All Forum Posts by: Shiloh Lundahl

@Katryna Wood I didn't realize that you were in Texas. Texas has additional laws against these options. There is another route you can take though, but I'm not very familiar with it. I know that there's some other people on this website that may be more familiar with it though.

I'm offended that nobody included me in in this conversation.@Chris Seveney's suggestion could be a really good solution depending on the numbers. 

Also, depending on when you purchase the home that you currently within, and the interest rate that currently has, it may be wise to not sell it, but to rent it out.

- How much is your aunt willing to sell her house to you for?
- How much would you say the house is realistically worth?
- What are the rents in the area of the house?

- What needs to be fixed in the house?

- How long before you think you would be able to get your own loan and purchase the property in your names?

Hi @Aidan Birmingham, I have done several partnerships over the years. I think they can go very well if done right or poorly if not, and right.

Here or a couple of suggestions. 

Do one deal together. If the deal goes well, then do another deal together. If that deal goes also, than continue to do deals together. Try it out first test out whether or not you two are a good fit before building a massive portfolio together.

Create an operating agreement for your LLC, and create a partnership agreement, defining roles and expectations. If you're just starting out doing a deal or two together, the partnership agreement doesn't have to be that fancy. Just outline expectations and roles, and what each of you guys are going to do, and how properties will be acquired and how they will be disposed of, and how and when money will be taken out of the company and you should be good. Remember, you're just trying it out to see if you're a good fit.

If you decide to take the partnership from a trial, to an ongoing long-term partnership, then get the attorneys involved and create an ironclad, partnership. 

@Oscar Liao the correct forum to advertise services is the classified section. And I think you have to have the upgraded membership to be able to post in the classified section. 

If you have ever learned something important by trial and error, then you can probably understand the frustration that you feel when you make a "rookie mistake" or a simple error that creates a big negative result. Like accidentally leaving the car light on in the car and having your car battery dead in the morning. A simple mistake with a big result. 

When it comes to getting loans, which is pretty important for real estate investors, simple "mistakes" can make it so that you either don't qualify or you may qualify but with a higher interest rate or higher loan fees. 

I have probably gotten between a hundred and two hundred loans within the past 8 years and I have learned some things along the way that make getting loans easier and harder. Here are some tips and tricks to make loans easier.

1. Don't disclose things that are unnecessary. For example, if the loan officer asks you what your monthly payments are and your mother-in-law moved in with you because she is struggling financially and you are paying her car payment, don't share that you are paying her car payment every month. You don't own the debt even though you are nice enough to pay it. The same goes with real estate. If the loan officer asks you about your debts, you can ask clarifying questions such as are you asking for personal debts or business debts? If the loan officer asks for just personal debts, then don't disclose any business debts including debts on real estate that if that debt was qualified for by the business.

2. If you are married, put the debt for the family house in only one person's name. My wife and I have business income and our accountant can divide the income according to what would be the best for reducing tax liability. If you are able to qualify for the house debt in only one person's name then do that. Our mortgage and HELOC are both in my wife's name. This makes it much easier for me to qualify for loans because I don't have to disclose the home debt that would effect my income to debt ratio. I am looked at by the loan officer as living in a situation rent free.

3. Lets say your accountant tries to write off as much as is legally possible when it comes to lowing your taxible income so that your tax burden is less and you pay less taxes. This can make it hard for you to get a loan because a loan officer will say that they can only go off of what the taxes say.  Your explanation of really making a million dollars a year even though your taxes only show a hundred thousand will only make you look shady. So don't do it. Instead, ask your accountant to write a letter of explanation for your finances that adds back depreciation and capital improvements rather than expenses. This can help your bank be able to qualify more income. Also, if you sell homes regularly each year, whether it's a few or more and you can show the bank that that is your business model and if you can show the bank consistency in that model, they can use your capital gains as regular income which can greatly help you qualify for a loan.

