All Forum Posts by: Sandy Sawyer

Hey Rebecca, I’d say right now flipping in Houston is like playing musical chairs. The music is about to stop and the last one to realize it will get stuck. Also, if you, like I, are already a buy-and-hold investor, you may forget the capital gains tax you’ll get hit with when it’s time to belly up to Uncle Sammy’s Bar & Grill! Remember, flippers aspire to be long-term investors, not the other way around.

Look at U-Haul's list of one-way rentals. You'll find Houston at the top. That said, out-of-state investors swoop in with their bags of cash and pay way too much on investments because they're unfamiliar with the neighborhoods, and compared with California & New York it seems like a great deal. Even looking at MLS comps only gives you a hazy idea because those are only homes sold through the MLS. The majority of deals are sold off-market. Just some food for thought. Let me know how I can help.

Hi Jacob! I’ve learned so much from these people on the forums & read their books. Your needs & wants are about to shift all over the place. I suggest that every step you take have a backup plan and exit strategy. You work full time. I think you might try home ownership on for size first and get familiar with paying related bills and how to maintain a house. This alone will open your eyes to whether you would like to take on the responsibility of having other people depend on you for their housing needs. Thinking ahead to sending your future babies to College Station for school, I suggest a house purchased today would be 20 years older by that time, focus on here & now & maybe only 5 years ahead. I’m in Houston too, lemme know how I can help.

I have done the same thing. Got my refi with credit union after having an account for several years there, while our corporate & personal accounts with a big national bank. I was pretty disgusted at how unprofessional the credit union behaved. But you feel really ripped off by the no-budge fees of the big boys. I have since been going with a local lender that’s not a bank at all. A good loan originator can find the loan that fits your criteria and doesn’t charge points or fees to lock your rate. I’m in Houston. Let me know if you’d like her info.

@Jasmine H. Hi Jasmine, I'd say the biggest challenge in investing is finding the deals. It's a feeding frenzy among those physically here and they aren't found on the MLS. But if you are just looking to move to Texas, the MLS is a great place to start shopping. PM me if you'd like to get started. I'll have more questions for you.

Hi Joseph, some questions you might ponder include, how valuable is your friendship? (only halfway kidding) Then think about how disciplined you both are at keeping your bookkeeping straight. No co-mingling funds, because it doesn't take much for a good attorney in a lawsuit to pierce the corporate veil because paying for things personally and then getting reimbursed by the LLC, and vice versa, is putting pin holes in your claim that you are not the same as the business. Then there is the question about whether they aren't going to sue you AND the business. I just read one idea I like that encourages to just get an umbrella policy in the unlikely event you are sued for a boatload of money that isn't covered by your regular insurance. It's pretty cheap and a good option if you only own a few properties. I'm not a tax attorney, but I believe you can file a partnership return without forming an LLC. (I actually did it with my husband years ago because the 1065 form didn't put as much a red flag home office deductions). Hope this help.

Just because somebody doesn't get evicted for a year doesn't mean they don't owe the money. If on a large scale there are squatters waiting this out, who is going to rent to them after they move out? Then there is the wave of foreclosures that will ensue. This is a pretty short-sighted approach I think. Maybe the solution is to diversify and invest where the jobs are. Rent to nurses, they have job security everywhere.

We have an S Corp for our IT company, my husband applied for EIDL back after Hurricane Harvey in 2017, and just got the loan approved this summer. He said they have the business as collateral. (We don't really own any assets in the business, just accounts receivable) We just got hit with some great deals this year and starting our real estate business. So I'm understanding you can't apply for an EIDL to start up but in order to stay in business. My question if anyone knows, is can our IT business make a loan to me so that I can use the funds for real estate? What if there is enough spending in the business to substantiate claim that the borrowed funds were technically used for that business, but lent myself the remainder of the equity from the biz? Does that make sense?

@Vidit Maini 

Hi Vidit, hope you have been getting the answers you were looking for. We applied for 3 things and got all 3...1) An EIDL grant I'd heard of that was basically $1,000 per employee. 2) PPP loan, which is for employers only who keep their employees on the books. There is a forgiveness application that I'm still waiting to turn in to make it a grant. We haven't made any payments on it. And 3) EIDL  which is a loan we had applied for years ago that finally came through and it's very low interest rate and first payment not due for a year. That was a whopper for us! There is one more thing SBA is offering called a bridge loan. This may be what you are looking for. Assuming you already have a business checking account somewhere, that would be the portal to apply for this. It's for up to $25,000 in funds to bridge the gap in income due to the pandemic. The money comes quicker while you're waiting for decisions on the bigger loans. Here's a link...hope it helps!

https://www.sba.gov/funding-pr...

Hi @Chris Susserman

I'm not an attorney, but it's important that you think of why you want to form an LLC before you do it, because your formation documents will need to include your intent. Usually the purpose is to shield yourself from liability should something happen that makes someone want to sue you. If you want to keep your other assets protected, you'll need to have your bookkeeping and operations in such a way that prevents a good lawyer from piercing the "corporate veil" and claiming that it's all the same, you. I'm in Texas, and here you can actually transfer your title into an LLC even after you have the property in your personal name and on the mortgage since the deed and note are two different things. Again, I'm not an attorney, but PM me I have some resources that might be of help for you.