All Forum Posts by: Parker Ihrie

She would be an excellent choice, too.

@Steve Lyman, I'm interested to know who you're meeting with.  I am an attorney with Jaffe Raitt Heuer & Weiss, P.C. and I am in the real estate group.  We have about 110 attorneys and we handle accounts for many big multifamily investors and developers.  Our clients have found that our rates are more competitive than other large firms and our work product is top notch.  If you were interested, I would invite you to come meet with us, as well.  

To answer your question, I would make sure to ask about the following:

1. Rate structure - Rates are different for junior associate attorneys, senior associate attorneys, junior partners and senior partners.  It is important to know who is doing your work in order to determine how much it will cost.  Attorneys will also use their paralegals, who also may charge a significant hourly fee.  

2. Experience - Obviously, one of the main questions will be whether the attorney has the experience with the types of deals you are investing in.  Make sure they not only know how to handle the acquisition aspect from beginning to end, but that they know how to handle the financing.  Relationships with lenders are very valuable and many attorneys work with certain lenders a lot which can cut down on the costs.  For example, we repeatedly work with many lenders and they trust our work.  We could cut down on costs simply by relying on past work on similar deals - by saving time.

3. Communication - How will your attorney communicate with you?  Who is your point man?  Will you be passed off to a younger associate?  Do you have to meet in person frequently?  What if the attorney is on vacation - how will your deal be handled?  How long is too long for a client inquiry to go unanswered?  Generally, email and phone is the most common method, with email being heavily relied upon.  While my response time is very fast (usually within minutes), my rule is that any client inquiry should be responded to within 24 hours.

4. What does your attorney expect of you?  If an attorney has a client who rarely responds, takes too long to respond, doesn't provide enough information, fails to keep the attorney in the loop, etc., it will greatly hamper the quality of the attorney's work product.  

5. Ask them whether they have any real estate deals of their own or if they invest in any of their clients' deals.  It's always better to have someone who has some skin in the game and real experience.

This is not an exhaustive list.  Please let me know if I can be of any further assistance.

Thanks and good luck!

@Dane Fossee, Ari's parents live right near there and her mom scopes out real estate all day long.  Of course she focuses on residential, but I'm sure she can provide some insight for you.  Ari used to work in Statesville, too.

@Thomas I. can help you!  Ari, we should definitely get together for a beer some time!

@Katherine Earle Congratulations! I admire your guts. Don't listen to those who have such bad things to say about Detroit and REI in general. Of course, Detroit has its faults, but I love living here. I live in a neighborhood called Corktown now and I grew up in Grosse Pointe Woods. You are also not the first person moving from CA to MI for REI. I know someone who moved to Detroit from LA after he (and investors) purchased 25+ homes on the tax auction. In one year he rehabbed and rented all of them. Nice, huh?! Also, as an added bonus, he LOVES Detroit and has not looked back to LA. He said he likes the people in Detroit and the vibe is just awesome since it has so many cool things going on. Unrelated to REI, I just had all of my inlaws in town from Boston and NC, and they all had a BLAST and couldn't believe how much is going on here. When you move, please feel free to contact me so we can grab some coffee or a drink!

@Stephen Hundley How did you obtain your unsecured line of credit?  Is it based solely on your credit score, debt/income, assets, etc. or is it based on cash flow from a business or other metric?  You mentioned that it was a regional bank, right?  

@John Hosford Try Lake Michigan Credit Union.  

@Matthew KreitzerI have not thought about it.  Interesting concept, though.  I would just rather have all my debt in place and consistent.  If I have to pay marginally increased taxes, so be it.   I'll let my accountant find the tax breaks.

@Matthew Kreitzer What I'm getting at is that unsecured loans tend to be harder to obtain, have a higher rate, and do not have a term similar to permanent loans.  The loan I obtained was at 4.5% over 30 years.  Also, I make sure that my insurance coverage is adequate in the event my corporate veil is pierced (which is still unlikely as long as I follow the rules as best I can).

Who's my lender?  What's my rate?  Is the unsecured loan permanent?