All Forum Posts by: Matthew Pinkston

Hello all!

I've went ahead and made a reservation at Uotora Honten (魚寅本店) on the 29th of this month (October, 2015) at 7:00 pm under the reservation name "Tateyama"

Here's the link to the venue (In Japanese): http://tabelog.com/kanagawa/A1401/A140101/14006982...

The easiest way to get there is to take the Northwest exit from Yokohama station. Cross the small street right in front of you and follow the building around to the other side.
Here's a streetview link so you'll know more or less what you're looking for. 
https://www.google.co.jp/maps/@35.4674817,139.6224...

All who are available are invited! Though, it would help if you let me know if you intend on coming so I can update the reservation if needed.

Hope to see you there!

@Dmitri L. @Allan L. @Jeff Sprunger @Trevor Moss @Leo A. @Dan Baker @Naga A. @George Calbert @Account Closed @Danny Hubbard

@Daniel Ryu I'm impressed with how well you got everything together there, and I really appreciate you coming into this forum to share! It's awesome that you got @Ben Leybovich as a guest speaker!! His style of investing and the things he's accomplished is legendary, and exactly what I hope to be able to do someday. His story is pretty amazing too. I'd definitely encourage anyone reading this to tune in.

Thanks for broadcasting this. Though I'll be out and about at 1, I'll certainly be listening in! (3 cheers for the modern age where we have the technology to do this:)

I'm not surprised they chose to feature your project. That's a fantastic use of that space! Also, I love TOH and I'll now have "Louisiana Fairytale" running through my head for the next 24h..

@Pyrrha Rivers I'm sorry I didn't jump in sooner! I'd certainly be willing to get one set up. We just need to figure out where to base it (eg. Yokohama), and what tags to apply (Inveating, Real-estate, Cashflow, Bigger Pockets) etc. It also requires a small monthly payment, so once it's started we've got our impetus to meet at least once a month (lol).

Speaking of which, I'd say it's nearing the time to propose another Yokohama area meet-up! November is sneaking up rather quickly. Shall we try for a gathering sometime around Halloween? I'd love to share ghost stories from the point-of-view of the haunted house owner haha;)

I understand with bad experiences there is often a strong urge to vent. But if people want to hear of positive experiences with realtors, I'm very happy to say the very first realtor I met not only patiently lead me through my first four transactions (which all went smoothly), but became a friend as well. As has been said already, this business is all about people. There are good people and, in order to sidestep a heavily nuanced label, people who may have other priorities which may cause conflicts of interest.. 

Nonetheless, as with any type of investing, be careful how much emotion you let seep into the equation. Realtors provide a key role to this type of investing and even if you end up getting your own real-estate license, you'll still be working with realtors. Another key to investing is don't give up. If the very first realtor I worked with ended up being an amazing person, there's plenty more wonderful realtors out there.

@Pyrrha Rivers give Seiko my thanks, and thank you for your efforts in coordinating this! It looks like it will be a decent turnout, and I'm really excited to be able to meet everyone!

Kanpai!

Hi @Jo-Lynn Silun, one quick suggestion is the tax assessor's website. It may not be the same for every state so you may have to search google with "tax assessor website [your state]"

I hope that helps!

Hi @Josip Galic, Congratulations on the acquisition!

I spent some time trying to understand the uses of an LLC for this purpose and will recount what I was told. I'm no legal expert here, and invite corrections from anyone if this is wrong or unclear!

It sounds like you're already aware of how an LLC works by grouping assets under separate legal names to protect them. But you may or may not want to put all your properties under the same LLC depending on the value of the properties, if you intend to sell in the near future, etc.

I believe the biggest advantage of an LLC is the legal protection it offers. Any suits directed at an investor cannot easily touch assets under the LLCs because they're protected under a different legal name.

One possible disadvantage is the due on sale or transfer clause in most mortgages. It will give the bank an option to call your loan due if they choose. I think it's quite rare that any bank would call this on a loan that's in good standing.. but it's something to consider.
(Of course, there's also a small fee involved - maybe $300 or so depending on who sets it up - hardly enough to be called a disadvantage)

That's about what I know. Hope it's at least a little help!

@Pyrrha Rivers an Izakaya sounds perfectly good to me! And the area around Yokohama station is littered with them, so finding one should be a breeze. The only drawback might be that they tend to be a little smokey and are a bit noisier. Is that ok with everyone? (I'm fine with it, but just wanted to check). 

If so, I like this place (uotorahonten - apologies for the link being in Japanese): http://tabelog.com/kanagawa/A1401/A140101/14006982...It's mainly seafood, but there's other options too. 

I'm personally still all for it, even if the group is small. 

If it's just a matter of finding and reserving a venue at this point, I'd be happy to try to come up with a few suggestions.