Apr 2014 SEIREIA Meeting - New Funding Sources!

Hello Everyone,

I am posting the links to the new funding sources that I have discovered over the past month that could make getting deals under contract and purchase/rehab financing easier for everyone. Check 'em out to see if these companies can work for you!

1. For Wholesalers and Investors alike. Here's a company that will fund your Earnest Money Deposits. Now there's no reason to get that great deal under contract! EMD Funding: We Fund Offer Deposits -- Use Our Deposits, POF, and Buyers for Your Wholesale Offers and Contracts

• Unlimited Deposits: We’d like to fund ALL of your earnest money deposits, on ALL of your wholesale contracts, so you never pass on making an offer (or lose a deal) because you can’t get the deposit money to escrow at all, or in time.
  
• Verification of Deposit and Proof of Funds: Get MANY more deals accepted by submitting our VERIFIABLE proof of funds with every all cash offer you make. You can use our proof of funds right now…
  
• Buyers: You search for buyers as usual, however we promote all of your deals to our wholesalers, offering them a fee if they refer an investor who buys your deal. Thus, by working with us not only can you secure MORE contracts but you may AUTOMATICALLY sell some contracts for substantially MORE than you would sell them for on your own.

2.         For those with purchase financing, but no rehab money, take a look at these guys...

• Fund My Gap provides gap funding and hard money lending to Joint Venture Partners across the United States for the purpose of purchasing distressed or foreclosed properties, rebuilding or refurbishing them, and then selling the property to provide a profit for the company and its investors. Fund My Gap also helps originate loans for developers for the purpose of wholesaling.

3.         If you are looking to blow the lid off your fix 'n flip business, these people may be able to help...

• Gorilla Capital JV Program provides funding for Single Family Residential Fix & Flip projects nationwide via our Joint Venture Program for Fix & Flip Operators.
  Gorilla Capital’s fund managers are actively seeking Fix & Flip operators who are capital constrained, or otherwise unable to capitalize on many of the opportunities currently available in the distressed residential Fix & Flip space.
  Gorilla Capital’s process is extremely streamlined and efficient – with funding for up to 90% of your acquisitions and regular reimbursement of rehab expenses.
  
• Equity Participation and Joint Venture Program Highlights:
  o    Commercial and residential projects accepted in all 50 U.S. states and internationally, involving both real property and non-performing loans
  o    Brokers welcome
  o    Efficient transactions with all decisions made and funded internally
  o    Capital contribution amounts up to $5M, and no minimums
  o    90% Loan to Value Ratio
  o    12% Preferred Return, with flexible equity split at liquidation

With these kinds of resources available, it seems there should be no excuse for us all to have the best of success in our RE Investing! Feel free to comment below about what you learn from them and what your experience is like if you use them. 

Mar 2014 SEIREIA Meeting - "The Real Key to Success is Cheating. Here's How (and Why) To Cheat..." by Brandon Turner

Hello Everyone,

We had a good discussion at our SEIREIA meeting this past Thursday. I shared the gist of an article that I had read on BiggerPockets.com, whose title I co-opted for my blog post today. It is an eye-catching title, don't you think? It was the title that caught my eye, but...

the message was a good one as well. Brandon makes some very good points. For instance, it's NOT good to cheat in games, your taxes, or on your wife or husband. Those are bad, badder, and baddest! It's only good to cheat at some things like "flip[ping] houses, wholesal[ing] deals, buy[ing] rental property, invest[ing] in a Subway, build[ing] a tech startup, or any of the million other ways to make money..." He says that some types of cheating in business are totally legal and acceptable and can actually help you find more success.

What type of cheating IS this?!

He's talking about using your UNFAIR advantage..."something you possess that you can use to help you succeed that others don't have...[something that] gives you a leg up on the competition."

Brandon has a unique perspective. He gets to sit down each week with a successful RE Investor and talk to them on the BiggerPockets Podcast "about how they got started, the successes and failures they've seen, the lessons they've learned, and the things that brought them to where they are." Here's what he's found...

Every single one had an unfair advantage that set them apart and helped them succeed AND EVERYONE has at least one or even many unfair advantages. Go here to read more about what he means and to discover some of your own...

What was most interesting at our meeting was the response of those who attended when we turned the discussion into a personal exercise in naming our own unfair advantages. We found that Brandon was right! We ALL have our own unfair advantages that we can use to be successful in the RE business. It's important to recognize them and utilize them by taking action with the following path to success in mind...

Cultivate an Attitude of Gratitude, a Longing for Learning, a Devotion to Discipline, and a Willingness to Work. Each one of these statements is worthy of a blog post by itself. Each one can be an unfair advantage or the reason you won't succeed as a Real Estate Entrepreneur. It's up to you to decide which...

By coming to the SEIREIA meetings each month you demonstrate each one of these Path-to-Success attributes. Hey, we just might be the "Ace" up your sleeve! See you next month at my house (April 24 @ 5:45 pm)!

