All Forum Posts by: Steven J.

Thanks Bob! Glad to know an expert approves of my explanation.

I'd also recommend the Rich Dad Poor Dad series on taxes and asset planning. I think one is called 'Loopholes of the Rich.' I was nervous a lot of it might be thrown out with the new tax plan in place but it doesn't appear to be so because the business related stuff (specifically real estate related) doesn't seem to get impacted by the new plan.

@David Piqueira I'll try to clean this up for someone who wants details. I'm similar in that fashion and I have to force myself not to worry about the details as much. That being said, once I understood the stuff it really hit home how asset protection is helpful.

Lets pretend you have different assets in different baskets. Basket A is your million dollars of cash. Basket B is your non-performing notes, basket C is performing notes, basket D is your personal residence etc. If you happen to be sued due to an improper foreclosure (part of basket C) they have access to all of your baskets of assets (I ought to copywright that for future teachings, ha). Now, if you set up an llc for each of your baskets it limits the possibility of getting to all of your baskets. When set up properly the LLCs can help protect each basket from the other. The suit you're in for an improper foreclosure shouldn't be able to affect the basket of a million dollars because that money was set up to have nothing to do with where this suit is coming from. Same goes for your personal residence. The person filing suit hopefully can't reach into your personal pocket and take your personal residence. That's why talking with an attorney and setting things up correctly is imperative if you're going to go that route.

Huh... great take on it. And I'm surprised the first example doesn't appear unethical. I think it is fair and certainly allowable but $3000 to hold a fence hostage seems excessive.  I agree that the developer can't be saving that much on his 1% liens because of all the administrative fees per each parcel. And yes, it could be a way to knock others off the deeds which is tricky and certainly an unethical approach. 

So he needs to liquidate properties, eh? For pennies on the dollar, eh? Let me know here is an entire network of people who may be interested

Ouch. I think if you don't have some clause in the lease and you never discussed anything about leaving the furnace on (not that verbal would help in court much) you might be eating this one. If they are good tenants and you want to keep them then lesson learned and hopefully you can trust them more in the future. If you want them out I'm sure you could take to eviction but it may be hard to hold up in court if they are still paying. You could also just not renew their lease when its up next.

I suggest you come back with a payment plan. It sounds like you handled the fixing pretty quickly and they had enough thought to at least call you (trust me, some people don't report issues and it amazes me). Explain to them that this was their issue and if this was a personal residence that they would be eating the cost at once. Instead, have them pay an extra $150/month until its paid off

'I find it impossible he is doing that much time in STATE prison for just a DUI' HA... that did make me laugh. I agree wholeheartedly. I think you've got to work to get that sweet gig.

FYI, knob and tube may be okay. If its in good condition, at least in my last area, it was acceptable as long as it wasn't fraying and such. Yes, an upgrade would be best suited but it wasn't required.

@Thomas S. makes a good point that the $75/surchage is a strange clause and I'd agree it is a loophole in the lease to allow him in. BUT, since you're a new owner with a different business policy of not renting to felons that may trump that clause.

I think the best bet is to have her leave. You don't have to give notice for WHY you won't renew so that does cover your butt. I would recommend that you should raise the rents the $50 bucks for sure. With your current tenant you can give notice that you won't be renting to her anymore on the old lease with the old provisions with the old backround check. If she would like to continue renting from you you would have her fill out a new application and backround check. Who knows, maybe she's done worse than him?

I second getting a new plumbers opinion. For $1000 repair this sounds like it must be really buried in the walls. I can't imagine (if its a grease clog) that its in the main sewer pipe out of the house. That's likely too big and it would have clogged up earlier in the smaller pipes. I think if you can't clear the clog with chemicals then yes, you could be cutting into the walls. to keep the cost down figure out where that clog is and then you're just cutting out a portion of pipe and repairing what I imagine is no bigger than a 3'x3' hole in drywall.

I am not a wholesaler nor do I prefer to be one. I've done a few of those in the past and they really are not my preferred strategy. I think its all just too much work by yourself and I don't find it much fun. I also don't like knowing there is other competition out there and prefer more niche markets. 

I think online advertising is something that is yet to be tapped fully right now for real estate. I'm seeing more and more people doing videos and facebook streaming of projects, people, themselves, etc. and I that is something I want to investigate further. When I've sold home I have marketed on facebook garage sale pages and I love that its free advertising, with tons of pictures, link, videos, etc. and friends will tag friends. Its cheap word of mouth. And if it looks like a polished package I think it really helps build credibility.

I've recently had some great discussion with a fellow tax lien investor and I've been researching liens more and more. Come to find some potentially quetionable ethical calls made and I'm curious to hear what others believe.

For example - one local story shares the woes of a family who's portion of a back yard was auctioned off at a tax lien sale. The owner is asking for them to pay up $3000 for the 3.75 x 110 feet strip of land that contains their fence. News article here

Second example is the same company buying the liens on two drainage ponds in an area with now HOA. Article here.

Now in both of these examples Nasty Joe's LLC bought liens and played the game fair and square and is asking for people to pay up. I don't think I could personally be that cold but I don't know the story all too well either and I'm trying my best not to judge.

More genius I thought was the developer who allowed his properties to default on taxes. Then when the auction came he bought back every single lien at 1% (this was a bid down the percentage auction). In my opinion that's a genius way to administer a 1% loan on multiple properties rather than getting traditional financing. 

What are your thoughts on strategies like these? Do they cross an ethical line in any way? What other scenarios have you seen used when purchasing tax liens?

The only downside I've seen to section 8 is that some jurisdictions require an inspection prior to the tenant entering into a lease. They want the unit empty for that so that means your unit sits vacant for some short amount of time while you await the verdict of whether the building is approved. I was at a recent meetup where this was discussed and the Sec 8 speaker had no idea this was of such concern and was such an underlying factor as to why landlords don't join the program. If they can speed up their administrative stuff and not ask us to hold a unit empty while they go through the approval process then I imagine many more landlords would join the program.