All Forum Posts by: Shera Gregory

I plan to have my Solo 401K purchase a rental property. The trust account that has the funds for the Solo 401k has "401k" in the name. I'd prefer to not have the property owned under that name since it's public record. Is there another way to take title to the property under a different name? I had not planned to add the complexity of an LLC to the mix, but I will if necessary.

Hi William -- Yes, there are several active groups in the area. Most are listed on meetup.com. If you look for real estate related groups you should find the Richmond REIA and the RING group. Both allow you to come one time as a guest for a small fee. The annual costs to join are fairly low so you may want to just go ahead and pay the fee for REIA. The RING group has a membership process to join. If you are just starting out then the REIA group is a very good one to join. There are others as well, those are just the two that I am most familiar with.

It's been quite a while since I spoke with PIP about their offerings but what I recall is that their deals for properties in Texas are quite different from the tax lien strategy in Illinois since Texas is a deed state, not a lien state. So I would recommend that you study up here on Bigger Pockets about the difference between those two. It's vastly different and therefore risks would be different as well as the activities you would have to do to go it alone on bidding, auctions, etc to get a deed property in Texas.

I think there are other ways to invest in tax liens that would be much better. I feel lucky to have gotten out with "only" losing several thousand dollars. My goal was to foreclose and that's what I did, but the properties were not worth nearly enough to cover the cost of the liens, back taxes and foreclosing. One thing I didn't anticipate is that the liens are from several years ago and in the meantime no taxes are being paid. So even after I foreclosed I still had to catch up the taxes due for those in-between years. That was several thousand dollars.

If you are just looking to do the lien side and collect interest without going to the foreclosure then heed what Greg has shared with you. He has been trying to do the same with bad results and no support from the company.

In the past I looked at some information provided by www.taxlienlady.com and you might want to check that out. What I saw several years ago was that the old methods of buying liens via online auction weren't working anymore due to the big banks & hedge funds bidding down the interest rates just to get dibbs on the future income they could get from being first in line for the new liens. But every state is different. In any case, with the changing landscape for tax lien strategies I think even the "tax lien lady" is branching out into other strategies and I can't give you any feedback on those. Just for education could be worth a look.

Good luck to you!!

Try Union Bank. They do 75% LTV and will lend on properties held in an LLC.

Union Bank does portfolio loans. You can check with Lisa Zinzer at the Carytown branch or talk to someone in commercial lending at another branch.

One more point on the flooring. When you say "vinyl" vs tile I think you mean sheet vinyl. You should check out LVT or Luxury Vinyl Tile. As Jon says, you can pull a vinyl tile and replace just that part of the floor if it is damaged. The LVT feels warm under foot and looks great. Don't go with the peel and stick type. Use one that requires an adhesive. There are some that don't require grout and still have a grout-look because there are two beveled edges. You can use the same in the kitchen as in the bath to save on overage costs.

I have rentals in the price point you are targeting but have not had Section 8 tenants yet. The "Section 8 Bible" recommends to not install anything that could break that the tenant will then expect to have replaced including a dishwasher.

You can always add a deck later on if you decide it's a good investment for the area. At the rent level you are at it's more likely that deciding whether or not to accept dogs with the fenced yard is going to make more of a difference to the prospective renters. I know that's a whole different topic. Some people will never take dogs due to the possible damage. I've found that renters tend to stay longer when they have a good place for their dog because they know that's harder to find. So I usually say "pets considered depending on size and temperament". Of course, everyone thinks their dog is an angel so I will consider size of the dog mostly.

Thanks @Mark Nolan! This is why I love BP. That's exactly the type of info I need. I understand that this is not legal advise, but information based on your experience with similar arrangements. Just what I was looking for.

@Dmitriy Fomichenko -- my LLC will be providing the funds for the purchase. I am still working out the details with the other party on what entity will actually close on the property. He has it under contract with HUD which cannot be assigned. There will be a joint tenancy agreement to cover the interests for my LLC and his LLC. But I think your answer would still apply -- the small loan would be to the LLC that is owned by the Roth and is not backed by me personally in any way.

@Percy N. - this is for a rehab but I plan to repay the $5k as a straight loan, not as a share of profits. I didn't want to bring them into the deal for such a small share. My agreement for the repayment of the loan will include the intent to repay in full when the house is sold. Total interest accumulates based on length of time the money is held.

I plan to enter into a deal using my Roth IRA funds which are invested in an LLC with checkbook control. I have about $67k available. Including some cushion for contingencies the deal will probably require about $72k. Since I am the sole source of funding I would like to arrange a short-term private loan for the $5k. I expect this to be three to six months duration. I don't foresee any problem to find a non-prohibited person to provide the $5k. I'm just not sure how to structure the loan agreement. Would the other person be loaning directly to the LLC that my Roth owns? Can I deposit the funds into that account? I did look through other threads to find this info but didn't see anything that directly addresses this point of a small short-term loan.