All Forum Posts by: Robert Leonard

@Robert Boyd 

KEEP CALM and LET IT GO!

Welcome to BP @Maxine Attobrah !

You should also look on meetup.com for REI meetup groups!

@Pat Martin the 5% number is a stock market investing rule of thumb (yeah, they use those too).  Some people use 4 others use 5 as their percentage of stock market money that should be invested in any one company.  Any more than that suggests you are "over weighted" and over exposed to specific stock risk.  The corrective action would be to sell the excess and redistribute to other stocks to maintain a diversified portfolio of stocks.

I don't think it's a good transfer of that rule of thumb to say that anyone should limit their REI to 5% of their total investment portfolio. That's some conventional stock market thinking that just does not fit REI. IMO.

Welcome to BP @Jack Forrest !  I'm a buy & hold investor from Lafayette!  Glad you found the site.  Hope to see you around here more often!

I rode the Tammany trace with my son and the boy scouts a little over a month ago and we started in Covington!  Did the 50 mile bike ride for a merit badge!  Thank God they invented gel seats!

Give me a shout anytime I might be able to help!

Robert

@Mike H. that's a real "pie in the sky" set of numbers you put up.  Do you think it's possible to go out as a financed buyer and buy 10 properties worth over 100k at a 30% below value with no repairs needed?  And in the end to have no cash reserve because you suggest spending every dollar available?

Rental income is taxable income.

This scenario does not present a strategy - it is wishful thinking.

@Tiankhy Hinton it's not likely that anyone will ever challenge a sale under this provision. BUT, be certain, if you are dealing with an elderly person or anyone who's capacity to make a sound decision on selling a property at such a low price to value you should be careful. 

I think Michael Quarells' situation he described in his podcast (he did two, I'm not sure which one it was?) offers an excellent way to handle such a situation.  He had an elderly person who wanted to sell a property to him at an extremely low price.  He asked her if she had a family member or trusted friend that she could have come over to meet with them.  The friend/family member was there along with her to be certain that there was no appearance of him taking advantage of the little old lady.  I can't think of a better way to handle such a situation.

@Maggie H. sorry to hear about your divorce.

I agree with @Dmitriy Fomichenko that it costs too much to take that tax hit when you have other options. It is very easy to open an IRA account to receive the funds without taxes or penalties. Yes, it will still be retirement money, but it's still all yours. You will have an advantage in that lenders will consider retirement funds as cash reserves, which they really are. But I would only touch them in a dire emergency situation.

Patience is a very important virtue in REI. Take your time and explore options using other people's money that will cost you less than using your own retirement money. The penalties make it extremely expensive money to invest with. I'm sure Dmitriy can help you set up a Solo401k where if you put 100k (without penalties) you could use 50k for any purpose including active investing that you benefit from now.

Here's the question you have to ask yourself: should I invest with an HML who charges me 40% interest or look for a better option?

@Noah Brandon try Randy Olson at Prime Title or Brandon Bradley at Bradley and Moreau.

@Brandon McCombs 

you really need to get up to speed on your state's landlord/tenant laws.  The answers given so far are what applies most places.  The answer for how to deal with month to month leases is a state specific question.  Do your homework and get the answers before you take any action.

@Nat C. my first question is 'was the PM involved in redirecting the notification that you received late?'  Next question is 'how detailed is your PM agreement?'  Does it include any language that would cover this type of issue?

What should you do? Double check your PM agreement and if you find a provision that covers this to your advantage, address it with the PM.  If the property/and or municipality is local or within driving distance, I would personally appear at the office that sent the letter and seek some relief to resolve your tenant/PM problem. That would cover my first priority.

Next, I would call other PMs in the area to see how they handle this type of situation.  It can be a challenge, but you may want to make that one of your questions you ask as you start interviewing to find your next PM.