All Forum Posts by: Peter M.

Become a flipping Guru, hold seminars, sell DVDs, books, and bootcamps, annoy everyone with constant marketing, stop paying taxes, flee to a non extradition country and live out your life in fear of Uncle Sam finding you. 

It depends on your area and the market cycle. If you live where multifamily is sparce, it will be more expensive and thus less profitable. If SFR is working for you, keep going. Just because the herd is saying multifamily, doesn't mean you have to follow them. Most people toting that ideology bought in the market downturn and are reaping the rewards now. Multi family has advantages and disadvantages to SFR that have been discussed ad nauseam on here so it just depends on what works for you.

Get a lawyer. You can do anything you want on Legal Zoom for <$500 but I suggest talking to a small business/asset protection lawyer to do it for you. You also need the input from your CPA on tax-advantaged entities. You have a lot of options but the main ones are LLC, joint venture, or partnership agreement. I would think a bare bones set up from a competent lawyer would start in the 2k range. Get a lawyer.

I would send a Cure or quit letter for the dog, wait the minimum time to see if it is remedied then send a notice of eviction for breach of the lease. What matters in most places is when the clock starts which would be when you send the eviction notice. In Texas for example I must wait 3 days before I can file for eviction. I can always wait more, just not less. That way if she is not out by the date she agreed, you can immediately file instead of having to send a letter for non-payment of rent and then waiting the required amount of time. Filing costs money so I wouldn't do it until the day after she is supposed to be out since you are already so close. 

Maybe the cure letter will remind her about the deposit she won't get back unless she removes the dog but most tenants don't expect the deposit back anyway so it probably won't help. Also, you should write into your lease what the penalty is for having a pet even if you don't have an addendum. That way you have evidence for why you took it out from a security deposit. Mine is $250 and $25/day until the pet is removed. You could try to charge per dog turd but not sure that would hold up in court. 

Every state, county, parish, municipality, what have you will have different rules for how evictions are processed but generally no, you would not have to be the one present. You can always assign someone to represent you whether that be a lawyer, property manager, or some joe you find on facebook. 

Tell the tenant with the doctor note that they need to go online and register their pet through petscreening.com. It is free for landlords and it puts the burden on the tenant to prove it is a legitimate companion animal. They verify that the doctor is legit, etc. That may be enough to dissuade this tenant from getting a dog. If they go through the process and the dog is cleared, you will have to decide whether it is worth fighting to keep the unit pet free, at which point you would need a lawyer. Might want to be mentally prepared to let the other tenant out of their lease if the dog comes to live there. Last, any damage done by any animal is the responsibility of the tenant so at least you get to deal with that nightmare when they move out :-/

I agree with all of the above. I will just add it depends on the area as well. In north Texas, foundation problems are a big issue. Other parts of the country not so much. Some places have radon, others do not. The big 3 for an investor here in Texas are foundation, roof, and AC. I would add mechanical systems like plumbing and electrical as a 4th. But as already stated, a GC should be able to look at all of this instead of getting 5 different inspections. In addition, certain types of financing will have different inspection requirements that must be followed in order to fund the loan. 

Terms are usually better from a bank because they do a better job of qualifying the buyer and are usually backed by some form of insurance against default (Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac). If you find an owner willing to finance using better terms than a bank, they probably don't really understand what they are doing. People can sue anyone for anything in the US so there is a risk they find out about their mistake and take you to court for fraud or deceiving them, especially if you do it often. Owner finance is a good strategy but you just have to be careful like everything else. The answer is always "it depends"

Adverse possession tactics are one of those things gurus try to sell to inexperience investors. Yes it is a real thing but a court is going to look at a lot of aspects, one of which being intent. It is one thing if someone has been using some land attached to property they already own but quite another to just walk into an existing property not attached to anything you currently own and start using it as yours. In 10 years could you tell the court with a straight face you honestly believed you had a right to take that property? The other thing is the risk involved. Who would pay taxes and repairs on a piece of property that, at any moment, could be taken back by the rightful owners? Better to let it clear probate and get it from the estate. 

My vote is the closer duplex as well. I find it hard to believe that the 30k property is in that good of shape. Being close is a big plus, as well as having 2 renters in case on unit is vacant. Debt is not horrible as long as it is used properly. After all the tenants are paying it off. You are reaping the rewards of their money down the road.