All Forum Posts by: Douglas Larson

@Sean Rand

Andrew Massaro appears to know his stuff on wholesaling and his area of Florida. If that's exactly what you want to do then he might be a good fit for you. I don't know about his services or prices but I am an advocate of good mentoring that can help you take a shortcut to your goals. Bigger Pockets is a phenomenal resource but I understand the desire to get some personalized, one-on-one coaching. Even the best athletes have coaches because it helps them get to the top of their game in ways they can't do on their own.

First, I would recommend synergizing with local REI club members and searching BP for tips and tricks for the kind of investing you want to do. If you still want some personalized mentoring after the best education you can find on your own, then ask Andrew Massaro for some references from former students. If you can get some good feedback from other students and the fees seem reasonable, then go for it. Your mentoring experience will be much more effective if you already have the basics down and fluently speak the lingo.

The biggest problems with the big name gurus and their mentor programs is that they promise great "hand-holding" and "advice when you need it" but after they max out your credit cards they don't deliver. Then, you have debts to pay and still no action items to execute! Please listen to from this week, where I discuss this with Josh and Brandon. Then, do what's best for you!

Have Fun and Make Your Own Luck!
@Sean Rand

@Kenneth LaVoie

If there is a Non-profit company in your area that will pick up used appliances (like Big brothers/Big sisters or GoodWill) you can "harvest a few bucks" on your taxes. Uncle Sam won't let you deduct full retail but it can easily be a hundred bucks per appliance or more and you are helping good causes. The one stipulation is that the appliances must be working.

@William R.

I saw this thread was revived from several months ago and thought I'd add my 2 cents.

My wife was NOT into REI and she was very risk-averse when I met her over 9 years ago. Now she is my bookkeeper, project designer and property stager! She is fully, emotionally and physically invested in each project. I think one book (CD book actually) helped - Rich Dad's Success Stories. By far the biggest positive influence for her has been HGTV! Some shows are more drama than practical but shows like "Designed to Sell" are her favorites. She has great ideas and loves to put her stamp on each house or condo we renovate.

Have fun with your multi!

@David C.

Great responses above!...

Also, check your water pressure at a hose bib. A pressure gage at Home Depot is under 10 bucks. Sometimes street pressures can spike or sometimes your pressure regulator goes bad and you'll see leaks, but those usually occur first at joints and faucets. Always worth a quick check though because if the pressure is too high (90 psi or more) fixing one leak will not cure the problem and you will end up with more leaks!

@Will Barnard

You are an inspiration! Great stuff!

Oh, and I'm willing to help you out as an onsite caretaker until it sells... just out of the goodness of my heart. ;-)

@Account Closed

You are hooked up!

Construction management, carpentry skills, MLS access, appraisal firm and cash for investing. . . . Dang!, Look out San Diego!

@Account Closed

Enjoy C'bad. I wish I were there now!

If you're looking in the 200-300K range you'll probably need to look at Vista, O'side or San Marcos unless you want to travel further out like Escondido or even Fallbrook. If you really want to stay close to home you can find townhomes in C'bad in that range if you look hard. Be careful of some of those HOAs as they are often expensive, underfunded or prone to unnecessary harassment (or all three!) That said, under-funded and special assessment-prone HOA's often mean that condo's and townhomes won't sell FHA, VA or even conventional so only a cash-offer will get the deal done. You can get big discounts accordingly. Might be hard to sell later though.

If you are not an agent you might really like RedFin.com for searching the MLS in SoCal, finding comps and for selling properties. They have a great business model.

Have fun out there and Make Your Own Luck!

@Jeff S.

You've had some great responses already but I will add that you and a good CPA can come up with some strategies that will suit your situation specifically. Whoever prepares your taxes must be on-board with your strategies and business model. My strategy as an investor is to always keep some long term rentals and long term vacant land holdings. Sometimes we fail to rent our renovation projects and we are forced to sell quickly. Sometimes, after a year or more it just makes sense to sell an investment. Often we use 1031 exchanges.

There are also ways to reduce your tax liability, especially self employment taxes if you are truly a dealer/flipper by setting up a separate LLC or s-corp (or an LLC taxed as an s-corp) that specifically does your "marketing" and gets a large share of a flip profit. Most of that money can then flow out as a distribution, not subject to self-employment taxes. I'm not a CPA but that's how I understand it.

Have fun and make your own luck!

@Brandon Turner

Yes, it's always nice when things turn out, but it's not like I have the infallible Midas Touch. In fact, I would love to contribute to a new forum category called: "Miserable Failure Stories . . . but at least I learned something!"

Ok, perhaps the name could be shorter but I'm sure you'd have a lot of posts! I think the lessons we learn from failure are just as important as the ones we learn from successes.

In 2005 I bought a home in Park City, UT. I did a solid renovation on the kitchen and changed the flooring throughout. Then I rented the home for 2 years. My loan was an ugly 80/20,, no-doc, negative amortization ARM loan. (Those were the good 'ol days!) Anyway, after 2 years, there was some nice appreciation and it was time to sell before the loan blew up on me. We were in escrow from September til late October and our buyers walked. This was the fall of 2007 and it was starting to stress me out. The house was empty and the mortgage was about $2000 per month (not including principle growth). Selling in the cold months is tough, even in a ski resort town. It was looking like a long, expensive winter.

I heard from an investor friend about the desperate need for housing for ski resort workers. Homes with lots of beds & baths and near the bus line were in big demand. Park City, Utah has 3 ski resorts and staffing those resorts brings huge challenges. Within a week I had agreed with The Canyons Resort (my favorite snowboard spot) to rent my 4 bedroom, 3 bath home, plus den to 10 seasonal employees of the resort. 8 were housekeeping staff hired and flown in from Jamaica. 2 were Britts, hired for the ski school.

The tempting offer was $400 per person, so a monthly rent of $4,000, which translated to a cashflow of over $1500 after all monthly expenses. I was actually very nervous though about what was going to happen to my house! After all my renovations, were these seasonal workers going to party and trash the place!?!. The Jamaican housekeepers were absolutely amazing tenants. They were mature adults with families back in Jamaica and they were experienced housekeepers. They took very good care of the place for 4 months and I was able to sell in the spring for even more money than the contract we had lost in the fall. Oh, and another big bonus was that I also got free snowboarding all season long as a part of the housing contract!

House cost $255K in 2005

We sold for $417 in early 2008

It was a true net of about $95K total, after all renovations, commissions, taxes, insurance and debt service.