All Forum Posts by: Mark S.

@Mary D., I went out to visit and tour with them several months ago.  The people were generally fantastic - fun, funny, great personalities, etc.  The properties and neighborhoods, on the other hand, not at all impressed.  In my opinion, generally way over priced for what they are; mostly 1 BAs (I like 2 BAs); many properties are much older (like 100 years old in some cases).  After the tour, they invited us inside again to discuss what we thought and more specifically what we’re looking for.  I provided some criteria and literally have never received any specific property emails from them again (just hyped up, deal of the day type stuff for properties that they can’t sell and are way over priced).  I eventually unsubcribed. You will always learn a lot when you visit a provider in person.  The owners were there - one of them even walked up to the front desk while we were in the conference room - and never bothered to stop in to introduce themselves, thank us for visiting, drop a card, nothing.   Big no-no in my book.  They do seems to have a somewhat interesting private lending program for investors interested in that angle (I’m not), but I was not at all impressed with their turnkey properties and quality of rehab or quality of neighborhoods.  

Hopefully you have a better experience if you choose to pursue them.  Keep us posted.  

As an investor in a couple of Jorge Newberry’s note funds, I came across one of his newer ventures: preREO.

I’ve heard him speak briefly about this on a podcast or two and am signed up to attend a webinar with them later this week.

The gist of it, the way I currently understand it, is they’re “partnering” with local investors who want to buy/partner on the first mortgages, go through the appointment process (through their sister company law firm) to be able to repair and rent out the property as it’s going through the foreclosure process.

The play is that rather than having to wait until the foreclosure process is completed, the investor can rent out the property (and earn a return - after rehabbing it, of course) during the process. Investor pays $2K program fee and 25% of the note acquisition price (they finance the remaining 75% via a participation agreement - at 12%). Supposedly, after signing participation agreement (I haven’t seen the documents yet), you can pay it off next day and essentially just pay 100% of the first mortgage acquisition price.

These are non-performing mortgages and the homes are vacant and in preforeclosure.

This doesn’t fit my typical passive, turnkey investment model, but I am considering taking on a local property as a “fun” project. The problem, other than this going against my philosophy of keeping everything passive, is I don’t think I’ll be able to get into the property to walk the inside prior to purchase and have no clue what I’m getting into. Sounds like a pretty easy way to get in over my head fast, but at the same time, it seems like an opportunity to pick up a property WAY under market value and there theoretically should still be plenty of meat on the bone.

Anyone familiar with this approach? Thoughts?

Awesome job, @Eric Martin. Is there a reason you went with a 5/1 ARM instead of a 30-year fixed?

Retire at 50 is my goal.  Will likely always do something productive and income-producing, but plan to be “job optional” by then. 

Congrats, @Jake Fahey.   Who was your TK provider in Memphis?  

@Tyler Smith, I currently have 5 turnkeys that also have all new pretty much everything.  I have these in my SMLLC.  I have one business checking account where rents are deposited and mortgages are automatically withdrawn.  I have a separate (just one) business savings account per property for all reserve items.  I like to “build these from scratch” with ongoing rent amounts.  In other words, I start them with a $0.00 balance and as rents come in, I put the monthly allocation from the rents (8% vacancy, 5% repairs, 5% capex for down the road, so 18% total of gross monthly rent) into the respective accounts.  This way, I can truly say that “the tenant paid for that” when things pop up on the property because I’m not funding it out of my pocket (although I would obviously have to if a big item hit before these accounts were built up).  Most of my properties are covered for the first year by the turnkey operator for any repair items, so it gives me a chance to get these accounts built up.  Any remaining funds, ie the free cash flow, stays in my business checking account as an additional buffer.  Eventually, when I have my reserve accounts at a certain level - probably $10K/property, but I’m still trying to figure this out - I will then use a portion of the excess in the business checking account as a down payment towards the next rental.  

