All Forum Posts by: Shawn Thom

If your goal is to have a rental portfolio and you have the cash to do it, just go straight to the rentals. If you need to grow your capital to buy rentals then start there. Everyone thinks flips are fun and glamorous. To me they are way more stressful. For me they are usually bigger, higher $$ rehabs than my holds. They take time and effort away from doing holds. If I could do without that stress and just focus on something that create long term cash flow I'd just focus on that and never look back.

how much cost is the installation?  

personally, I would assume a house has a phone line when I moved in.

If it isn't much, I'd do it.  If it is a lot, I'd tell the tenant you'd pay for part of it.  Assuming it isn't $1000, installing it may be cheaper than a tenant turn over.

Most will make you pay for those. They want you to have done skin in the game especially if you are new. I know done very seasoned investors that can get 100% financing for flips where they have no money out up front and get all their fees and costs taken out when they sell (on a flip). Those are the guys who have done 100s of profitable deals and have lots of connections and reputation.

I hate paying for quick books but it does everything my CPA and i need it to do. It can easily track multiple properties by setting up classes. By using classes it tags those expenses for that property. There is a learning curve but I pay a book keeper to help me set stuff up then I just copy her model. Quick books online lets u upload receipts to each journal entry so everything is there together. You can run reports against each property (using the class) and instantly know where you are at for profit. I let my bookkeeper enter the properties using the HUD1 in the beginning, then I track all expenses during rehab and she enters hud1 on the sale. It cost me about $50-75 on each side for that. I resisted for a long time but tell everyone know if you are going to scale out start using QB from the beginning. It's hard to convert over the bigger you get.

looks like she got caught

http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Southlake-Title-C...

To clarify, it looks like my Intel on the amount the accused allegedly took of with had an extra zero attached to it.  Everything I have read since says $3 million not $30million. 

you can learn a lot by watching from afar.  I don't think you have to be over his shoulder watching him pick out a screwdriver from his toolbox, following him out to his truck for supplies etc.  Just by popping in every once in a while to check progress and take a look lets you know what he is doing and how he is doing it.

If you want to tell him, tell him.  I'd say you just want to pop in every once in a while to see how things are and to learn what he is doing.  Stay out of his way, only ask questions if you can't figure it out by watching him.

One of the most expensive things is tenant turn over.  You are setting up a design that creates turn over.  If they were paying you double rent, that would be one thing, but they aren't.

Unless you are having a really hard time renting it, i'd say you don't accept anything shorter than a 1 year lease and hope that makes them move on.

Look for an independent agent that has tapco insurance.  Their prices have been decent to me.  They are one of the few companies I've found that will add theft.  I have not had a claim so take that for what its worth.

On those policies remember that half of the premium is earned, so if you cancel early (because you sold it) you can only get half you money back.  I always do a 6  month policy knowing that rehab, sale and close could take 3 months.  That way I still get half my money back if I close early.

I have enough for a roof or full AC set aside.

Have you found anyone to do a heloc in an llc name for a rental? In Texas it's hard to find. Why not get a loan from the beginning in the llc name?