All Forum Posts by: Minh Lai

My parents have decide to invest in my real estate ventures. Will there be any tax implications for either of us when I accept the money? 

@Matt Miller - I like that approach it's pretty hands on. 

@Frank B. - I was just thinking about landlord insurance

@Eric Robinson @Deborah Burian - That's pretty much what I've been doing but wasn't sure. Thanks for the confirmation. 

@Daria B.-great thanks for the feed back. Once i narrow it down to my top 3-5 I'll give my agent a call.

Haha that's an excellent book title. I'll have to look into it. 

@Dev Horn - Got it. My approach will connect mostly with ppl underwater since they'll be nearing foreclosure.  I'll change my approach then. Thanks for the feedback. 

Congrats Felix! 
I did the same exact thing as you. I used an FHA loan to but 3.5% down and house hacked. From what I've been told you can use the FHA loan again, but you can only have one loan at a time. That means you'll need to have about 20% equity in your first property to refi and get a conventional loan to replace the FHA loan. After that you can go buy your 2nd property using an FHA loan and put down 3.5%. Either ways you still need to find the cash to build that equity so it makes the same difference in some ways.

Just keep in mind that the FHA has a fee (mine was about 2k) and it has the monthly premium. So unless you want to upgrade to something significantly bigger than I don't think it's worth the effort.

As for other strategies I'm currently looking into doing a joint venture. I have an LLC ready. I'm looking for someone to put in 50% of the equity. The property will be under my LLC and there will be an agreement that my partner owns half of the property and will share in the gains/risks. Any thoughts on that?

Good luck!

Do you have any advise for me as a wholesaler? 

My current method is to scour the public records, going 3 months back to the current date and making a list of every case that is pre-foreclosure. From there I have a letter that I prepared and I pay a friend to hand write the address on the envelope. 

I've been slacking but I've gotten 3 potential leads so far. 1 guy was underwater, another already had an agent working a short sale and another just never got back to me. 

A friend told me that the method I'm using would involve a lot of short sales and underwater properties. Should I continue this method or switch to something else like bandit signs? 

I'm taking @Brandon Turner advice to heart and I plan to analyze at least 3 deals a day or 90 deals a month. I have a spread sheet that I use to plug and chug. This book gave me the knowledge and background to understand and trust my numbers. (Sorry Brandon, but I'm not upgrading to Pro just yet.) I believe all my assumptions are within bounds and I have safety margins in place. The only issue I have is estimating insurance. 

I live in Norman, Oklahoma. I am looking at properties in Norman, Moore and OKC. We are notorious for our tornadoes, thus our insurance is higher than the national average. My only reference point is the house that I'm house hacking. 

I know insurance can vary a lot base on many different factors. In fact I got quotes from 3 different companies with different options. The annual rate was from $3,434 to $1483. (My house is 1,400 sq ft and was made in 1974 in case you're wondering.) 

With the option that I went with, what I'm paying for my insurance is about the same as my tax. Is this a ballpark estimate?

I would love to know how you all estimate insurance when you run your numbers.

Would it be annoying if I called my insurance agent and have him run quotes for me if I promise to use him when I purchase a property? 

@Jason Bott - Yes sir you are correct on your clarification.

Thanks for the input. I've spoken to my parents and we're in the process of getting a landlord policy. 

@Steve Vaughan - Okay that liability coverage sounds important =P.

I'll tell my parents to talk to their existing insurer. If they don't want to go through the hassle I'll work with them and talk on their behalf.

Thanks. 

Congrats on getting a lot of experience and getting paid to learn =P