All Forum Posts by: Shannon Grace

Also- I wish there was a law requiring you to tell this story right after any of those infomercials telling people they could do real estate investing in their sleep from a beach. :)

Will, I know this might not mean a ton, but *hugs* for putting up with this.

My Uncle (Mom's side, Dad's side has been in RE for generations now) got a fourplex with two professional tenants in it, it took him years to get straitened out as well. They were a large family that had a system- they could always get a new apartment because an uncle would sign up for it, because it'd been seven years since he played the game, and then the whole family would pay one months rent, move in, and not pay any rent for years. Then his wife would get an apartment, etc. Then grandma, then grandpa, then mom and dad, then one of the older kids, then back to uncle- they hadn't paid more than one months rent for a place to live in decades.

The previous owner was a newbie and rented two units to this family. Poor guy.

They actually managed to get a cash judgement against my uncle at one point for not making repairs, even though they refused to let the repair person into the unit to fix things.

It was crazy, and one reason why I personally don't invest in residential in California, even though my family is from there- I'll take the landlording laws in Texas or Georgia any day of the week!

I don't have any sub-2's in SC, but I do sometimes get foreclosures where the bank will offer special financing, to get the loans profitable again. Would you be interested in those?

David, if I was in your shoes I'd pay for an hour or two of the attorney's time and talk to him on my own, and I'd also do some digging on said attorney- see if there are any complaints filed against him, check his standing with the local Bar association, etc.

One thing to keep in mind- there's a decent sized apartment complex near me that has a large solar array, and even though the property isn't as nice, new, or updated as the ones around it, it rents for a small premium and their vacancy rates are really low- one of my friends used to live there, and another in the complex across the street.

I think there's two reasons for this- one, after looking at 3 or 4 apartments, they tend to blend together in people's minds, but the big solar array sticks out, and two, people are willing to spend a little (but not a lot more) to be more eco-friendly.

If the paper says the solar panels are break even, I'd give it a shot just for what I've seen them do for vacancy rates.

Before you do anything like this, contact a really good real estate attorney who's used to doing this, and pay them. Talk to them about what you are planning to do, and they will walk you through the pitfalls.

You might be able to avoid paying the mentor (sounds like something Phil Grove suggests) if you go that route. Phil's a decent guy, but in my (admittedly, I'm a tightwad) opinion he charges too much for his courses and mentoring. I guess the real thing is he charges too much for my comfort for the mentoring and courses, but having spoken with him about subject to's a while ago, the man certainly knows his stuff.

Still, I'd have a nice, long, professional conversation with an attorney before moving forward with this, especially since the SAFE act took place, which changes all kinds of rules around mortgage origination with retail properties.

Austin's a fun place to live, make sure you say hi when you get down here!

Thanks everyone! T minus 3 days now. The database design is going well, and with some hard work (and luck) I'll have it ready by Monday, and then... staying organized and on top of my inventory will be WAY easier.

I'm very excited! I'm a little nervous about spreading myself too thin, with my REO wholesaling and then doing the mobile homes/subject to rental acquisitions for my brother, but we will see!

Which Mangia? I'll see if I can go!

Well, this week is the last week for the day job for me. :)

My family and I sat down and talked about it for a long time, and the biggest thing holding me back in my real estate business was a lack of time, followed by a lack of appropriate technology.

I'm taking a vacation day today to bone up on databases and build a solid program for my bank contacts and inventory (because it was seriously just getting out of control), and another program that will take my buyers criteria and search the property database for matches- hopefully if I am not completely finished by today, I'll be a lot closer at the end of the day. I absolutely needed some help getting my data organized, and I hope this will do it!

The time thing was the other major issue- and I'll be going full-time as of this Monday. I am very, very excited and more than a little scared.

My baby brother is also pushing me into going full time, as he's getting married soon (Yay, baby brother!), and he wants to do a bunch of Lonnie deals (mobile home investing) or subject-to purchases to turn into rentals, so on top of my wholesaling, I'll be trying to source some of that for him. He works full time and goes to school full time, but he wants to have some income streams started before he gets married.

What my brother wants is not really related to what I normally source, but I'm more than happy to spend some time working with him, to help him reach his goals. His fiancee loves what she does, and he wants to eventually be a stay-at-home Daddy. He just wants to at least bring in enough money that he does not feel like a leach on his wife's income, which makes sense to me.

So, one more week of the nine to five grind, and then... full time.

I'm elated and terrified. :)