All Forum Posts by: Curt Smith

@Keegan Lawyer always get well educated. You've been doing some within BP. But commercial deal types need expert education!

Anthony Chara is one of the best MF educators. I strongly suggest yiu take an Anthony boot camp. Mf deal under writing is more difficult then the Cook books suggest.

Your taking education will also build yiyr personal brand when talking to experts.

Best of luck.

Search BP forums for "propstream". there's long and detailed threads from us PS users.  No need to duplicated that discussion.

Read:  https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

here's the longest thread:  https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

No tool especially today offers an easy path to REI profit!!!!!!!

Just this AM I was drilling into an address that came in via my FB PPC marketing (about $400-$600/mo and no deals yet in 6 mo) looking at the mortgage situation, a bit different then what the distressed, moved out owner, who was saying they where willing to let the house go back to the bank. They are willing to let me buy subject to,,,, we are not sure we want this deal. A town home, HOA fees, damage, poor shape community. Town homes need deep digging and given that FL condo tower situation, we need to avoid condos!!! I was noticing that in that community there are 150 homes with liens (PS does great job on mortgages, balance, payment, liens, divorces etc). I was thinking... create a mailing list to the properties with liens, but not too high a liens. Some where $50k. LOL

PS has the best data of any tool I have. I have done free demos, even paid full price for the "other" tools and PS is the best. But $99/mo (I'm paying more for the list uploader feature) will not guarrantee deals. Its your hard work and pay ALOT of cash for the marketing, mo after mo after mo. Typical deal marketing costs for wholesalers is $3k to $5k,,, yup!!! Just for the marketing costs. Which means after taxes (up to 50% all told) blablabla you might be making $10/hour. To me the profit is in keeping the houses as rentals not wholesaling them. Sorry for the good news and bad news re making money in REI via direct marketing. BTW SMS is going down hill fast due to regulatory and the networks shutting down spam SMS! Got one deal in 12 mo of SMS marketing to 4k stressed owners/mo. I bet most of my SMS are not getting delivered or the owners put my phone number on block. ;(

Please go to the above threads.

Best of luck!   

BTW a "pro" in REI has about $500/mo in these recurring expenses PLUS $1k to $4k (or more) in actual marketing costs. I'm just trying to tell it like how it is. Not candy coated, easy money, no cash needed to make millions B.S.!

Hi Jacklyn,  I believe the generic advice of "get a side gig" to earn your down payment money means (today);  drive for uber, door dash, find a few local elderly who don't want to go shopping and be their helper/shopper.  There's orgs for serving the elderly.   Be a dog walker.   I just googled "side gig" and theres a few pages of reading.

Yes they are all fairly manual, driving your car etc.

Having been in the investing side for 10 yrs now I actually don't know side gigs IN real estate.   You may not know that with the sever shortage of houses to sell theres a lot of zero income agents these days.  The agencies have plenty of low paid help.  But it doesn't hurt to pick up the phone and start calling local offices.  "Take action"!!

There's a general adage that rings true:  "Do what others won't".    Which is where delivering food comes in, folks will pay for all sorts of services and today there's some organization that is managing those gigs in your area.

In parallel;  start studying, reading, networking in your local REIAs (where the experienced folks hang) on creative deals.  Zero down.  BP has at least one book.  Youtube has many educators on creative deals that take less cash (and more knowledge and network of experts to help you).

Hi, #1 fannie lenders (banks) will not give you a loan unless the down is 100% yours, been in YOUR bank account for 2 mo.

Okok not all is lost; Commercial 30yr lenders called many things; DSCR lenders (lends on the rent), portfolio lenders (a broad term today), but mainly DSCR lenders. Join your local REIA and ask for referals for commercial 30 yr rental lenders. Some credit unions do these, Lima One, Finance of America. These guys are more open, you may need the down in your bank account just today, not 2 mo.

IMHO, having done JVs, and advised others;  debt relationship is simplest.  Offer 8% and payback at some amortizing that you still cash flow on top of paying the note on the purchase money.

JVs get into all sorts of tangles trying to offer equity, cash flow blabla, what about tax advantages? The LLC operating agreement gets to be a mess, needs an attorney to write. OR you secure the lender with a 2nd mortgage. BTW a Security deed can capture anything not just debt, it can describe any relationship.

