All Forum Posts by: John Hyatt

We looked at reonomy, ProspectNow, and batchleads, but not sure what’s the best for off market leads (phone numbers). Who do you use? ProspectNow claims they are the best because they get info from credit bureaus whereas everyone else gets it from public records. Anyone use ProspectNow? Or any other lead company that works just as good? They want $3,600 for 2 states for a year 

I did get some messages from lenders who do less than 50k and also was advised that I could also combine properties in areas under $50k to make a larger loan. 

I am attempting to use my equity, but the problem is even with 150k in equity a HELOC will only loan 75-80% of value, so 20% on my homes minus debt I would be able to get about 80k. I think the other problem would be is I can get a loan to get another loan, unless I am wrong. Can I use a HELOC to qualify on a loan?

There is a great commercial deal for around $350k that I am trying to purchase. I hate to walk away, but it's a tad out of reach. As a last ditch effort I wanted to reach out to see if anyone has any ideas with 10% down. Here is my scenario:

I own two houses with a combined equity position of about 150k

Have a great job 

Have 10% down 

Can get a realtor commission 3% that I can apply towards the deal

The dilemma: the deal won't last long, but I want to try to see if anyone has any creative ideas to get financing? The seller will only finance 25k. Is there such a thing as a 10% dow money loan on commercial real estate? 

thank you Derek, I'll check it out. Yes, I have been running into that issue...usually the fees out way the benefit, but good point about tax write off. 

I understand and completely agree with you Justin. I don't think I phrased my question very well. I was wondering if there is a clever way to avoid the 2.5% fee by both parties. For example, on a small scale I could buy a $500 visa debit gift card with a pin (at office max or staples using a credit card that gives 5% cash back to business owners and then pay contractor with gift card (of course this would be costly because it cost around $7 per $500 and the contractor would probably be annoyed getting $50,000 or what not in $500 gift cards). If there is no way around it then, it is what it is. 

I have had credit cards for around 10 years and have always paid them off every month. I am a numbers guy, it just makes sense if you have a business to use credit cards for every day expenses. I never said I was going to become a millionaire from credit cards. I have yet to meet a millionaire who uses cash...they understand numbers like me. 

Recently I have been fascinated with travel hacking, learning about ways to manufacture spending to earn points. It hit me that as a real estate investor we spend hundreds of thousands if not millions paying for contractors, supplies, and properties. The dilemma I am having and I am sure may investors would have is to find a contractor that accepts credit card. If you used a citi double cash back card and spent $1,000,000 in rehab costs you could get $20,000 back (that could be an entire remodel for free, just by changing how you pay). At the very least you could get all your family vacations paid. If a contractor accepts PayPal you could use credit card to pay them through there, I would just be afraid that it might look as though you are making a cash advance on credit card. Best case would be for them to just accept credit cards. I know there has to be a way to do it, just not sure how and it's been bugging me for days now. Does anyone have any clever ideas? On a side note, if there are no contractors that accept credit cards. A contractor might be able to get more business and possibly charge a little more just by offering the ability to pay with credit cards.

Hello, Can you use your 401k money or IRA money to purchase a real estate investment and keep the cash flow now? I see all over the internet a short answer of no, but what about the following situations: 1) example: you invest 10k from IRA and 10k from personal bank account to purchase a property. Wouldn't you be able to put 50% of profit into IRA/401k and the other 50% keep now? 2) example: invest 20k from IRA/401k to purchase a property and have an agent manage the property and with the money you pay them to manage it, partner with them on another property? So, you would have two rental properties managed by the same agent and partner with the agent on one of them that you can collect cash flow now? 3) example: what if two people not related invest in a property, each contributing 10k from their IRA/401k to buy a property and then cash flow after expenses is $500/mo; do they each get $250/mo? Thank you -John

I am refinancing my house and the close of escrow date is set for Monday the 18th. Was originally supposed to be the 14th so I didn't pay my mortgage payment because of the 15 day grace period. Now that it's closing on Monday, I am getting conflicting advice. The Closing statement (HUD) shows the payoff from my current lender good through Monday, the 18th. I have never refinanced and I have seen a lot of various opinions online, but not a for sure answer. If I don't pay tomorrow, I get late fees added but I am already getting $200 back on refinance so essentially I get dinged $50. My lender said it won't be reported to credit report since it's not 30 days late and they will be paid in full on Monday. Has anyone been in a similar situation? What would you do?

Hi Victor, 

There are so many factors, it depends what your goals are and what you are investing in. I watched a 5 hour course on how to structure your real estate portfolio and they use FLP, LLC, Trusts, and S Corps all into one master plan. If you are just looking to buy one property that you are going to live in the answer will be different then if you have 10 properties and an apartment complex, etc.

I would ask why they recommend one over the other. I would explain your situation and then ask the question. 

P.S. I would ask a real estate attorney on structure over a CPA (or both). 

-John Hyatt