Archive for February, 2016

Thurs, March 10th at 6PM @ Doubletree Suites Tampa Bay
Tampa REIA – March 10th
at the Doubletree Suites Tampa Bay
How to Legally & Ethically Hammer the IRS Instead of Them Hammering You Over Taxes!
with Special Guest, John Hyre,
Tax Attorney, Accountant & Real Estate Investor

Tampa REIA Members Can Attend for NO CHARGE.
Guests Can RSVP Online Now for $15 or Pay $20 at the Door.

John HyreOur next Tampa REIA Main Meeting will be on Thursday, March 10th at 6PM at the Doubletree Suites Tampa Bay located at 3050 North Rocky Point Dr West in Tampa, FL. Our special guest speaker this month will be John Hyre who will be teaching you “How to Legally & Ethically Hammer the IRS Instead of Them Hammering You Over Taxes!”

John Hyre is a tax attorney, accountant and real estate investor with 20 years of experience. He consults with real estate investors, small business owners and self-directed IRA/401k owners nationwide. He also represents taxpayers in audits and in Tax Court nationwide. He frequently speaks nationally on the topic of taxation of self-directed IRA’s/401k’s, taxation of real estate & small businesses, and asset protection.

RSVP Now!

Tampa REIA Members Please RSVP on Meetup.com
Tampa REIA Members Please RSVP on Meetup.com

At this meeting, John will teach you:

  • What we see in audits – and why we win
  • Why the IRS Appeals Office is your friend
  • The number one reason investors lose audits
  • How to pay for K-12 education tax free
  • Self-Directed IRA’s: High (but manageable) risk, high reward
  • How one investor retired tax-free with 50+ free & clear rentals in his Roth IRA generating $250k+ per year tax free
  • How to pay for medical tourism tax-free
  • Choice of Entity 101
  • And much, much more!

All this is happening at Tampa REIA on Thursday, March 10th at 6PM at the Doubletree Suites Tampa Bay located at 3050 North Rocky Point Dr West in Tampa, FL. So don’t miss this rare opportunity to learn all about avoiding excessive taxation from a Tax Attorney, Accountant and Real Estate Investor all in one! We look forward to seeing you at the meeting!

As always, Tampa REIA Members can attend the event at no charge and Non-Members can Register Online for $15 or pay $20 at the door. Be sure to bring your business cards and flyers and join us for an evening of real estate deals, vendors, networking, education and fun! See you there!

5 Days & 4 Nights in CancunWIN A 4 NIGHT STAY IN CANCUN: All participants who attend the Tampa REIA Meeting will be entered into a drawing for a chance to win a *Complimentary 5 Day, 4 Night Stay in Cancun! *You must be present at the meeting to win. Giveaway does not include dining, transportation, transfers, taxes, upgrades, etc.

RSVP Now!

Tampa REIA Members Please RSVP on Meetup.com
Tampa REIA Members Please RSVP on Meetup.com

*Meeting Agenda
6:00 PM: Tampa REIA Meeting in Tampa
6:15 PM: Announcements, Introductions, Haves & Wants
7:30 PM: Main Presentation with Attorney John Hyre
9:30 PM: Late Night Networking at Whiskey Joe’s Bar & Grill

*Please Note: Meeting agenda is subject to change.

Late Night Networking at Whiskey Joe’s Bar & Grill

Whiskey Joe's Bar & Grill Tampa FloridaAfter the conclusion of the Tampa REIA Main Meeting (around 9:30PM), we will be reconvening at Whiskey Joe’s Bar & Grill located at 7720 West Courtney Campbell Causeway in Tampa for the “Meeting after the Meeting”. Come eat, drink, network and have fun with us as hang out late into the night on Tampa Bay!

See Tampa REIA Events Calendar for More Events!
Sat, March 12th – Tampa, FL
Basic Bookkeeping for Real Estate Investors and How to Invest in Real Estate via an IRA or 401(k)
A Full Day Workshop Presented By Attorney, Accountant & Investor John Hyre
March 12th from 9AM-5PM
Doubletree Suites Tampa Bay
3050 N Rocky Point Dr W, Tampa, FL
Seven Hours, NO BS, Lots of Information,
Lots of Q&A, Off The Clock

John HyreBe sure to join us on Saturday, March 12th at 9AM at the DoubleTree Suites Tampa Bay at 3050 N Rocky Point Dr W in Tampa, FL for a Full Day Workshop with Tax Attorney, Accountant and Real Estate Investor, John Hyre. At the Workshop, John will spend 7 full hours teaching you how to ethically and legally hammer the IRS and protect your assets.