The _best_ JV partner is;;;; no partner. Try to figure out how to do this deal without a partner. You will find out,, JV/partners are alot of pain in the butt and everyone including myself ends up being sorry having done them. But good luck.

@James O Trust our needs are simple fir 35 doors, Is good payment reports a free and customizable application and a good credit check and a vixen check that the tenant pays for. We left and then came back because of the good features and we can't live without using.

Erentpayments.com

Some will say bad things about errand and many years ago I would agree but the pain of moving away from E rent was so great that we went back and are happy ever since.

@Tai Bhattad quiet title runs $5k and more. A recent friend complained about qt being $10k due to complications.

Lol qt can be more then just land is worth!

Look before you leap re tax deeds!

To answer the quesiton, I use this servicer, $15/mo if no escrowing: madisonmanagement.net

Most commercial lenders don't allow seller seconds.  The lender HAS a say re total debt.

If this is an occupant loan, the buyer/borrower will occupy, then lenders do care about total debt per Dodd Frank.

A not filed private note is mortgage fraud...  when the bank is not aware of more debt.

The best solution is the seller takes a hair cut and drops the price.  After all, canceling and re listing you'll run into a low appraisal again.  Best of luck.

To all,  I'm only offering my views.  I'm not a newbie, have spent thousands / yr on education and access to expertise.     Its completely under estimated the difficulty in finding the replacement deal that is really a "good deal".   Deal faciliators and others who like 1031 will of course offer their "pro" views.  Thats ok, but folks please use judgement when taking advice.

I hear so much fear of paying taxes.   Did you actually calc the tax you'll have to pay?  I bet its alot less then you think.  Its 15% (or less) of the gain, not the total, but gain between selling price less many expenses less your cost basis.  A much smaller number.

VS the work, hours, hassel of pulling off a 1031.  My anti-1031 views may be due to my adversion to real work, hassel, sleepless nights where I set a high priority on quality of life.  We built our business and when we have a gain, we gladly set aside the taxes due.  We got the cash from the sale there's no pulling out of checking account... Just set some aside for next April.  No work, no worries.

On the pro-1031 side.  Sure go ahead and work your buts off all to save $7.5k in taxes.  When you got $100k at closing, $50k is the gain, 15% of 50k is just 7.5k.  So now you sit pretty with $92.5k.   Is that so bad?  Post 1031 purchase, what do you have?  Probably no cash at all, its all tied up in hopefully a good deal.  But I've seen some pretty BAD deals rushed into is one of my points.

Just offering a counter view.  Best to all!!!   

Of course Victor, but holey COW, $250/hr. Please folks follow my tip; join your local real estate investor associations (REIA) or find REI meetups in meetup.org. You can get referrals from other investors for "investor friendly contractors".

Per your area, but in mine, Atlanta/GA, I only use licensed contractors when a permit needs pulling.  Fixing a plugged sewer/septic line does not need a $250/hr or even a $100/hr or in my area even $60/hr licensed plumber.   There's many unlicensed tradesmen who you will NOT find on angies list.  Often they have their own post to craigslist services offered.  Or refered from another investor.  

$250/hr POOH!   LOL.   Yes I realize I'm maybe lucky here in the wild south (GA area where city/county inspectors don't chase after simple rehabs/fixups.  Certainly not my rental rehabs and certainly NOT a plumbing plug up fix.  Circling back;  yes often its the licensed plumber who owns the camera setup and has the resources to jack up cement, dig up front yards.  So I use a mix of unlicensed and very very rarely licensed trades.   I'm educated and can talk to contractors such that I've never had someone try to pull the wool and give me a jacked up bid.  I' ve gotten high bids.  LOL!   But I've 99% of the time gotten my work done reasonably priced, and mostly well done.  :)

Good luck folks, and to the OP.

@Maria Felix the end first, forget 1031s! It's too late fir one. Finding a replacement today is nearly impossible and forces si many bad decisions and bad deals to be bought.

Cap gains is good! Lowest in decades. Just pay the tax and dobt let the tail wag the dog. You'll gain back many sleepless nights, I assure you.