P.S. If  you would like to write your own educational posts to the main SEIREIA Blog or have access to the Members Only page where our contact list resides and where deals and referrals can be posted, just add me to your Google+ circles and send me a quick email and I'll send the invitation right on over.

Feb 2014 SEIREIA Meeting - The American Society for Asset Protection

Hello Investors!

We had a great meeting last Thursday. Our first guest speaker, Scott Horan, representing the American Society for Asset Protection, spoke to us about protecting our assets in this litigious society. He said, "One bad lawsuit can mean the end of your business and ruin your life." I've never experienced this, but I sure don't want to. His company is making protecting ourselves just a little bit easier. 

I'm posting the outline for last Thursday's meeting as a reminder for those who came and for those of you who weren't able to come, so you could at least see what you missed.

What is Total Asset Protection?

Asset protection is a highly specialized area of law that uses strategies and tools to solve three major problems: lawsuits, taxes, and probate. Total asset protection integrates legal tools and strategies to provide lawsuit protection, tax reduction, and estate planning.

Lawsuit Protection
Problem #1: There are over one hundred million lawsuits currently pending in the United States, and it is estimated that a new lawsuit is filed every thirty seconds. It is now routine for judgments to be in the millions. If you are not properly structured, it only takes one lawsuit to lose everything.

Solution #1: We learned on Thursday night how to protect 100% of your professional and personal assets from lawsuits and how to make yourself so unattractive to a plaintiff attorney that they will not pursue a lawsuit against you. It has to do with what he called a Charging Order. Do you have one in your Operating Agreement? Do you even have an Operating Agreement? An Operating Agreement is legally required for your LLC to function correctly even if you are a single member LLC. If you don't have one, the ASAP can help you.

Tax Reduction
Problem #2: Billions of dollars are overpaid each year in taxes as a result of people not using all the deductions and tax laws available. According to the IRS commissioner, millions of taxpayers are overpaying their taxes each year.

Solution #2: We learned on Thursday night how to reduce your taxes to the legal minimum—
potentially saving you thousands of dollars each year. The ASAP knows the tax reduction strategies used by the nation’s top tax reduction law firms. Are you aware of ALL the deductions a business owner can take to legally reduce their tax liability? There are more ways than you can imagine. The ASAP can show you the complete list and explain how to take advantage of the system already in place that will help you be successful.

Estate Planning
Problem #3: The vast majority of Americans either do not have an estate plan or have an
incomplete or ineffective one. If you are one of the many who do not have an effective estate plan, up to 50% of your estate could be lost to probate costs, federal estate taxes and state inheritance taxes.

Solution #3: We learned on Thursday night how to avoid probate, and eliminate or dramatically reduce your estate taxes. We learned what we should be doing now to prepare for successful business and estate succession. The bottom line is... have an Estate PLAN in place BEFORE you die. Your family, partners, and creditors will be glad you did. The ASAP makes this easy and less costly than hiring an attorney.

For more information, please contact Scott Horan at 208-521-6749 or Scott@AmericanSocietyAP.org and tell him that you are a member of SEIREIA. For those who were in attendance at our meeting Thursday, you were offered a discount on the ASAP services. You can also visit their website: 

www.AmericanSocietyForAssetProtection.com.

13 Rules Great Landlords Almost Never Break

Hello All,

I thought this was a great article from Bigger Pockets. Be sure to read the comments below it. Some important additions were made there.

13-rules-great-landlords-almost-never-break

Enjoy!

P.S. Remember to come to the SEIREIA meeting this Thursday at 5:45pm. We are having a guest speaker come to talk to us about Asset Protection.

Jan 2014 SEIREIA Meeting - Brief Summary of Our Monthly Meeting

WAHOO!! We had a great showing of NINE people at our meeting last night! I'm told that it was because I sent the reminder out last Friday giving them more time for it to make it onto their agenda. Someone else told me Friday was too early because by the next Thursday they've forgotten about the meeting already. So I guess I'll need to send three reminders: one on the Friday before, another on the Tuesday before, and one more on the day of just to keep it in the front of everyone's mind. Feedback is wonderful! It helps me know what I can do better at getting the word out to you all. Thanks!

We learned about what projects each investor was working on and how it was improving their  understanding of real estate investing. Some of the highlights included:

Barbara Zitzman-Smith was working on a Tax Lien purchasing project on a property in Ohio. Seems like she's going to foreclosure on a house in a great neighborhood that she bought for $5k in taxes. What a coup!

Shane Hayes is cultivating some contacts for some exciting funding opportunities and he's been doing some Probate Prospecting. He's promised to tell us all about it in an upcoming meeting.

Dennis Leonard updated us on the saga of the intransigent gentleman from Boise with a vacant house in Idaho Falls and gave us some thoughts on prospecting using real estate agents.

