All Forum Posts by: Ray Hage

You should absolutely have a LLC for each and every part of your RE business. If you will wholesale, thats LLC #1. If you buy a property to hold, that's LLC #2. If you end up doing property management for a client, that's LLC #3. Keep everything separate and in good order to protect yourself from unnecessary legal risks. You should get an EIN number for each LLC from irs.gov site and open a separate bank account for each one.

Hi Laleh. I had a similar situation years ago and THANKFULLY I was still able to buy the house 2 years later! lol. I'll save you details on mine. To answer you questions:

A1. That is possible though pretty unlikely.

A2. Whoever you reached out to initially when you first tried to put an offer in (I would assume an agent?). If that person is not available, then the owner.  

A3. Well, simple answer is "do your homework". You need to find out if the property has liens against it, if there are any large assessments from the HOA, if there is some kind of major physical damage inside the property, did the owner (or one of the owners) die and now it is in probate court, etc. You can do some of this online like checking local court records and some by talking to the agent. It could be totally fine...

In my case, the owner took it off market and lived in it for a few months....and then rented it out for a year. I ended up buying the house 2 years after and living in it currently.

It would be silly not to keep it. I think this is a very easy "hold" decision based on the info you provided. Once you have enough equity, then you'll get a HELOC and should have enough plenty of cash on hand as well

 Hi Matthew. Welcome to BP. I am an investor (for just under 7 years now) and a Realtor in Fort Lauderdale. I have 4 investment properties in the Fort Lauderdale area and one in Palm Beach. I manage everything myself so I could definitely help in the south FL market so I recommend myself but I am a bit biased haha. If you have some time tomorrow, we could get on a call and we can talk more specifics about the market down here (it's on fire).

Hi. This is an easy question but the answer is complicated. There are pros and cons to increasing rents on a good tenant. That being said, I generally raise the rent a little bit each year, especially if I have made some nice upgrades to things inside the unit. If the tenant is well below market rent, I wouldn't feel bad about raising it a bit. When you are not renting a unit out at the market rates for the quality of the unit (neighborhood, size, amenities, etc), you are either robbing a tenant or robbing yourself. Just try to be in line with the market. If the tenant is putting their own money into the unit (for example, I had a tenant build a nice outdoor patio space at this own expense), you should consider that as well.

Both 33311 and 33313 are growing to an extent. Personally, I invested in a condo in 33313 at a below market price (IMO) with a high cash-flow. I wouldn't call the specific area that I bought in "dangerous" but I wouldn't call it super safe either. There are still deals to be found, but I can tell you it has gotten a lot hard than it was even 3-4 years ago. Be patient and find the right place that you are comfortable with

I'll agree with you that right in South FL it is difficult to cash-flow positively if you're trying to get into the market now due to the recent influx of people from the northern parts of the US. There are still some good deals out there but not nearly like what there used to be just a couple of years ago. You're going to have to really dig to find a great cash-flow positive property at current prices. As others have said, I would generally avoid HOAs completely unless you have the time to research each specific community.

Your best best to is to buy a place in an up and coming area (read somewhat poor, but not dangerous) and plan to hold. I bought a condo as an investment 4 months ago (I know I said to avoid HOAs haha) and so far I have been very pleased with the board and my cashflow. I consider it a bit of luck, skill and good timing at the price I got it for with the high rent and relatively low HOA fee. It's 4 months later now and I am still pleased financially speaking.

Congrats man. It sounds like you are both intelligent and hardworking. Keep doing what you want to do in life. It sounds like you deserve everything! I hope to be in your shoes in 3 years or so (I started my RE journey a little late)

Since it is a bit of a complicated case, I'd probably speak to a lawyer if I were you. I am not at all familiar with PA law I can't speak ont that. It sounds like you could take them to small claims court since they violated several terms of the lease and you have some real damages (smoking in the unit, staying past the date, terminated the lease early, messing up construction plans, etc). It sounds like you got a pretty solid case in your favor. I'd hold onto their deposit at the minimum and state your reasons clearly in an email and letter.

I like CashApp and Zelle the most. I have been using both for years and never had an issue