More specifically you will get…

3 1/2 Hours of Real Estate Bookkeeping Basics in QuickBooks

We’ll put QuickBooks up on the screen LIVE and set up a real estate company, step-by-step:

  • Funding the company
  • Getting Property Purchases & Sales on the Books
  • Producing an Income Statement for Each Property
  • Producing a Balance Sheet for Each Property
  • How to record everyday transactions – writing checks, making deposits, etc.

If you are not keeping excellent books, you:

  • Are subject to AUTOMATIC IRS penalties
  • Are overpaying your return preparer
  • Cannot plan to minimize your taxes
  • Can forget about your entities providing asset protection
  • Don’t know your business!

3 1/2 Hours of IRA/401(k) Questions & Answers

Learn the basics of what you can and cannot do with an IRA/401(k), both with your own and when using money from others’ accounts. Learn high-yield techniques to balloon income, tax-free of course. How to avoid disqualification of IRA (Prohibited Transaction Rules) and avoid paying tax in IRA (UBIT or Unrelated Business Income Tax). How to use LLC’s in IRA, including deciding whether or not LLC makes sense for you. Examples of investments in IRA, including how to super-charge rentals, how many flips can be run and other RE-related techniques. Plain English format, open for Q&A throughout.

Prohibited Transaction Rules

  • How Aggressive Should One Be with IRA Tax Rules?
    • Impact of Prohibited Transaction on your IRA
  • Related Parties
    • Related Parties Most Everyone Knows About, Review
    • Traps to Avoid: More Subtle Related Party Rules Designed to Disqualify Your IRA
  • Sole Benefit/Indirect Benefit Rule
    • Much More Subtle & Dangerous Than Related Party Issues, Rarely Discussed
    • For example, why renting IRA-owned condo to your boss at full rental rates with no discounts ruins your IRA
  • Issues With Overly Clever Transactions
    • Options
    • Participating Loans
    • Assignments

When IRA’s Are Taxable: UBIT (Unrelated Business Income Tax)

  • Use of Debt in an IRA
    • When it’s taxable, when it is not
  • Taxable Trade or Business in an IRA
    • Buy/Sell/Flip Transactions as a Trade or Business
    • Rentals as a Trade/Business
  • When Does Eating the Tax Make Sense?

IRA-Owned/Checkbook LLC’s

  • Asset Protection – does your IRA Need It?
  • Partnering – Advantages & Disadvantages of LLC When Partnering
  • “Checkbook” Privileges – Do You Need to Write the Check NOW?

Get all this and more PLUS a FREE LUNCH AT THE DOUBLETREE for a mere $69 per person for Gold Members, $99 for Silver Members & $129 for Non-Members and Guests.

Register Now!

PLEASE NOTE: Workshop prices will increase to $99/person for Gold Members, $129/person for Silver Members and $129/person for Non-Members after early registration expires.

See Tampa REIA Events Calendar for More Events!

The Profit February 2016 Edition

Posted on February 9, 2016 by
The Profit Newsletter for Tampa REIA February 2016
Download the February 2016 Edition of The Profit Newsletter Now!

The Profit - February 2016 - High Quality PDFThe February 2016 edition of The Profit Newsletter is now available for download as a High Quality PDF (print quality) or Low Res PDF for mobile devices. The Profit Newsletter is the official newsletter of the Tampa Real Estate Investors Alliance and is a digital, interactive newsletter for serious real estate investors delivered as an Adobe PDF file to read on your computer, tablet, or smart phone with a PDF reader. Many of the articles and ads in The Profit contain hyperlinks you can click to get more information online. The high res version of The Profit is “print ready”while the low res version may load faster on your mobile device. Also, be sure to Subscribe to The Profit so you don’t miss a single monthly issue.

Download Now!
High Quality PDF / Low Res PDF
See The Profit Archives for our past editions.

Scott Ulmer4 years ago I was a mentor at a large real estate convention in Orlando. Part of the draw at the convention was that we would actually work student’s deals on the spot in real time, leads that they had brought with them from their own hometown. We would call and negotiate the deals, and any profits made were kept by the student 100%.

At the time I was running a real estate operation for a nationally known real estate guru and we had recently implemented a new post-2008 strategy, and it really had taken off. There were literally hundreds of leads brought specifically for this strategy, and I had more requests than I could count to call and negotiate the deals on behalf of the student.

