All Forum Posts by: Jeff Filali

Article courtesy of Bankrate.com Ten years after Bear Stearns, Congress reconsiders Dodd-Frank

What's everyone elses thoughts on the above article and possibility of changes?

In my opinion this could be good for the small independent investors, by removing some of the regulations intended for the big banks. The added fees, and compliance regulations have almost eliminated small independent investors, and financial institutions from doing mortgages, and in return have actually created worse situations for many consumers.

There's many independent banks and credit unions in my area who no longer even write mortgages, they just refer their clients to big banks. It can be very difficult for self employed and small business owners to finance a home because their taxes do not always show a lot of traditional income. I had a difficult time myself in the past qualifying for a mortgage to purchase my primary home because of self employment.

Dodd Frank is what switched many independent investors from doing traditional in-house seller financing, to doing lease options or other similar RTOs to try to get around some of the regulations. Which in my opinion, if the law was really put into place to protect consumers, LO's & RTO's are a lot worse financial option for consumers looking to purchase homes.

The dumbest thing to me is its fine to charge them RENT for the rest of their lives, they'll never own anything, have very little rights, and you can raise the rent every time the lease is up... but if you want to help them actually BUY a home, they have to be protected. Makes no sense!!

Just my 2 cents... which isn't worth a penny! :-) 

@Michael Beeman Love it man!!  Keep grinding!! 

Just replaced two in SFR rentals. Both were purchased through Lowes and installed by licensed plumbers. One was $550 installed, and one was $680 installed.

Purchased a foreclosure property that has an abandoned vehicle left in the driveway.  Won't close on the property for two more weeks, but have been watching this property for months, and this car has never moved, flat tires, etc.  I researched a little and understand an attempt has to be made to locate the owners.  Has anyone else ever went through the process of transfer of vehicle title if the owner cannot be located?   Is it even worth the time and expense if the car is only worth maybe a few thousand at most, if it even runs?  I don't want the vehicle, but if it runs, I was thinking I could either give it to someone who needs a car, or sell it to them cheap, or barter trade it for some work or something else.

Oklahoma City and Tulsa Metro and surrounding areas are great, and our property taxes are very low here.

I live in one of the top RE markets in my state and the only property I own in my city is my primary residence because the rental rates are terrible here, typically below 1% up to 1.25%. I primarily invest in suburbs and a few key smaller communities where the properties are cheaper, and the rental rates are all a lot higher 1.5-2%+. There's less competition to buy properties, and less competition for tenants also. You want to be in towns with PM or close enough to you to self manage. If not, you're better off to do a RTO/LO or some other seller financing and make the tenant/buyer responsible for all or at least part of the repair and maintenance.

I'd sell them to the tenants on terms, try to make it where their payments would be just slightly above current rent, maybe even try to get a down payment, it is tax time and most tenants have a tax refund to spend.  That eliminates your need to worry about repairs, they become responsible, they pay the note, taxes, and insurance, plus you may have  a little cash flow. Most will take better care of the properties if they're buying them, and are better about paying also. Even if they defaulted down the road, at least it buys you some more time.  You can also sell the notes in the future after seasoned.  There's definitely better options then walking away and ruining your credit.

I give this "outline to success" to a lot of people I mentor, some listen and some don't, but its what worked for me and many others.

Step 1: Get a job earning X amount of money

Step 2: Get a second PT job earning Y amount of money

Step 3: Get a third PT job earning Z amount of money

Step 4: Wake up earlier daily, grind as many hours as you can, go to bed, repeat...

Step 5: Figure out how to live off W (less then you earn)

Step 6: Open a savings account and put your savings into it (X+Y+Z)-W= S (Savings)

Step 7: Listen to positive people daily who are motivating. I would suggest Eric Thomas, Gary Vaynerchuk, Grant Cardone just to name a few I listen to daily. All these guys are very rich, but they didn't start off that way, they got off their butts and outworked everyone else.

Step 8: A year or two from now, once you've grinded your butt off and saved as much as you can, you will be able to start investing your own money in real estate!!

No Free Rides!! To be successful in this life, you must be willing to put in the GRIND!!

Best of success!! Keep Grinding!!

 I do all the free ads first, but if I'm not moving a property within 7 days, I'll do a paid ad.  On paid FB ads when selling, I usually do $100 and run it for 7 days.  Always get a lot of interest and contacts.  I like that you can target specific area, "likely to move", income ranges, etc. so your ad only appears for those who may be interested and qualified.  You can do paid ad for rental tenants also.  Really for anything.

I also use REIGuard for all my properties in multiple states.  By far best company for investors.  Save a lot of money