

The podcasts very often say and reiterate that buying a home, any home, with appreciation as your goal, is foolhardy. Whether you're living in it or renting it, if it doesn't cash flow for you as a rental, there's better investments out there. 

I'm a big fan of real estate and the stock market for very different reasons. My liquid cash that is just sitting around usually goes into my brokerage account, and a percentage of that goes towards stocks of companies in various sectors that I'm confident will rise in value and earnings. It also acts as a savings of sorts while I think about where to go buy the next property. Why buy more properties? Because a property that you "invest" in, should be FREE, essentially. Someone else is paying for it.

When friends ask me about real estate, and investing, of course I'm in favor of buying a house over renting. With rates as low as they are you're paying about as much in rent in some areas as you are for a mortgage, but buying gives you the option of becoming a landlord, or selling later if need be. Owning a home doesn't build wealth, but being a landlord certainly can.

Even in expensive markets, I have a really hard time seeing the benefits in renting. I have a boss at work already, I don't want a boss at home. For another thing, rents rise, your mortgage really doesn't (except for taxes of course, or ARMS... stay away). 

I could ramble all day on the subject, but if real estate wasn't such a bloody wonderful investment this frikkin website wouldn't exist in the first place!!!

So I met with a CPA yesterday (whose name I got from Bigger Pockets actually) in my area. I loved him about as much as a straight man can love another man within minutes. Downside is... He charges about $750 per year to do taxes. He admitted up front the fee was high for most folks, and that his services were usually for folks pulling income from multiple states and sources, who had complicated returns. As of now I have 2 homes, trade some stocks, and am married without kids so far. My taxes are complicated enough to shop for CPA's, but not so simple that I want to do them myself. 

So with that over-explained context in mind, how do you do your taxes every year and what does it cost you? 

Hey Paris, sounds good! I'll mark the calendar :)

Welcome to BP! I'm in Vancouver, WA myself. Not sure how "seasoned" of an investor I am, 2 units so far and working on finding others to pick up over the next couple years. I'm getting to know a lot of the local lenders, contractors, and fellow investors lately, some great folks on this site. Best of luck getting started here, some really great "ugly duckling" homes ripe for the flipping/BRRR'ing up here if you can deal with the west coast prices.

Actually I just sat down for coffee with an RE Attorney and mentioned having just read this thread on my way out the door. He mentioned a "No Cause Eviction". I'm guessing it varies from state to state, and the strength of your lease agreement, but in a lot of cases it sounds like you can give them notice to get the heck out, and as long as you give enough notice you can do so legally. Would talk to an attorney about it beforehand, but if she's really that bad and you don't want to endure the tenant any longer (been there) it may be worth biting the bullet to take steps and get her out. 

Hey Brad! My wife just passed her exam across the river from you here in Vancouver, WA. She's probably also going to go towards commercial but we've been seeing the same thing, commercial seems to have smaller commissions and a greater requirement for experience in the field before becoming a commercial agent. We're shopping around, but just yesterday I met a lady from Imagine Homes Realty who said she sometimes sits down with new agents (They don't hire them, they take "seasoned agents only") to go over what questions to ask while meeting agencies, and what good agencies in the area would be who are a match for the direction you're going. 

The lady I spoke to is up here in Vancouver, so it might not be as helpful for you in P-Town, but message me if you want her contact info. There may be similar groups down there who help point new agents in the right direction. Hope that helps!

Wow, great thread. I haven't encountered this quite so severely first-hand yet, but I'm wondering if it is possible/legal to provide a tenant with your email address only? Is it required that they have your phone number? If memory serves they do need to have your address, or does that vary from state to state? 

By money partners do you mean other investors to partner with on a property? Have talked to a couple friends and toyed with the idea but most of my friends are brand spanking new to real estate and don't own any properties, which makes me nervous. 

So I've hit up a few local lenders to learn more about portfolio lending and investment properties... Wish I could say I was optimistic... All signs are pointing me towards private lenders, but before that search begins I'm wondering if I should even bother yet? I'm not at a point where I could comfortably do 20-25% down on a local multi-family (Pacific Northwest, Vancouver, WA, MFR's usually run 500k+) and still have money left over for reno's, marketing, and potential vacancies. How common is it to find private lenders that will help with investment properties without requiring over 10% down? Too crazy?

So I would LOVE to eventually get into Commercial Real Estate, especially apartments, but realize the commercial loan world is much different from SFR's. The part that keeps sticking out to me is the concept of a "balloon payment" after a few years. That just sounds crazy to me! Especially where commercial properties usually run in excess of 1 Mil, I can't imagine a bill coming due for ~70% of that all at once only a few years into owning the property, yet this seems to be the common practice!

Do most newcomers in commercial real estate end up refinancing every so often to avoid the balloons, or do they sell/1031, or do you recommend only getting into commercial when you know you'll be able to cover the balloon when it hits in full?

-Jim