All Forum Posts by: Alex W

I would try to have the property reassessed. I know several people that have saved significant money on having their properties reassessed due to the decreasing property values.

Do more research as there might be a loophole you can use to have the property taxes lowered.

Hey good to see some local Bay Area folks! Welcome from your neighbor in San Francisco.

Alex

I've actually tried a bit of everything mentioned on this thread. Books, boot camps, mentors, seminars, internet forums.

Like anything in life, I ask people who are experts in their field for advice then decide for myself which ones I will use in the end. I apply the same practice in BP. We are all here because we love REI, but we don't know each other personally. So I have to qualify the tips, tricks, advice I get from this site and decide if it is something I would do or not.

This is how I look at books, boot camps, mentors, seminars, etc. I take what I want then apply it the way I want to. It's hard for me to agree with others who say these are "scams" or a waste of money. Since I've tried most of them, I can say that I have always picked up something new. Which helped me in my RE ventures, and I think is worth the price of admission. Regardless if it's $20 for a book or $10K for a mentor program. So far it has worked for me.

In the end, I ended up with more knowledge than I started with.

The negative thing I have about REIAs is that a lot of attendees are beginners who claim to know more than they actually do. It's also harder to qualify the legit investors from the posers.

That's why I've avoided the REIAs and focused more on organizations that are not REI related.

I join charitable orgs, the local Rotary club and similar orgs, and go to places where movers and shakers hang out/dine. Most of the people that you meet in these orgs/places are attorneys, developers, investors, bankers, politicians, doctors, business owners, etc.

For me this has been more effective because you broaden your network. Eventhough you don't meet the specific people you are looking for (REIs), you meet people who know people you are looking for. Plus this weeds out the men from the boys. In fact you end up meeting powerful and influencial people who I think are better contacts than the ones you will meet in REIAs. This strategy has accelerated and opened WAY more opportunities for me in my REI career.

I'm sure you guys know about the 90/10 rule. How many of you have seen the big boys who belong in the 10% go to REIA meets? I'm not knocking on REIA meets, but I am just stating the facts. Rich people like to help each other. It's kinda like a "secret society". These people won't tell you where they're investing unless you're an insider. If you want to learn and find a mentor, might as well aim high and be mentored by the big guys.

In conclusion, I agree and disagree with a lot of the points that were brought up on this thread.

My advice is do whatever you feel that is right for you. Some people learn by reading, some by going to seminars or by being mentored. In the end you will be better off than you were before doing any of these methods.

Good luck!

Alex

Thanks for your response, Joe! Sent you a PM...

Hi guys, I have consulted a couple of asset protection/tax professionals and each have different ways of trying to structure my asset protection/tax strategies, which made everything more confusing.

1st scenario is this:

1. Form LLC to hold rental prop using myself and a C corp (me being 100% shareholder of C corp) as members of the LLC. So 2 members.

2. Then I use the C corp as the "manager" of the LLC. Meaning the LLC will pay the C corp a management fee.

3. Then I give myself a minimal salary from the C corp for services rendered.

So this means I have two types of income. One from the LLC as a pass-through then another from a C corp as salary.

2nd scenario:

1. Form single member LLC (me being the member)

2. Then create other LLCs to hold the properties, using the original LLC as the manager/member of all the other LLCs. I basically don't even put myself as a member of all the other LLCs, which means all the LLCs that hold property will all be single member LLCs.

So where do I get my income? Will it come from the original LLC since I'm the member there? Since the original LLC is the manager/member of the other LLCs that hold property, how does it get taxed now since it is not a person who owns it?

These are the 2 scenarios that were presented to me by two different attorneys I spoke with.

What do you guys think of each setup from an asset protection and tax savings point? Would be interesting to hear people's thoughts on this...

Thanks!

Alex

I second both Trump's Art of the Deal and The Game!

Good choices!

I'm located in San Francisco and would be interested in networking locally. Can anyone recommend an REI group around San Francisco or San Mateo county?

John,

I was doing software and hardware renewal sales for Dell, BMC Software and some other tech companies.

As for the Trump seminar, it just made me realize that I can make my interest in REI a full-time business. After learning more about it it eventually became a passion and I have never looked back ever since.

Thanks again guys! I've been investing full-time for just over 2 years now. I was in hi-tech sales before that. I also did a brief stint in the mortgage and real estate sales side, mainly to learn from the "inside" rather than make it a career.

While I was in the corporate world, I always knew that I would start my own business or do something I was passionate about.

Looking back, Real Estate was not my first choice since at the time I was focused on motorsports, mainly Formula 1. I wanted to move to Europe and work for an F1 team. REI was just an interest rather than a passion.

One day, my dad asked me if I wanted to check out a free Donald Trump seminar in downtown SF. Eventhough I really like D. Trump, I said no since I knew those "free seminars" were just going to up-sell you on other classes. Basically a big sales pitch. Since I was in sales, I pretty much knew this and said no.

The next day I was reading the paper and saw an ad for the same seminar, and decided what the heck, might as well go to see what it's about. What's the worst that can happen? I get a free Trump book! At this point, I've never read any Trump books or any REI books.

To make the long story short, my dad and I went to the seminar and those 2 hours of being there transformed my interest in RE into a full-blown passion for it. And the rest as they say is history!

Not sure if this is the background you were looking for, but I'm sure a lot of you can relate to it.

Alex

Thanks for the welcome note! I've got 3 properties in Austin. A duplex, fourplex and an industrial property. Used to have a duplex here in SF and did a 1031 exchange to Austin for better cash-flow.

I'm currently learning to wholesale and working on some new deals in Texas and other parts of the country.