All Forum Posts by: John W.

Nice thing about real estate is you can easily sell and get your money back out if you're a buy and hold. Of if you do flips/wholesale you're always getting your money back. If you've found a way to consistently make great returns investing in real estate then it makes sense to go for it, and if you want to pull back, you can. I like to invest in things that I can access the money/pull the money back out of it and have that flexibility. 

If you want to make money renting a single family house, you will need to spend much less than 70k.  Anything more than 40K (give or take) and the cash flow/cap rates decrease. 

You can find SFH 40K and below in rough areas.
Or you can spend 70k in a decent area and get a duplex. 

@Steven Hamilton II thanks for replying. Most of my insurance costs are covered by my job. I was trying to gauge when I should start considering being taxed as an S-Corp. I think getting taxed as an S-Corp adds complexity and comes with a cost and wouldn't be worth it until it could save you a significant amount of money. At that point I would be getting a hold of you to do my taxes!

I recently bought a house and the owner had a bunch of liens on the house, but apparently gas and electric companies don't put liens on properties around here. I saw one of his recent electric bills while cleaning out the house and it was $1400 dollars. Why wouldn't National Grid just shut off the electric, is there some protection for low income homeowners or seniors? This house is in Buffalo. 

@Steven Hamilton II is it safe to say that it makes little sense to try and save on SE taxes in your flipping/wholesaling business by electing your LLC to be taxed as an S-Corp if you already make a 70K+ w2 income?

Hmmm that's a tough one as for most properties in the city I don't see how you can even use a plow truck, especially with cars in the driveway, and so you're paying to have someone to shovel a small area. In some of my leases I specify that the tenants are responsible for snow removal and so they naturally do it themselves or they don't get out of the driveway, but in some cases it doesn't work where one tenant gets screwed because the other is irresponsible. If you have a responsible tenant that wants to save a little on rent, then they can do it and some are motivated to do so to save the money, I know I would be and enjoy the exercise. I have one contact for you in that area that does plowing. PM me

Closing is scheduled for 12/29 for the sale of one of my properties. Would I have to pay capital gains in 2017 regardless of when I deposit the cashier's check?

Closing is scheduled for 12/29 for the sale of one of my properties. Would I have to pay capital gains in 2017 regardless of when I deposit the cashier's check?

Hi Guys,

I'm in search of a real estate attorney in Buffalo area that closes wholesale deals/contract assignments, and that gets deals done in a timely manner. I know lawyers that are investor friendly but are in their 70s and have no sense of urgency to get the deals done. These deals are dragged out many weeks longer than necessary. If this person exists please let me know! I will believe it when I see it, lol.

-John

Hey Gary,  I know It's a little awkward because you're coming in and tightening things up from the prior lax owner, and wanting to run it like a business but just explain that to him, that you need to protect your interests. I would get a lease together and you can decide if you want to keep him month-to-month or have a set time period, but either way he will have to agree to the terms in the lease. You want to go through everything now and cover all your expectations and set the tone right off the bat (especially late fees and when rent is due, and the amount of notice he needs to give if he is leaving). He may not be able to come up with the rest of the deposit at the moment but should be able to in a month or two, see where he is at and then set a payment plan up; if it takes longer than a couple months then I would charge a fee. Tenants get mad and threaten to move when I raise the rent but you have to stick to your guns, if you're still under market value then you're not being unfair. If he doesn't like it, reason will soon find him...have fun finding a better deal and moving out in the middle of winter.