I’ve also heard a rule of thumb of holding 3-5% of your total portfolio’s value in reserves (from someone who has a sizable portfolio).  

For me, for now, I like my system but I may modify it in the future.  I don’t claim to have it all figured out, but it’s working so far.  

Thanks, @Jaysen Medhurst.  We let him know of our dissatisfaction and concern and he’s supposed to be coming back to put a sealer on the cabinets.   He said 1/5 do this (what we’re experiencing) and 4/5 don’t.  

We hired someone to paint our cabinets in our kitchen. They highly recommended we use Valspar Cabinet & Furniture Oil-Enriched Enamel. He said it wouldn’t leave brush strokes and it’s a great paint.

The marketing bullet points, even on the front of the can include:

-Strong, factory-like finish

-Fade, scratch, and scuff resistant

-No sanding or priming needed

-Soap and water cleanup

Our cabinets are laminate (not real wood, I guess). He said you don’t sand laminate because it will show brush strokes. Instead, he used a degreaser on the cabinets. They looked great when he finished them.

We left doors and drawers open for about 6 whole days and barely used the kitchen during that time to give the paint time to cure (I read oil-based can take 3-7 days). During that time, there have been numerous little places where the paint peels right off. Perfect example: we had our countertops installed yesterday (day 6), and I put my hand around the underneath of the countertop to feel it, my finger nail nicked the paint, and it peeled right off.

Something doesn’t seem right and we’re fearful we may have to have our cabinets re-done. One of our friends knows someone who supposedly used the exact same Valspar cabinet paint and has had no issues. Supposedly they also used another Valspar product (can’t recall - maybe a primer?) before applying the cabinet paint.

Anyone have any experience painting laminate cabinets or specifically with this type of Valspar cabinet paint?

I’m just trying to figure out if our contractor took a shortcut and it has to be redone or maybe the paint hasn’t yet had enough time to fully cure. Just really scratching my head on this one and hoping we don’t have to have everything re-done.

I just had granite countertops installed as part of upgrading my kitchen in my primary residence. I went with someone who came highly recommended to me by 3 other people I know personally. After shopping around a little bit, this company was in the middle as far as price per square foot, said they don’t charge any other installation fees, fees to drill holes, etc.

Overall the countertops look great (went with Valle Nevado - which I guess is an A grade granite meaning entry level and very common so it’s a bit less expensive - went well with other kitchen colors).

Anyway, original estimate was $2,050 for 3cm granite and $200 for Pelican 50/50 sink, so $2,250 all-in.

Final invoice had taxes of $125 listed. Total was $2,385 (should be $2,375 but his math was wrong and I had a million things going through my mind related to the kitchen remodel that I missed it so overpaid by $10). I paid the $2,385.

Afterwards, I started trying to figure out what this tax was based on. $125 / entire amount = about 5.5%. $125 / $2,050 countertops = about 6.10%. Sales tax in Kentucky is 6%. Question is whether or not I should have been charged tax?

I’ve read yes in some states and no in others. In fact, there was an article, I believe for MO, stating a lot of granite countertop installers add this tax in and it’s essentially a scam because in that particular state, customer doesn’t pay tax on this.

BOTTOM LINE: Should I have paid this tax or did he pull a fast one on me?

I really shouldn’t care as it’s such a small amount and I feel like the “out-the-door” price is more than fair, it just pisses me off because they were late, one of the cuts was slightly off (which hopefully shouldn’t be noticeable because we’re adding a backsplash), and I even bought them dinner as we ordered out and I didn’t want to be rude and thought it was a nice gesture (they ended up not eating, just finishing the job, and took their food for the road).

@Dean Kaeo, I haven't looked at the resources list, so I don't know if they're on there, but I use IRA Services Trust Company. They're a custodian. Good fit for what I need and very low fees (relatively speaking, for this space). I had an intro call with Sense Financial a long time ago and was not at all impressed.