All Forum Posts by: Jonah Champagne

@Mindy Jensen is there still an app for Android with the calculators? I tried searching for BiggerPockets Tools in thr app store and nothing comes up.

Hey Aaron,

Yes I did. I ended up using Title2land in Baton Rouge and am very happy with their service. They were very knowledgeable and set up exactly what I wanted. Set up a consultation with Lane and Katrina and they'll take care of you.

Jonah

Hello all. I'm looking for recommendations for business/real estate attorneys in the Baton Rouge LA area. I'm looking for help with setting up a partnership LLC for me and my partner and getting the operating Agreement, etc. ironed out. I did a search online and their are so many attorneys out there, it's hard to determine who would be a good fit for what I'm looking for, any suggestions would be appreciated!

Thanks,

Jonah Champagne

Awesome @James Gates! I'm looking to do something similar with a partner in the near future. How did you structure your partnership? Did you use an LLC? When you refinanced did you use a business structurer such as an LLC or are you just refinancing in both of your personal names?

Thanks,

Jonah Champagne

Hello,

I am currently in the process of buying my first investment property - scheduled to close next month! The property I am buying is a duplex, one side is currently rented and I will be honoring the tenants lease. The other side was on a month-month lease and the tenants will be moved out before closing and I will live in that side. I am purchasing the property as an owner occupant as part of my initial investment strategy. My question is in regards to collecting the rent from the other side. Where do you guys deposit the rent collected? Into a personal checking account? A business account? I've heard it's best not to put it in a personal account, but I'm not completely sure why or if this is even true. I have an LLC that I set up some time ago (it's still current), could I open an account for the LLC and have the tenants make the rent checks out to the LLC and keep the moneys separated that way? Could I do this even though the loan and home will be in my personal name, not the name of the LLC? Just trying to understand what is the best thing to do in my current situation and am eager to hear how others have and are handling this?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Regards,

Jonah Champagne

Thanks for the input guys. It looks good until you factor in estimated expenses and vacancy rate. From what I'm told the units are always rented, but from what I've read, one usually estimates vacancies at 10% of income produced which would be a $225/month added expense. Then if we add in an expense estimate which again from what I've read should be estimated at around 15% this comes to $337.50/month. So the estimated cash flow would be $2250+$150-$1500-$225-$337.50 = $337.50/month. Now, the $1500/month for mortgage, taxes, and insurance is based on a 5% down payment using FHA owner occupant financing. The idea would be to live in one unit for roughly a year and then move on and rent all three units. Once I would get to the point where I had 20% equity in the property, I could then refinance conventional thereby reducing my expenses by alleviating the required mortgage insurance that is worked in to that $1500/month price. This would add roughly $100-$150/month to my cash flow which would come to around $437.5--487.50/month base on those numbers. So would this be a good investment and do you think this is a good investment strategy? Are my estimates for vacancies and expenses a good representative of what may be needed. The triplex is an older building and does need a little work on the outside (some siding replacement and overall painting which I could do myself). Let me know y'all thoughts.

Thanks,

Jonah

Hello, I am new to this site and I have a question. I have been looking to get into real estate investing since I finished college and started working about 1 1/2 years ago and have been looking for potential investments since. I have recently come across a triplex that is for sale. The current rental income totals $2250/month + roughly $150/month income from coin operated washer/dryer. Would this be a good investment? My plan was to actually live in one of the units and rent the other two for a combined income of $1500 + roughly $100 from washer/dryer. To do this I would finance the property as an owner/occupant (lower interest rate) using FHA with an estimated payment of $1500/month (principle/mortgage, insurance, mortgage insurance, and property tax). When I work through the numbers the original numbers for a fully rented state, it doesn't seem like there would be any cash flow. However, $2250/month + the extra $150 for a $175000 investment property seems really good compared to most every property I've seen since I began searching 1 1/2 years ago! I guess I'm beginning to get discouraged; I really want to get an investement going, but it doesn't seem like any that I find would produce significant cash flow. Please give me your thoughts and advices.

Thanks,

Jonah