All Forum Posts by: Joe Tomko

@Aaron Owens Is mobile homes a good investment for rental property It depends on you, your knowledge, your interest. Two identical MH properties (or even the trailers themselves) purchased differently by two different investors could have vastly different levels of success.

@J Scott I know this isn't you, but How does one not realize there is a secret room? If you look at the walls of each room and it's abutting room and the house exterior, you can tell something doesn't add up and then you just discovered the room. The only exception I can think of is a hidden basement room. For me to miss a secret room in my house or any house I were looking at, I'd have to be totally clueless. Now a secret storage space a few inches deep the entire width of a wall can certainly exist unknown.

@Brian Coffman No can do on using it yourself....big no no.

@Hashim Jakvani @Johnny bravo I would shy away from broadcasting what you have to invest. However, since the cast is out of the bag, you can get a much better return by investing in notes. I'm finalizing the acquisition of a delinquent CFD using funds from an investor. The return is far better than when I owned rentals. PM me for details, if interested.

Stevie, to clarify my first paragraph above, you have two families of retirement accounts....traditional or Roth.  IRAs, 401(k)s, and others can be categorized as either one of these.  

With a traditional account, you put money in before you pay your income taxes.  When you take the money out at retirement, you then pay taxes at whatever income tax bracket is applicable.  If you take money out early, there is generally a 10% penalty (since you are not of retirement age) plus the taxes at your current rate.

With a Roth (named for senator Roth who passed the bill), you pay taxes first, then the money goes into the account.  When you take it out at retirement, you do not get taxed on it.  Like traditional, there is a 10% penalty if you were to withdraw any growth (interest or other cash growth) from the account before retirement age.  However, any principle (the cash you contribute) has already had the taxes paid on it and is not restricted to the age penalty.  As such, you can withdraw principle at any time without it costing you anything.

The question you need to ask yourself when choosing traditional versus Roth is fairly simple....do you expect your taxes are higher now or will be higher when you hit retirement age?  Factors to consider are how much earned income you may have, which state you live in (some states do not have income tax), etc.

My IRA is Roth. Not only do I expect that taxes will be higher in the future (our politicians love to spend money we don't have, social security is going broke, and all kinds of other financial ugliness is on the horizon), but I also expect my income to continue to rise through most of my life. If you are on BP, I presume the same for you. Being a student and making peanuts, you are currently in the lowest tax bracket you will ever be in throughout your life, so a Roth probably makes the most sense for you. I hope this helps you.

@Anthony Thomas Do you want to be an active investor, finding and working out deals or a passive investor, having others use your money to acquire and work and the deals? Ar you looking for firsts or seconds? Performing or nonperforming? If you want to be passive, there are many you can work with, including myself. Whether active or passive, Scott Carson is a wealth of information that will help you. I deal in nonperforming firsts, actively in my business, passively in my IRA.

@Mikeala Weaver Welcome! There are so many avenues to consider.... notes (my favorite), buy and hold, rehab, wholesale and more. I hope you find which one best holds your interest and find someone to guide you.

@Justin Windham thank you

@Dmitriy Fomichenko thank you

Stevie, I recommend that once you get a job (even part time as a student), you open up a self directed Roth IRA (I use CamaPlan). Put as much into it as you can (up to $5,500/year). You can make investments through the IRA. Then, you can also pull out the principle tax free (you already paid the tax on it) and penalty free (principle only, not growth) to start your business. Continue to invest in both vehicles. Cama and other SDIRA custodians offer various videos on their websites (you can often access without having an account there) that can give you some investment ideas that do not require a lot of money.

Attend REI groups through Meetup. Maybe start a college real estate investing club. Find a mentor, offer to help them in exchange for learning from them. While we all have some fear of losing or failing, look at it this way, instead: I either win/succeed or I learn. While I've made money in various RE investments, I've made mistakes in each of them. I could have earned more money or lessened my risk if I knew more. However, I now know more and I won't make those mistakes again and I will be more profitable going forward. I've actually both won and learned.

Joe