Hi I am currently in the military and deployed to Iraq with a return date within the next 90 days. I have always dreamed if real estate investing and now I am 7yrs from military ret. and would like to get a jump start on investing. My question is where to start? I would like to buy fix and sell but does that require a lisence after doing a certain number of sales per year? And should I be looking to Inc.? I have always felt like a rich man caught in a poor man’s tax bracket and I’m seriously looking to correct that.
Be glad to help any way I can. You need on license to buy and sell real estate. You only need a license to tell the public you sell and manage for others for a fee. A lot of new investors start by finding deals for other investors but that too in my opinion takes time to learn what a good deal is. I heard today of a deal that is under contract and trying to be resold that is too high priced. I used to own it and did not want it for the $50,000 loan balance. A friend here on this site was offered it for $70,000. I know the contract price is at $65,000 which is $5000 more than the trustee was asking to start. Best of luck to these folks but I think they are wasting their time. I have 5 better deals lined up waiting for partners etc. For your first deal or two you may want to hire a mentor or do a partnership to help get your feet wet. Finding a great deal with a motivated seller is the key. Either a REO that needs repairs or a preforeclosure, find a seller that hates what they have and wants to unload it. If I can currently do this and in Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 with 0 money you surely can do it with a military income and retirement.
Do not risk any retirement funds. There are a number of ways to own real estate and protect your personal assets. A LLC is most popular today. These can be filed online for $200 here in Texas and with no attorney or even leaving your office chair. How easy is that.
Hope I have helped answer your questions. I am available for private mentoring or as a partner too if you need further assistance.
Good luck and thank you,
Ted P. Stokely Jr
11505 Sw Oaks
Austin, Texas 78737
512-301-9171 home
512-587-6177 mobile
tedstokely@austin.rr.com
masaisr,
Welcome to the website and on behalf of everyone I’d like to thank you for the great work you guys are doing in Iraq! Please be safe.
What base will you be stationed at when you return?
The only license you need to be an investor is your drivers license. Don’t worry about setting up entities until after you’ve done a few deals.
Real estate investing is not rocket science. What you’re doing in Iraq is much more difficult. If you can do that then you can invest in real estate. Spend some money on your REI education and learn as much as you can BEFORE you get your first property under contract.
Return home safely.
To start, I recommend that newbies get educated. It might be expensive (for many) but try ignorance.
Hey, here is something you might want to look into.
When I was in the Army I had a 1st Sgt that was working on this.
Basically everytime he got restationed, which was every 2-4 years, he would buy a house for him and his family. He would put about 10% down, and then live there while was at that duty station. The Army, at that time, gave troops with a family an allowance for rent and he used it to pay most of his monthly mortgage.
The key was that he never sold any of them! When he moved on to a different stationing he would set it up so that the Base operations managed it and rented it out to other military families. I don’t know how this worked but I know there was a way. Basically he got the Base to do his property managment for him.
When I knew him he already owned 5 houses he had purchased this way, not including the one he was living living in at Ft Polk.
His plan was pretty simple, and cool, just collect the rent, let them appreciate, and when he retires sell them all off. Build his dream retirement home in Arizona, where he was from, and bank whatever was leftover.
Talking to him was the first time I had ever realized the power of real estate. It seems to me that if you still have 7 years left, it would be possible for you to at least purchase a couple homes in this manner. It would have two benifits. First, it would be a great introduction to the real estate world, and second you would have a small stake with which to get started when you retired.
Larry Johnson
pshmo3@yahoo.com