All Forum Posts by: Russ Draper

If there are no good deals where you are, look for areas that have them!  Don't be afraid to invest farther away (I invested over 1000mi from my home)!

For the stock market: my advice, buy "The Little Book of Common Sense Investing".  The lesson to be learned from that is in chapter 1.  Buy the same amount of a index fund such as the S&P 500 or DJIA at the same time each month and you will be over 90% of investors in the market.

I think that anyone looking to invest inside 128 isn't going to have numbers that work.  The people that own MF's there bought them years ago when the numbers made more sense.  My advice is to look farther out for better deals.  I know you want to be close so your commute isn't as bad, but you'll pay a lot more for it.  The prices drop substantially when you go outside 495.

I don't see the prices going down much even if there is a bubble again.  The problem is that everyone wants to live close to the city, and with all the colleges there is foreign money coming into the city so people keep paying more.  Rates are supposed to be going up, which should hold off appreciation a bit and maybe even create a small slump but I don't think there is another crash for a few years at least.

You could always do what I did, buy your primary residence and then invest in cheaper MF's out of state.  Your overall return might be higher if you do this.  Good luck!

I would look to invest in a different area.  For example in the US I invested in property approx 1000mi away because the returns were much better.  If I were in your position I would look into investing farther away.

If there is no profit, it might be better to just walk from the deal and take the loss of your down payment.  Is it already under a mortgage?  If so then just sell to another investor if you can.  Can you do any work yourself to offset the costs so you come out ahead?

Why do you want to do all the work yourself?  Sounds to me like you should spend your time doing what you love and are good at, finding deals under contract and using a realtor to sell them.  I understand its less money per deal but if you get more deals done overall its a better scenario for you!

@Jonathan Godes, I didn't think of it that way, that a investor wouldn't be able to provide all the cash for a deal.  It makes sense to mitigate risk though, I would split a riskier deal 50-50 for sure!

I try to do a "best guess" at what I think the previous owner owed before going, no sense going if the bank is going to bid more than its worth.  I look up the history and use some formulas.  Usually there is only half a dozen properties I am interested in each month.

Are these properties that the owners make good on and suddenly get caught up?  Why so many go off I wonder.  Around here not many are listed on auction.com, certainly not 200.

You could consider that she is providing 3 roles.  One is a PM, another is a sort of general contractor, and lastly as a RE agent.

She isn't a RE agent, you should find one that knows how to work with investors.

She isn't really a GC, she will cost you more with mistakes.

If she is a PM then the scenario above makes sense.

In all honesty, I would keep family out of it if they have no experience.  If you want to just give her a loan until she finds a job that would be better in my opinion.  Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

Quick answers (my opinion):

• Yes form a LLC! Use one of those online form places like legalzoom or formacorp to do it if you have to! Do not do this without a LLC!
• LLC protects you in case someone sues you, limits your liability. Otherwise if they win a lawsuit they can come after not only the property but everything else you own.
• LLC will have no history, so bank will not lend to a new LLC. Mortgage goes in your name, then typically a quitclaim is filed to give the property to the LLC. you are still responsible for the mortgage but now the LLC gives you protection at least

It could be, but without seeing the job its hard to take a guess.  It could be high up, hard to find brick, etc.  I had to remove a chimney once and it was about $800 at the time (if it helps).