4. Let's say your accountant is like a magician because it's almost like he can make your income disappear on your taxes (legally of course). This can be good when it comes to avoiding taxes but bad when it comes to qualifying for a loan. Let's say you already used the tips above but you really want this nice yacht you've been looking at buying but you want to buy it with a loan and you only need to show $5000 more a month in income to buy it. You have the money, but you really want to buy it with a loan for some reason. So here's another hack. You can create a trust to pay you out $5000 a month for a 39 month period of time. Show the bank the first couple of transfers into your account and if the those transfers are expected to continue for at lease the next 3 years, the bank can use that $5000 as monthly income which can help you qualify for a loan to buy the yacht of your dreams. Happy sailing. 

For all the experienced investors out there, if you have found other legal loan hacks that have helped you qualify for loans which in turn has helped you grow your real estate portfolio, share some of them below.

If anything I have stated above is illegal then you can point that out too. We don't want to lead people astray. But make sure it is actually illegal and not just your opinion. 

This is such an interesting question. And I don't think it is as clear cut as people are saying. I get a lot of loans every year and the questions depend on the bank the and the loan officer.

Currently I am looking at getting a US based loan on a property that I own in Costa Rica. They are doing their underwriting process. They know that I own a lot of real estate, but they are only asking me questions about properties that I own where the initial debt was was taken out in my own name (qualifying loans or non-DSCR loans) before I transferred them into LLCs. Those are the only properties I need to give a specific accounting for as far as my debt goes. They use the rent payments to offset the debt if I have rented the properties for a couple of years. All the other real estate in my businesses are counted as assets minus the debt liabilities for net worth purposes and the business income that comes to me is counted as part of my personal income. It really depends on the bank and the banker.

The best is to work with a seasoned banker who knows the system well and knows which questions to ask investors and which not to ask investors. Because, for instance, if I am flipping a couple of properties and I am in the middle of the rehab, but it will take a couple of months for them to get finished and sold, I may be paying $4000 on hard money debt payments per month, and if that debt is included in whether or not I will qualify for a refinance, then I may not qualify. Even though those debts are temporary. So my loan officer may direct me to not disclose those properties while applying for the refinance.  

If something is disclosed then it will be counted against you so just ask the loan officer some qualifying questions to see what you need to disclose. Questions such as:

- What type of real estate do you want me to disclose?

- Do you want me to disclose real estate owned in my own name or real estate owned in my businesses too if my businesses qualified for the debt? 

- Do you want me to disclose real estate that I may own if the debt was guanenteed by someone else? Etc.

You both want to make the loan happen so just ask questions and then disclose according to what the loan officer directs you to disclose.  If while asking the questions the loan officer says that the sub to property that you are getting ready to buy would become an issue then just close on the sub to property after you close on your refinance. 

Hi@John Jacobs. There are ways of buying a property to get around seasoning time requirements. But tell us your particular situation so that we can understand it better. 

This post is for high-level investors want to connect with other high-level investors that have done 50 or more deals or have 50 or more properties and they want to improve their business systems. If that sounds like you then check out our Investor mastermind retreat that we’re hosting in April out of our properties in Costa Rica. 

https://reiretreats.com/mastermind-retreats/

Investor Mastermind Retreat in Costa Rica 2025

 I'll tell you what @Joe S. If you come to my with me on the retreat in April, I will explain every single detail of the process.

@Joe S. I use the last property I bought as an example. I bought it for $138,000 with a rehab credit of $57,000 so I closed on it for $195,000. Then I put about $45,000 in fixing it up and I expect the appraisal to come back within the next couple of days at $240,000 or higher. 

I bought it through a wholesaler. so the Wholesaler added an addendum to the contract to increase the purchase price to $195,000 with a $57,000 rehab credit. The $57,000 rehab credit is represented on both sides of the settlement statement canceling each other out and increasing the purchase price to $195,000.

I buy it with hard money and the Hard Money Lender understands this process. Then I refinance it with a long-term DSCR loan. The lender For the DSCR loan uses the $195,000 purchase price plus the $45,000 To come up with the purchase price plus rehab. Then they give me 75% of the $240,000 for the refinance.