Michael McGuire cheered about the sale of his Partnership's sale of their house on Falls Dr and shared with us what it's like to have discovered a renter that DIED in one of his apartments. We determined that we should all make sure we have a place in our rental/lease agreements that asks for "NEXT OF KIN."
Oh yeah!

Dennis Warr was excited about finishing the rehab on our flip house on Spratt. The carpet goes in on Monday! Yay! He mentioned that we are working on some other projects around town and out of town.

We had a new investor join us from Blackfoot named Mike Fresh. He's got a couple of SFR rentals and is looking to really go to town down in his neighborhood.

Rob Empey shared what he's learned from the two flips he and his partner did last summer. He's realized that in this climate area, it's best to buy and fix in the Winter so you can sell in the Spring and Summer. I heartily agree!

I talked about how important it is for RE investors to think "OUTSIDE the box." Case in point: our duplex in Rexburg where we are working on a Reverse Subject-To Contract where we may sell our house with a basement apt to our renters who need some time to fix their credit while we figure out a way to pay off the amount that we are upside down on the 2nd mortgage. It's a mess, but our knowledge of RE investing and thinking outside-the-box may just get us all out of this situation without destroying our good credit with a short sale.

Lastly, but certainly not least-ly, Dorothy Swiesz joined in by telling us of her many investments, which she is waiting to pay her back with lots of interest. She is excited for them to come back in so she can turn right around and reinvest them again!

Everyone had so much to share and we learned many things from each other.

EDUCATION SEGMENT
For the edu-segment of the meeting, I shared another RE Investing strategy that I had learned about the week before from reading a LinkedIn post and comment thread. Joe Villaneuve was the commentor that talked about his system called the RECapSystem for what he calls his Flip to Hold strategy. You can find more about it on his web page where he invites you to take his classes (www.recapsystem.wordpress.com). The most important points that I learned was that an investor can look for un-lien-able funds that are not attached to a specific property (e.g., equipment leasing, hedge fund partners, etc.) with which to purchase and rehab your flips. That way you can use the same funds over and over again by purchasing/rehabbing with cash, then getting a bank loan to refi out 80% of the ARV, which you can then use to buy and rehab another house. Meanwhile, he puts a renter into the first property to pay the mortgage payments on the bank loan.

You can only do this 10 times by yourself (until loan(s) are paid off) because the banks will only allow 10 loans per investor at any one time. But with a Joint Venture Partner,  you can use the JV partner's money and do it 10 times again. With 10 or 20 or however many cash flowing properties, the investor uses the cash flow from all but one property to pay off the property with the smallest loan. When that one's paid off, you can go buy another property with that JV partner. That's a possible 20+ properties for you and one JV Partner that are all working to get each house paid off one at a time at a very quick pace AND you did it using the same dollars over and over. This strategy has the potential to create not only additional invest-able funds, but to create cash flow for you to live on while building your million-dollar real estate portfolio.

Thanks for reading this very long post. I hope to see you all at the next SEIREIA meeting next month for SEIREIAs investors only.

Merry Christmas! Education Subject Poll - Response Needed

I'm preparing for the next SEIREIA meeting upcoming this Thursday at 5:45 pm. I'm pondering what information would be the most helpful to present during the Education segment for the meeting.

I'd like to get some feedback from the SEIREIA members as to what questions you have or information you need to help you move forward with your Real Estate Investing business. Please feel free to ask your questions and/or give me that feedback in the comments below. Here are some topics that I'm considering...

1) How to avoid over-rehabbing, one of the biggest pitfalls for new investors.
2) How to market your FSBO property
3) Where to find funding for your real estate purchases
4) Setting RE Goals for the New Year

Please let me know if one of these or some other topic suits your fancy.

Thanks,
Marti

2 Important Reasons Why Attending a Real Estate Club Is A Good Idea

Build Your Investing Team Through Your Local REIA

A very important group of players for your power team are other real estate investors. One way you can find these investors through Investor Forums, through local real estate clubs, or through web-based real estate clubs.

1) We might use these investors as mentors, but more importantly, they are used to aid in your exits. While attending real estate clubs or chatting with other students, you might find out that one investor is interested in buying beat up homes to rehab and sell. You might also find another investor that likes to buy raw land and develop it.

2) Knowing investors in the area can be powerful because you can invest with those investors in mind. For example, you could speak to the one interested in land and find out where he or she likes buying land and find out specifically what he or she likes or avoids. And then you can find property specifically for him or her. Call the investor up and show images of the property and information on the property including historic values and the neighborhood and then work the deal before you make your investment.

Having other real estate investors can provide the investor with a constant buyer for investments. The investor can reach out to relationships and invest with the end in mind much easier knowing that other investors are anxious for the deals that [you] can provide. 

(Basic text from www.taxlienvault.com, edited by Marti Castle Warr)