All Forum Posts by: Jerry W.

@Priscilla B Walker, as of July 1, 2018 Wyoming now has a series LLC. There has not been any court decisions on it yet, but I would expect the normal interpretation that our courts have done on regular LLCs.

@Collin Schwartz, I love your story and thanks for taking the time to share it.  I have been starting to struggle with managing only half of my units.  With a full time job even 15 units gets tough between collecting rent keeping repairs up, preventative maintenance, looking for new deals, managing refinances, etc.  You must have good systems.  Would love to talk to you on how you set them up sometime.  Keep going, and best of luck.

@Louis Dobrik that is going to depend on how well you do your research and how prepared you are.  Swimming across a small pond or river may not be risky if you know how to swim and have a life vest on.  If you have never swam before and are wearing hiking boots it could be a lot different.  I think real estate is pretty safe if done right.  Often the amount of benefit you get from informed risk can be proportional to the amount of profit.  In other words a nice reasonable priced duplex may be a lot safer than a 10 unit apartment building, but may make a lot more money.  Get educated and jump in.

@Marcy Leonard, welcome to BP. Keep reading and getting educated. If you can swing it you might consider holding and renting it long enough to get past the 1 year short term capital gains tax. You might also consider doing some kind of pass through entity for your flip like an LLC. The idea is to NOT put the flip in your personal name in case the buyer claims some kind of latent defect down the road. I have heard it is common to do a separate LLC for each flip just for that reason. The big thing though is that you are taking action. That will always open more doors. Good luck and keep going.

@Jason Hunt, I am going to disagree with a lot of folks on here.  What you need first is information.  It sounds like you are getting that now.  You need to know what the rental market really is for your house.  Look online and the local paper to see what houses are renting for.  Call a few of the places and ask the landlord how many units he has and what he gets for them.  You would be surprised how many folks are willing to help someone starting out.  Look on BP for a member on the island and ask them for their opinions on rents.  Next figure how bad the cash flow picture is.  Negative cash flow can hurt even if it is tiny but it appears you getting nearly 15K$ appreciation a year.  At the end of the next 2 years of of your wife's schooling you would have gained enough equity to pay off the car loan in full.  If you sell it now you can kiss it goodbye.  What is the actual amount it will cost to put a roof on it and carpet it?  You can rent it with no new carpet, but if the roof leaks it could cost you a LOT.  Keep in mind you are also getting principal pay down.  You are also able to claim depreciation.

I have a few other things I am curious about.  Why did you travel across the entire U.S. to go to college?  They don't have a state university in Washington that is more reasonable?  Can you work enough to make some payments on the loan to the relatives to show good faith in paying them back?  Why are you putting college expenses on a credit card?  There are other ways of doing that that won't end up paying 24% interest when it comes due.  Can your wife get a job as a teaching aid?  Often that will allow tuition to be waived and provide at least a little income.  There are always option if you look hard enough and ask the right questions.  I cannot give you the right answer, you ultimately must decide for yourself after getting all of the information.  If you simply cannot make the extra cash flow up then you can't hold on to it.  You have to put a roof on it if it is in danger of leaking.  The AIR B&B sounds like an option but doing it well from far away is very hard.  In my local area it took over a year to start making any decent money from a vacation rental.  You need to know before you try that route.  How would you afford the furniture etc for a vacation rental.  Keep educating yourself and good luck.

Congratulations.  That has to be a tough market.

If you would seriously consider renting to him before the disclosure then run the check and decide from there.  While this is a pretty serious crime, people can change.  I have actually rented to a felon who I have convicted on more than one occassion.  I have had more problems with deadbeats than from felons.  If he lied about anything else then reject him.  Being honest is a sign of having changed.

@Daric Myers,

Welcome to BP bud.  How is the market in razor city?  I have seen that market boom and bust a few times.  I was really concerned when coal stated getting beat up.  I see lots and lots of very nice foreclosures but worry a LOT about if the market will ever come back or at least come back in the next ten years.  If I can be of help please let me know.  I have been doing real estate for over 20 years but have only been doing it intelligently for about 5 years hehe.  Best of luck bud.

Time to buy, not sale.

@Javier Blanco, there is often no right answer on how to deal with family. Hurting your financial situation to help them out has its limits. If you have family who has problems are you expected to be the welfare to take care of them forever? Still we feel have to help them. Perhaps a compromise. Buy the duplex or house that you want for an investment and rent to them. If they have their own money they get to choose the house, if it is your money and credit then you get to choose the house. Make your brother co-sign on the lease. They might not like it as much, but it will be good housing. Hopefully they will take very good care of it. You still get to show rental income on the house, build equity and start your portfolio. If your brother wants buy it jointly with him. If need be you 2 can still pay the rent, show it as income and keep your DTI up. You can claim interest and depreciation as well. Now maybe your parents want to own it? However since they are older what if one or both must go into a nursing home but cannot afford the $7K a month or more? If your parents own the asset then Medicaid will place a lien on the property and eventually sell it to pay for nursing home care. The look back period on their property is 5 years. You can provide for your parents and build a portfolio at the same time. Just a thought. Either way good luck bud, hang in there.