All Forum Posts by: Kerry Baird

Given how much talk there is about forming LLCs, you'd think there would be a robust conversation about how to get business credit.  It took awhile to figure out how to get business credit for my LLCs, and then to get a plan in place. 

I took the time to seek out options on my own vs paying for a service.  Time vs money. 

Great observation and encouragement to the younger set.  You are 100% right.  

I always ask for seller financing.  There are going to be a handful of folks offering this.  That said, I'd be happier with a larger down payment and reserves set aside than to buy a house and not have enough money.  Waiting for the 2 years to tick down isn't a bad idea at all.  In the meantime, look at FSBOs and for OWC in the Zillow details.  

Congratulations on the new member of the family! 

With a baby very soon to be alongside, respectfully, you don't know what you don't know.  I'm thinking about things like, How much energy will I have for a move?  When will I feel good about moving us (with new baby) to a new home?  How much will it cost to have new baby added to the finances, diapers and childcare? 

How much toleration will I have for painting, fixing dirty, dusty, smelling fixer houses? Or buying and delivering consumables, messaging guests at an AirBnb? Or simply gathering-and-uploading financing documents and talking with lenders?

My thoughts are formulated as a look-back on a similar season, and I think that waiting a year is a terrific idea.  This additional time allows you to adjust to parenting, get some energy back, pay down debt and make plans.

On the chance you breeze past the "delay" suggestion, we have often moved into fixers and improved them over 2 years, turning the last one into a rental.  Then we did that again.  And again.  And again.  I'm the driver of the moving and improving strategy, while hubby provides steady income and W-2 for lending. 

All the best to you!  You have a great vision.  

Interesting.  We will have to watch this space and see if there is a tangible benefit to be found for all affected people.  Reducing paperwork won't do much for most of us.  Hope they do better than just that.  Thanks for posting!

Welcome to BP!  There are a lot of different aspects to investing, as you may know.  I have gotten a lot out of listening to the podcasts while I drive, and then I often order the business or real estate book that the guests recommend. 

From this side of things, what interests you?  Buying your first property to live in, and renting out rooms is a great way to cut back on costs and if you set that money aside, it will grow and become down payment funds for a future purchase.  

We were military and stationed in Europe for many years.  It seems to me that your favorite title company would be the best resource for solving a lot of your closing processes.  So much can be automated, as you know. 

I'm going to put a word in for living abroad...and I can't think of a more beautiful place than NZ.  I thought that I could wholesale while in England, but the banks hold the deeds, so I couldn't do sub2, which was my bread-and-butter for a season.  Money was expensive over there and at the time, I didn't know how to get hard money to do rehabs.  So I ended up finding houses to buy near bases in the US, and settled on doing LTRs in Texas.  

Add in unexpected rising expenses, particularly insurance.  Not just the monthly cost of insurance, but some of the oddities I've seen this year.

About 2 years ago I bought a house near the ocean, which had a barrel-tile roof. In looking to get better rates, I had an insurance company give me a quote.  They said I needed to replace the roof, not because of the age of the tiles, but because of the age of the underlayment.  Even to sell the house, the house would need a new roof so that the buyer doesn't have insurance issues.

The tiles were around 20 years old with about 20 years of "life" but the underlayment was 15 years, so it had to go. I paid $70k for a new metal roof (big house, near the ocean) this month. How long would it take for my STR income to pay for $70k in roof replacement? Yikes.

I got red tagged for using an handyman and not a licensed repairman when I started doing some renovations in Florida, and learned that each municipality has its own rules of engagement, ordinances, building inspector and so forth. Once I had the right person to speak with, things went much better, and I hope that is the case for your situation, too.  Often the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing, so to speak.  An example is that I had a building inspector come by recently, following the fire inspector, in the same municipality.  One said I needed one type of exit light, while the other said the municipality couldn’t make me do that kind of thing and I could go with a different cheaper option.  

Are you changing the use from a single family to a multifamily? I get that you are adding a floor, but are you adding another kitchen? On my lot where I live, I can have as many kitchens as I want (not sure why I would have extras) and can build a tower, but they won't let me build an ADU for my mom unless it is connected to the main house. Once you get the right person on the phone, things will resolve. I'm sure you have found out more in the hours since you posted.

I did look to see that in Jersey City people must apply online rather than in person, and there is a page with “What I can do with my residential property?”  What can I do?   Perhaps you are in a different municipality, and can find similar guidance online.

@Jesse Rivera, I have also never heard of that product.  Going off to research now.  :D