All Forum Posts by: Jerry W.

@Sable Stevens, welcome to BP.  Keep in mind this is just an opinion, not gospel.  If it were me I would buy smaller multi units.  First you diversify risk, second folks seem to like having less common space with Covid around, and finally you apparently did really well with a VR.  Why not take a duplex or triplex and do another VR?  When you have a good thing going, keep doing it.

@Chris K., gave a good overview. I practice in WY and our LLC law here is great and we just passed a series LLC law. That being said the law of the state where you hold the property normally controls in a lawsuit. WY has anonymity, but to be honest anonymity is vastly over rated in my opinion. In a real lawsuit you will slice through it easily. You can register a foreign LLC in a different state. The last one I did for me was very simple. It really didn't affect my taxes as they only taxed me on the out of state property.

@Tashina Taylor congratulations.  The first is always the hardest.

@Summer McDade, I love the idea and the price point you can get the property for.  A couple of thoughts.  Your trash, staff and maintenance costs are extremely low.  Your staff costs will be much higher.  How many staff and hours to clean up after a 300 person wedding?  How about grading roads, picking up trash, mowing, flipping the bedrooms, sheets, towels, pillows, mattresses, silverware, detergent, new vacuum cleaners, etc.  Your labor costs are really low, materials are low,  maintenance is low.  You will be caulking, painting, replacing roofs, rodding out sewers, cutting weeds and grass, landscaping etc.  

@Julie Hamilton there are a ton of podcasts that you can listen to.  Short Term Rental Revenue, Short Term Rental  Riches, etc.

We are still in the dark.  Let me give you some general principles.  First the person risking money gets compensated for that.  The bigger the risk, the bigger the cut.  Next the person doing all of the work gets compensated for doing work.  The knowledge, skill level, and amount of work come in to play.  Someone with no experience asking someone to risk a large amount of money would get less of a cut than a highly experienced investor who is just needing extra capital.  Some deals have a provision that the original investor gets his money out first then they split the rest.  Some deals just have different percentages.  This why it is so hard to analyze your proposed deal.  We don't know the amount of money, risk, or skill, or amount of work put in by each party.

@Chris Valverde, you haven't even given us basic information.  Is this a hard money loan, a joint venture, will one investor manage the property, will both manage the property, etc.?

For real estate investing anonymity is grossly over rated.

@Jonathan Lee, as this is your only and first post I have a few questions. Are you a client of theirs? The folks I have talked to tell about how they would remain anonymous as a huge part of this protection. What I am pointing out is it impossible to do for most investors here. How can you meet with the realtor, go look at the property, write a check for a property inspector, have it sent to your address, get a bank loan lined up using your name and SS number, using your income to qualify for it, do the rehab yourself or pay a contracting firm where you supervise the quality etc, you advertise it, your the one they call to look at it, and you do the lease signing on it, you are who they call for problems like waterline leaks, you get the checks, you do the move out inspection, and you think you can remain anonymous? Now you can set in CA, buy a few $30K rentals in Chicago, run it all through an LLC and never do any of those things. In that case an LLC gives you a massive amount of liability protection. In the first scenario you can still have protection, but no anonymity. Most folks starting out here are mom and pop organizations that do most of the work themselves and trusts will not hide them at all. In my experience reliance on trusts for protection is highly misplaced. LLcs are much better than trusts. By the way transferring property to a trust that is not a testamentary trust invokes the same right to call the loan as transferring to an LLC. Relying on the fraud working is a bad way to do business. Think about that. Why do you need custom tailoring on first 2 or 3 properties?

Wow my above answer didn't post when I wrote it a year ago wild.  I would add one more fact.  I notice @George L. was going to be charged $5k to set up 2 LLCs. The cost of setting up an LLC by yourself in Wyoming is literally $102 and can be done in less than 15 minutes. Now explaining how to use them and drafting an operation agreement can take a lot more time, but the cost is $102 and takes less than 15 minutes.

Really cheap ways to improve a home that add value?  One easy one if new light fixtures,  You can get some really nice light fixtures for all the rooms $10 to $50 per fixture.  Put daylight style LEDs in them.  They really make the space sparkle and shine.  Put nice baseboard and window and door frame trim on in either stained wood or painted for a nice accent.  For about $150 or so you can install a nice light/ceiling fan/heater in the ceiling of the bathroom.  It is a nice touch to have a heater running while you are in the shower.  New light switches and outlets are often only a dollar or 2 in bulk to freshen up a room and make it look modern.