All Forum Posts by: Joshua Fulenwider

South Carolina uses attorneys in place of title companies.  It is the same process and product (title insurance) just South Carolina does not allow title companies.  

My experience in South Carolina has been that the paralegals do 99% of the work on closings and I know the primary paralegal I work with but I couldn't tell you the name on the door.

@Sekelle O. someone else had this question a while back.  I was doing some research and came across it.  Here is the link:

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/79/topics/388...

@Scott Wiliamson your plan sounds feasible. If you are truly wanting to do at cash out refinance on the back end you may want to talk to a lender and make sure you qualify for it. Some HELOC lenders can approve you for a HELOC based on a DTI that only accounts for the fact that their HELOC payments may only be interest only. So make sure you are qualified for the new larger payment of principal and interest once you complete your plan.

On the other side of things, are you sure you want to do the refinance to term it out? A HELOC gives you a lot of flexibility and you can pay it down at your own rate and draw it back whenever you want. For example you can do your deal now and then pay it down over the next two years and draw it back out again.

@Jacob Resendez your boss already sees value in you otherwise he would not have asked you to be partners.  A quote from Richard Branson comes to mind: "If someone gives you an opportunity and you don't know how to do it say yes and then go figure out how to do it."  Keep educating yourself and networking and that will be value you bring.

That being said, I understand you don't want to jeopardize your relationship with him.  Start with a small deal and structure it in a way to protect his capital.  i.e. if it is a flip he receives 100% of his initial investment back after expenses and then any money left over is split equally.  You can do something similar with rentals.

Both will have fees.  A broker may be able to give you several more loan options.

You want to open a separate account for a couple of reasons.  First is that it will be very difficult to track income and expenses when it comes time for taxes if you are running it through your personal account.  Second, and possibly more important, is that if there is a co-mingling of funds if you were to get sued they could potentially go after everything in your rental account.  If that includes your personal money it goes too.

When I managed my own properties I held the security deposits in a separate savings account.  It was tempting during tight months to touch that money but I never did because when it came time to return it to the tenants or use it to cover repairs that the tenants caused I wanted to have  it immediately available.

Anyway, that's my own personally views on it.

Look on your county assessor's website to identify who the current owner is and their address.  If it is a bank it has already been foreclosed and they may be waiting for the redemption period to expire before they list it.  You can contact the bank and try to get first crack at it.  There are rules and sometimes banks are required to list properties.

If it is still owned by a person the county may have a different address.  You may have to do some sleuthing to track down the owner if the address is the same as the foreclosure that they are not living at.  Another option would be to send a letter to the owner at the foreclosure address and hope they have filed a forwarding notice with the post office.  

Not sure what B2Rs lending parameters are but you should go talk to local banks and see what they have to offer for commercial loans.

Your deal is doable but not shiny by commercial standards.  Typical requirements are usually 25%-30% down and you are more likely looking at a 20 year amortization with a possible balloon payment.

One thing B2R may be figuring are estimates for management, maintenance, utilities, and repair reserve which could easily add up to more than $450/mo when there aren't hard numbers to go by.

You can put a condition in your contract that one of the units is to be vacant by the time of closing (assuming this meets with your local property laws).  You should specify which one.  A lot of leases have clauses dealing with what happens during a change of ownership.  They either protect the tenants or give the landlord the option to terminate the lease so long as proper notice is given.

During your due diligence you should look over the leases and see what options they give you.

I want to reiterate that a lot of your options are going to be dictated by local laws.

@Joshua Nash you may also want to consider a HELOC in order to get the funds necessary to complete the remodel. It will give you added flexibility down the road as well. HELOCs are dependent upon the equity currently in the home though, as opposed to a construction loan which will take into account the additional value you are adding.