Archive
You need to protect your assets, trust me: When people are getting started in real estate, they often assume they need to form an entity like an LLC or an S corporation first thing. The two main reasons for this are to protect their assets from lawsuit and to take advantage of certain tax breaks. In my opinion, due to formation and maintenance costs, neither of these entities are...
Mom and Dad got one: I’m so proud of my mom and dad. They just bought their very first income producing property – and they did it very creatively. In early fall 2005, my mom and dad broke ground on a house. At the time, my brother-in-law, Michael, was their builder with myself and two other friends making up his crew. We had a track record of building custom homes in a gated...
Seek out great Agents The other day, a young agent contacted me about a deal down in Cartersville. It was a great deal, and since the agent brought it to my attention, I made my offer through him. As I was going through the paperwork, I noticed something called an “Exclusive Buyer Brokerage Agreement.” Be careful of these. As this particular document stated, “the buyer hereby...
“Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be broke kids” When meeting with sellers, your No. 1 goal should be to solve real estate problems. You should tell them something like, “I’m about to ask you some crazy questions. That’s because my job isn’t necessarily to buy your house; it’s to solve real estate problems.” I even tell them that allowing me to buy their house may not...
As a beginning investor, you’ll find yourself doing all kinds of projects you aren’t equipped for. When you are in one of these situations, make sure it’s because you have to, not because you’re being cheap.