All Forum Posts by: Nathan Emmert

I'm with Morry... you have a solid property, why sell? If it's a return on equity issues, why not do a cash out refi or HELOC to tap that?

Even if you can get a 20% CoC return on your investment, you'd only be looking at $60,000 a year in passive income... is that enough for you?

In my mind, you're still operating with numbers that require you to work for a living... and working in real estate can take a number of forms... but buy and hold isn't working (it's having your money work for you though!).

Then the question becomes, is that the best return on your skills?  If I can make $130,000 a year in my career... or I could make $30,000 a flip and do 1 flip each quarter... which way am I better off going?  If I get equal enjoyment from either opportunity, the $130,000 a year day job gives me more cash, better benefits, and is likely safer.  Now if you're career pays $50,000 a year the math is far different!

My thoughts would be to keep enough cash to flip houses and invest the rest (leveraged) into buy and holds.  Use the cash you kept to flip to fund your living costs and try to flip every 3rd house to yourself to grow your portfolio of holds until your passive income gets to where you want it.  If you start now while still making a living, you might even be able to flip a couple to yourself immediately to up the return on your investment.

I'm with Curt... you'd have to set up a separate LLC for each property to get the coverage you really want, you'd have to have separate checking accounts for each LLC to keep the funding independent... and make 1 little mistake and the veil of the LLC is pierced and it's worthless. You also have the recurring costs of keeping the LLC open.

Insurance is pretty cheap and makes for an easier life.

Get insurance... do the right things by your properties and tenants to minimize any reason to sue you... and you're good to go.

I heard a great quote once about opportunities... it went something like this... "When given an opportunity you aren't sure you can do... grab the opportunity and figure out how to do it later!"

I think most of us regret passing on great opportunities out of fear of the unknown.  I know I missed out on a great opportunity in my career because of it.

Here you have an opportunity not only to make a healthy return, but partner with someone who sounds like they have a thriving real estate business.  This could be the first of many deals if you play your cards right... I say deal yourself in!

Pros... you don't have to deal with the day to day operations... they tend to know market rates better, have experience in difficult situations, maybe even have the size to get better rates on repairs and maintenance.  They make your life a lot easier and a little cheaper potentially.

Cons... no one values or cares about your property as much as you do.

*waves*. New to the area waiting to get some equity out of my Utah properties to begin investing here in GR...

The bank is going to need to be in first position but personally I don't like floating interest rates as they are an unknown risk.  If the seller is willing to go fixed rate and a nice long amort, I'd maximize what they'll finance and get the rest from the bank to cover what the seller needs to get out.  I'm a big proponent of putting as little cash as needed into a deal... especially with the interest rates now.  Cash does 2 things for you... gives you reserves to get through rough times and also allows you to pursue other deals which should be fairly easy to find if all you need to beat is the 4.25% interest rate you're paying on other people's money...

50% rule is a national average of large apartment complexes, your mileage will vary. High property taxes, higher turnover or vacancy, older buildings with higher maintenance, or high utility costs can all challenge 50%... Always do your own analysis on the property and costs.

Can you get paid for the education through a partnership or are you too busy/cash rich to need additional funds/opportunities?

Frankly, I can't get my family interested... they are very financially immature and scared to death of the thought of investing in real estate.

I hear you that it's impossible and impractical to give them what they want, and frankly you shouldn't need to.  They need to own their obligations to their education.  I think your best idea is to partner with them.  Help them learn hands on while helping mitigate a little that they completely lose their shirt... hopefully get a little kick back in the end so it's win/win for everyone.

It hasn't been said yet... but seriously... a $13,000 house that rents for $1,100 a month and you weren't a bit suspicious?  No cash reserves?

You didn't prepare for this, you jumped without looking.

You have 2 choices... 1, sell the property and start actually reading the threads here to get an education.  2, throw some more cash at this property and buy the education.  You've got a lot of lessons to learn and several of them are bound to be expensive but you can survive them with cash.

If you have decent credit you can walk into most barks and get a signature loan for $5 - 10k which would have been enough to fix your problems up front but may no longer be.

If you leave in NYC and own a rental in Cleveland, get a real Property Management company.  On a $13k property in the ghetto, you're going to need a good one!