All Forum Posts by: Jeff Rabinowitz

@Ibrahim Hughes, are you in the habit of speaking for other people? That is not at all what I meant. One can purchase a property personally and then transfer it easily to an LLC if and when they decide that is a prudent thing to do. Many investors decide not to use LLCs. There are positives and negatives associated with their use.

I would check with someone in Colorado to be sure but in Michigan it is not a taxable event when you transfer a property to your own LLC. Here, we file a quit claim deed. A very simple procedure.

@Craig Soderdahl, welcome to BP. 3.875% is quite a favorable rate. Do you really want to go through the grief of refinancing and pay a lot of fees and raise the rate? Why not wait until you find the next properties and consider the financing then? Can you raise enough for a down payment from other sources?

You sound fairly certain that you will be hiring a property manager to run your next rental. Have you found one? If so, ask them where they are getting the best returns, A, B, C. If you haven't found a PM asking several the same question may help you narrow your choices. It may show you who really knows the area and who is at least as concerned for your bottom line as their own.

Ryan, welcome to BP. You have already started. Explore the site, read articles and learn. Don't worry about the LLC. It isn't necessary until you start doing deals and may not be necessary even then. If you set the LLC up too soon it may not be structured properly for the deals you are actually doing and you may use it improperly. Once you start doing deals you will recognize if it is time to use an LLC.

Welcome, Timothy. So you copied Brandon's goals. I wonder which of you will reach them first. He is a good person to model but I bet you will find more success if you find your own goals. There is a lot of information available on BP. Take note of what resonates with you as you explore the topics. You don't need to be an expert in everything or even anything. Find something that seems like a good fit and take action.

Welcome, Brian. We have a lot of Real Estate Investor Associations in SE Michigan and a there are a lot of investors. There is a large contingent of them here on BP. I would suggest you take some time to fill out your profile. It looks like there is an issue with your profile photo so it may be useful to try loading another. People are more likely to connect if they know a bit about you and can see your photo. I live around the corner from you. Let me know if I can help.

It sounds like you have a better deal than the HML offered with your private investors already. It also looks like you are being quite generous with them. I can't imagine you would have too much trouble finding people to take that deal. In fact, if you fill out your profile and load a photo here on BP you may soon be swamped with requests. If you wish to lower the cost of the funds you can simply retain a larger amount of the profits for your company. I have seen many people ask for 40-60% of the profits. Not all are successful at getting people to participate at those rates but those who are most experienced are. If you raise your cut some of your current investors may be concerned but unless they have better places to invest their funds you may retain them.

In reality, there is very little you can do to make them stay. The only question is what you will charge if they vacate early. If they are collectible you might charge for the rest of the term of the lease but if this went to court most judges are going to require that you made a good faith attempt to rent the property. It is unlikely you would get more than a couple months rent in a judgment. 

If your tenant is just looking for a house it will take them months before they close (if they find one right away.) Why not allow them to break the lease if they pay you a couple months rent (or rent for the period it is vacant if that is less), they give you 60 days notice and allow you to show the home before they leave. They will have an incentive to leave the home in good condition as that should shorten the vacancy period. Get their permission to place a for lease sign in the yard also. This way everyone's interests are aligned and you part on good terms.

@Bruce N. , welcome to Bigger Pockets. Take some time to fill out your profile and load a photo of yourself. It is nice to know who we are speaking to.

The benefit of being the owner is you can do whatever you'd like. If you are planning on decreasing your PM's compensation she may decline the offer. If you like managing properties you should do so but if you don't do it as well as your current PM you may not save any money. If your turnovers take a little longer and you are not quite as aggressive at setting or collecting rents it may actually cost you a little money and you could lose what seems like a good relationship. Think it through.

I have always thought that it is a house when you are trying to buy it, a home when you are trying to sell or lease it.