All Forum Posts by: Lynn Dee Murrow

I think you should get a number just for your rental business. You can get a google voice number that you can point to an office line or your cell phone. You can see it is coming from your google voice number and answer appropriately. There are probably other services out there like this as well, I found google voice easy to use. Hope this helps, Lynn

@William Hardie this is a great approach to controlling consumer spending. Learning to delay gratification until you really can afford an item is a life changing discipline. Many banks will divide your expenses into categories too so you can see excess spending more clearly. Most people overspend on eating out and coffee. It adds up to hundreds of dollars a month that could be put to better use with very little change in lifestyle.

You need to change the locks and the garage door opener code with each turn at your expense. Buy the landlord locks you can rekey yourself. The rest is damage that can be charged against their deposit.

I do the trash out first and then put a sign in the yard during rehab. I put a sign in the window with all the things i am doing to upgrade the property and i also give all the neighbors a flyer titled “Choose Your Neighbor” in case they know someone looking for a home in the area.

Jimmie has a good list above. I would add line up your team. Before you make an offer know who you will go to for inspections, what tradespeople you will use - General Contractor, plumber, electrician, roofer, foundation, paint etc. Also choose your insurance agent, property manager if you want one - although I think it’s a good idea to manage your own at first. Hope this helps!

Hi, this is Lynn Dee Murrow, EXecutive Vice President of Lifestyles Unlimited. Just want to clarify that Melissa Jones never worked for Del (not Dale) Walmsley or Lifestyles Unlimited. She was a member many years ago but her membership was terminated by Del. 

I hope everyone is off to a great start this year! This is a great community of investors!

@John L. Being a sophisticated investor is about what you know, your experience and ability to throughly understand the investment so your reading and research can absolutely help along with all you can learn here on bigger pockets!

Very good advice here!! The only thing I would add is to prepare for the meeting by asking yourself some questions. What is your skill sets? What do you enjoy doing with your time? What do you dislike? What is your end goal? Why are you doing this? A good Mentor will ask you all of these questions and more. A Mentor is only useful if they have successfully done what YOU want to do the WAY YOU WANT TO DO IT. Otherwise you can become distracted by all of the options and end up in an area of the business you are ill suited for or just dislike. Real Estate provides a wide variety of investment opportunities using an even wider variety of investment models, so you need to give some thought to what area of the business you want to be in. Hope this helps! Good luck!

I agree with those who say to discuss it with someone you trust and that it is probably not a good idea to post on the internet how much cash you inherit. 

I think it is a good idea to wait a bit after inheriting money. It's easy to think you are ok and your judgement is sound at that time, but more people than not regret at least some of the decisions they made quickly after a loved one's death. That said, you seem to be thinking ahead and weighing the options. Get educated on your real estate investment options and take a look at how the numbers work in single family and multifamily. In multifamily you can increase the value of the property through operations because apartments are valued on Net Operating Income, not on comparable sales. In single family, your properties are valued based on comparable sales. For this reason I believe you should start in small apartment communities if you have the resources and knowledge to do so. It's important to remember that hiring 3rd party management is not a good idea unless you know the business, know what they should be doing, and are capable of managing the management company. I hope this helps.

Full disclosure, I am the EVP of Lifestyles Unlimited. John, it's nice to meet you here on Bigger Pockets. A pre-exsiting relationship is not the only requirement for someone to be a sophisticated investor. If they are not accredited, they must have some education or experience that allows them to make an informed investment decision when deciding to invest in the kind of offering you are sponsoring. Lifestyles Unlimited is a real estate education and mentoring program. Our members do spend a lot of time together and often choose to invest together. Our education program would, I am told by several SEC attorneys, make a member who has completed our education program sophisticated regarding apartment community investments or portfolios of single family property. Anyone who has real estate experience in these areas, has invested in other offerings of this type, or perhaps has business experience with contracts and business operations may qualify as sophisticated. In the offering process there is a form you will have potential investors fill out to provide you with their background that they believe qualifies them as a sophisticated investor, in addition to indicating their prior relationship with one or all of the deal sponsors. I hope that helps! Thanks for participating in the Bigger Pockets community!