All Forum Posts by: Joe Splitrock

@Tyler Tacy this is why you ALWAYS need an emergency contact number for your tenants. We ask for this at the time of application, but there is no reason you can't go back to all tenants and ask for a name/number/relationship for emergency. 

I would even contact their employer and explain you believe there was a medical emergency. Give your phone number for relatives to contact. Most likely their employer has been in touch with family. 

You may even be able to find relatives with people search tools on the internet. You can even find phone numbers for people in some cases. 

You can also post a notice on the door that says "Contact Landlord at 123-456-7890" with the hopes that family has been to their home or will go to their home to retrieve belongings. 

If the tenant has not paid February rent, you may also want to start the eviction process. Not to be cruel, but if you can't get ahold of anyone, you need to legally regain rights to the property.

Quote from @Scott Trench:

@Joe Splitrock so first of all, the OP is correct. I do not request funds from folks or pitch investment “opportunities” via Instagram.

My Instagram has not been hacked; rather fake accounts that are subtle tweaks of my name keep popping up. My real handle is:

@Scott_Trench

Fake account examples are:

@scott__trench (two underscores)

@scottt_trench

@scott_trencch

Etc

These accounts all block my real handle of course, making it hard for me to search them out.

All we can do is report them. I’m so sorry this is happening. It’s very frustrating.

 Scott - ask all your friends to report the accounts. I just reported them. If enough people report, they will get taken down. One of them has a large number of followers, which is scary. You may want to post a PSA on your Instagram. The down side of being famous;)

This is such a personal question that none of us can answer it for you. Some people view real estate as a vehicle to financial independence. Others enjoy building a real estate business and continue adding properties long after they have plenty of income. Some people get bored or keep searching for that one thing to make them feel fulfilled. I can tell you fulfillment comes from within, but it also comes form feeling like your life has meaning. You can find meaning in many ways, but I doubt a laundromat or carwash is one of them. If you are amassing more money after having enough money, it will get less and less fulfilling. 

You need purpose beyond money. Two of the most amazing ways to find meaning are raising children and charitable causes. In both cases you can build something bigger than yourself, that can impact the lives of others and create a legacy. You can also find hobbies or learn new skills. Take up golf, learn to sail, run a marathon, learn a new language, live in Europe for a few years. 

I don't pretend to know what you want or need, but I am guessing it is more than a laundromat in Ohio. Figure out what you are passionate about by taking money out of the equation. If you had to do something for the next ten years of your life 40 hours a week, but didn't get paid a penny, what would it be?

Quote from @Frederick Lyons Jr:

How do you find the closing cost on a property?

 Your can get closing cost estimates from your lender or title company.

Quote from @Peter Mckernan:

@Bella Hounakey and 

@Sean Walcott Yes you can do this on the property, it has to be through a third party (I have used some in CA before) and title companies do not do this anymore they use to do it for you. You'll need to email the company/contact the company to give them a heads up on the change (they are fine with it 99% of the time). The other thing is that if you are looking to save money on calling it a primary residence on taxes, that goes away with it being in an LLC and there are some other drawbacks. Talk to your CPA and attorney to make sure you are doing this right even if you are using a little bit of a year as a primary then switching it over to the LLC.

If it is a rental property, you can't claim it as a personal residence anyways, so that is a non issue. As soon as you change the property to a rental, you need to contact your property tax office and label it as non-owner occupied. You also need to contact your insurance agent and change over to a landlord policy. 

@Bella Hounakey any Fannie Mae conventional loan will require one year of occupancy before you can rent the property. Fannie Mae has allowed you to transfer title to an LLC for several years now under certain conditions. The main requirement is that loan holder must remain the majority LLC owner. The loan stays in your personal name, so there is some question if just transferring the title has much effect on liability protection.

@Sean Walcott if the loan is conforming and written after 2016, both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will allow transfer to LLC without any due on sale concern. As far as number of loans, you can only have 10 financed properties in your personal name, so anyone with 20 houses is moving to commercial loans. Just be aware that moving title of your property to an LLC has no effect on the property being personally financed. The loan is still in your name. You can own 10 houses with personal mortgages, move them all to LLC and you will still be at your ten financed property limit.

Quote from @Bruce Lynn:

@Steve Stinson   While some people never like statistics, one thing probably positive for AL is who is moving.  I would expect likely high paying workforce moving in to work at universities, NASA, FBI, etc.   

