Utilizing Land Trusts for Asset Protection as a Real Estate Investor : Part 1

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Here are just some of the benefits:

1. Avoids probate! Have you ever had the pleasure of trying to settle an estate? Let me just save you some time, money, and aggravation. If you have all your property correctly set up in trusts in the first place, then all your assets will pass automatically to the appropriate heirs to your personal fortune! This also avoids your last wishes being contested as can often happen with a will. We are not saying don’t make a will, but having your properties in trusts upfront will avoid many issues in the future. It’s kind of like estate planning as you go. Every time you close on a property you can take title in a land trust and have your estate planned in advance to where you don’t have to think about it constantly or update your will every other day.
2. Anonymity in ownership. Now you have the ability to own nothing but control everything. If a tenant slips and falls on your steps and decides to sue you, how easy do you want to make it for their attorney to find everything you own? If you have nothing in your name and you look like the poorest person in the world to sue, how long do you think that lawsuit will last? Exactly. Lawyers are business men too!
3. Quite possibly best of all, you don’t necessarily have to go to closings anymore if you don’t choose to. Your trustee (who you choose) goes to your closing for you to handle all the paperwork, so you can concentrate on doing more deals and making more money!

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How to Save Time by “Going Negative” : “How To” Real Estate Investing Class

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I was on the phone the other day with a brand new tenant buyer that is moving into one of our properties. She was calling again to complain about some repair work that was not done to her satisfaction and her general dissatisfaction with her experience with our company so far. As I was explaining to her that the house was not brand new and that what she wanted was not on our scope of work, I realized I had a perfect opportunity to “go negative.”

I interrupted her rant and said, “You know what, if you are this upset with the way we do business and the condition of the house, we should part ways and not do business together. We want the people that we work with to be raving fans. We will gladly refund your money.”

It is amazing how this simple technique will immediately separate the people you want to work with from (as Dan Kennedy would say) the time vampires. She quickly retorted, “Well, these are very minor details that we can work out…”

I was able to diffuse her attack by “going negative.” It may sound counter intuitive, but trust me, it works! The people that part ways are nothing more than time vampires disguised as potential clients. You just saved yourself some time.

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Secrets of Real Estate Negotiations: The Wolf’s Negotiating Tip # 5

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 “Give & Take”

Remember: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. I use the “Give & Take” in a negotiation when the other party is trying to ask for something more (especially at the last minute) and expects me to just give it to them because we are so close to coming to a conclusion. The seller might say that they, all of a sudden, want to keep the appliances that we agreed came with the house.

You could say, “Well, I definitely need to have appliances with the house because I’m going to fill it with somebody who will need them. So, what your saying is that you would like to keep these appliances and adjust the selling price accordingly so we have the same deal we agreed to?” This will roll the ball back in thier court and keep you in control of the negotiation. It will let them know that you intend to receive something in return everytime they ask for something extra in the deal in order to keep things fair. This technique also works with closing costs, repairs, move-out dates, & other personal property items that where supposed to convey, etc.

The “Give & Take” is simple, but keeps the scales of the negotiation balanced. Apply this technique to make and save hundreds, maybe even thousands, in every deal that you do. Enjoy.

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How I Turned a Lead System into Cash Flow Without Breaking a Sweat

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We do some internet marketing that generates 35-50 seller leads a month in the Columbia, SC area. This is about 2 hours away from Charleston, SC. We have bought property up there, but about 95% of our portfolio is in Charleston.

Out of area deals (properties that are 2 or more hours away) bring an entire different dynamic to the table. Fortunately, we have done well on our out of area deals, but the last two were a pain. A 2 month renovation took 6. We had a local realtor’s help in valuing one of the properties and it turns out that he was a little on the optimistic side. Not good for us!

Soooo, I have a lead source that I know is valuable but don’t really want to buy any more properties that are a couple hours from home. Turns out that I have a friend in Columbia that also buys houses. I thought to myself, “How can I create a hands off cash flow and take myself out of the equation? Here is what we worked out.

My friend is responsible for all marketing expenses. It is completely up to him to make all decisions in reference to every deal. All that I am asking is $1,000 per deal paid at closing when it’s purchased. Based on my friend’s experience, he thinks one deal per month is quite conservative. And my friend is getting a great deal! The cost per lead/cost per deal is low comparative to a lot of our marketing efforts.

This is the first month with our new arrangement so we will see what happens. BUT, I am expecting at least $1,000 per month once he gets going. Not bad for a hands off no sweat off my back cash flow!

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Real Estate Investment Financing Strategies : The Loan That Wouldn’t Close

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We applied for a loan on one of our properties at the beginning of February. As far as comps go, there was not much for our appraiser to go off of. The subject property was one of the biggest houses in the neighborhood and not much had sold in the last six months. The appraisal ended up coming in at $145K.

We finally closed the loan today…a month a half later. If it weren’t for an appraisal review, we would have closed it in half the time. It can be frustrating when you think a loan is going to close by a certain day, and it takes a few more weeks. A good question to ask anytime something like this happens is “What can we do so that this doesn’t happen again.”

After discussing this with our mortgage broker, we decided to try a couple different things on the next one. First, we made sure to tell our appraiser to be a little more conservative. An appraisal is just an opinion of value and would range depending on who does it. We just want to be on the lower end of that range now. We also asked the appraiser to include a detailed list of repairs that were done to the property. Lenders are leary when they see a property was bought for $97K and someone is applying for a loan on that property for $145K three months later. If a lender sees that the property needed a lot of work, there isn’t any reason for them to throw a red flag.

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