How's the Huntsville market?   

Do you have enough multi?  How's single family?  What are the hot spots?   Any hidden opportunities?   I keep hearing good things about your city.

 Statistics are wonderful, but they can be used to distort information. You should read the book "How to Lie With Statistics". For example on this "Where Americans Moved in 2021", my state is listed as #2 on the list, so you could conclude it is more popular than Alabama. You would think my state is the number two destination in the country, but that is not what this ranking actually shows. It is simply comparing how many people take moving trucks in versus out. This isn't even all moving trucks, just United Van Lines. Vermont is the second least populated state in the country. It is one of the only states that has lost net population since 2010. Vermont actually lost 369 people between 2021 and 2022, so how can they be a top inbound state, yet lost population? There are many explanations, one is that people use United Van Lines trucks to get in, but don't use them to leave. It is more likely the reason is a small data set. For all we know, 2 trucks went in and 0 went out. 

Uhaul also tracks data using their one way truck measure of migration. According to Uhaul, Alabama was 46th on their list for 2021, which was a drop from 22nd in 2020. It actually places Alabama as lower than NY and NJ. This just further reinforces my point that moving truck data is not a completely accurate measure of population movement or state desirability. Statistics can lie. 

Here is the Uhaul data for 2021:

https://www.uhaul.com/Articles...

2021 U-HAUL GROWTH STATES
1.	TEXAS (2)
2.	FLORIDA (3)
3.	TENNESSEE (1)
4.	SOUTH CAROLINA (15)
5.	ARIZONA (5)
6.	INDIANA (12)
7.	COLORADO (6)
8.	MAINE (29)
9.	IDAHO (30)
10.	NEW MEXICO (39)
11.	SOUTH DAKOTA (25)
12.	VERMONT (26)
13.	WISCONSIN (13)
14.	OREGON (45)
15.	WASHINGTON (36)
16.	ALASKA (34)
17.	MINNESOTA (20)
18.	CONNECTICUT (43)
19.	NORTH CAROLINA (9)
20.	NEBRASKA (32)
21.	WYOMING (33)
22.	MONTANA (19)
23.	GEORGIA (10)
24.	OHIO (4)
25.	NEW HAMPSHIRE (23)
26.	WEST VIRGINIA (16)
27.	IOWA (24)
28.	UTAH (17)
29.	NEVADA (8)
30.	DELAWARE (27)
31.	VIRGINIA (28)
32.	RHODE ISLAND (35)
33.	NORTH DAKOTA (37)
34.	MARYLAND (46)
35.	WASHINGTON, D.C. (38)*
36.	NEW JERSEY (48)
37.	MISSISSIPPI (31)
38.	KENTUCKY (18)
39.	MISSOURI (7)
40.	KANSAS (21)
41.	ARKANSAS (11)
42.	MICHIGAN (40)
43.	LOUISIANA (44)
44.	OKLAHOMA (14)
45.	NEW YORK (42)
46.	ALABAMA (22)
47.	MASSACHUSETTS (47)
48.	PENNSYLVANIA (41)
49.	ILLINOIS (49)
50.	CALIFORNIA (50)
2020 growth rankings in parentheses

@Noel Miles if you bought a house, lived in it for 2 years, then rented it; you will need to sell before the five year mark to avoid capital gains. This is provided that you have not sold a personal residence within the last 2 years and excluded gain. It also means you can't sell a house for 2 more years and exclude gain.

One other point. If you rent the cabin to an avid golfer, they will be ON the course, not sitting on the deck looking at it...

@Sean Lesser your use of the property is what defines whether it is second home or investment. There are specific occupancy requirements for second home, although you can also rent it. Lower down payment is the big advantage on second home, more so than interest rate as @Colleen F. mentioned. Talk to your lender about how you plan to use the property and use the loan program that meats your ACTUAL usage. 

Insurance premiums are based on location and applicant risk profile. Insurance companies set rates based on historic data. Best you can do is shop between carriers for the best rate. There is no one carrier that is the cheapest everywhere and even when find a cheap one today, they could be most expensive in the future. Increasing deductibles and lowering coverage limits can reduce premium. Avoid claims when possible to not create an adverse risk profile for yourself or properties.