Knowing the power of social-proof, I was asked to work hard on these leads and try and put some contracts together so the crowd of 500+ would be wowed. It was important that they could see it worked in any market across the country. Feeling a bit of pressure, I decided that to really hone in and focus on putting deals together, I needed to go to my hotel room and call absent all the distractions of the convention. Read More→

Homeowners across the country owe a debt of gratitude to the states of Hawaii and Illinois. No, not for deep dish pizza and black sand beaches, but because their Appellate courts just handed down two of the strongest, pro-homeowner rulings on the issue of rescission that I have ever seen. Despite the fact that the Supreme Court of the United States was explicit in its Jesinoski decision, many lower courts across the country have been acting on their own and interpreting the law as they see it. As you can imagine, this tends to benefit the banks, with their high-priced legal teams, and not the homeowners who are fighting to keep their houses. Fortunately, this is not the way our government works. Our friends in Hawaii and Illinois are the latest and strongest courts to clear things up and ensure that TILA rescission continues to be a strong tool for homeowners to use to fight back against the banks.

One of the most important things that the Illinois court clarified is that ALL notices of rescission are effective upon mailing. It does not matter if the rescission is right or wrong. If the bank does not respond and contest the rescission in court within 20 days from the date they receive it, the rescission is done. Sending a letter at 19 days saying they aren’t going to approve the rescission is not a valid response by the bank. If the bank believes a rescission was mailed too long after consummation of the loan, they have to be able to prove their standing, prove that the rescission is wrongful WITHOUT using the note and mortgage as proof, then hope that the court sides with them and reinstates the note and mortgage. If they don’t file within 20 days of receiving the rescission, they are out of luck. Read More→

I know that many of you believe that short sales can’t be short; however, on this deal, the time frame from beginning to end was approximately 35 days. The Seller had lived in the property for years and the foreclosure action had been going on for approximately 4 years. During the 4 year period, the seller attempted to do a loan modification and had never attempted a short sale. There was a Foreclosure Auction Sale date scheduled for December 15, 2015. We had to act quickly as there were two loans on the home.

We pulled title work and found out that the $80,000 second mortgage was discharged as so many second mortgages were, due to the Banks being fined for all the fraudulent things they had done to the Sellers.   This was a great break for the Seller, as now we only had to deal with one Lender with having a court date so soon.

The property was built in 1950 and was wood framed. The house had 2 Bedrooms, 1 Bath, 1 car garage, and 792 square feet in Madeira Beach, Florida. The home just needed some cosmetic repairs in the eyes of the Short Sale Lender. However, to the Buyer, there was approximately $20,000 needed to update the home to a “2015” buyer’s expectations. The property was listed in late October, 2015, and an offer of $100,000 was submitted to Ocwen for review. After we submitted a complete short sale package to the Lender, which consists of a Purchase Agreement, Proof of Funds Letter, HUD Settlement Statement, Authorization to Release Information, Listing Agreement, MLS Detailed Sheet, Financial Statement from the Seller, 3 months of Bank Statements, Letter of Employment, and Tax Returns, we found out that Ocwen had sold the Loan to Caliber Home Loans. Normally it takes the new Lender at least 2 weeks to 30 days to get the loan into their system so we could submit a package. We contacted the new lender and submitted a complete short sale package to them on October 27, 2015. Read More→

We live in a digital world. We log onto the Internet all the time, and check our stocks. In the information age, it can sometimes seem strange that you would ever want an IRA that included something of real value like real estate or gold and precious metals. In fact, some people aren’t even aware that they can include these investments in their retirement portfolio. Instead, they simply follow the traditional advice – which usually nets them a complete reliability on the strength of the stock market.

Why would anyone consider an alternative, like a Real Estate IRA? As it turns out, there are a lot of reasons. In fact, there are so many reasons that we can only list a few of them here. But as you’ll see, it’s not very difficult to understand the power of a Real Estate IRA; what’s difficult is seeing the signs out there that your retirement portfolio needs more than a few mutual funds. Read More→

Flipping is Illegal – Part 1

Posted on February 9, 2016 by

Oh No! All this time you’ve been telling me I could make a killing buying & selling (flipping) houses and now you’re telling me it’s illegal, Ron?

Well, sort of! But before you get all upset, I’d better explain. Don’t worry; you’re not going to jail. Here’s the deal. Illegal flipping is indeed illegal. But first, let’s define flipping because it is a misunderstood term, sort of like the term “nothing down.” When I say you can buy houses with nothing down, I mean you’re not using your own money. That doesn’t mean the seller doesn’t get money. Sometimes they don’t and sometimes they get cashed out. But, it is NOT your money; it’s a “nothing down” deal.

When you take over a loan “subject to” the mortgage, and the seller doesn’t want any money, it’s a nothing down deal. When you pay all cash but borrow the money from a private lender, it’s still considered a nothing down deal. Thousands of people don’t believe in the nothing down philosophy and aren’t doing real estate because they simply don’t understand the term, and therefore they’re convinced they can’t buy houses without their own money. Their loss. A closed mind and an open mouth will keep you broke and working for those who are willing to learn. Read More→

You can also control the types of sellers who are contacting you and the types of properties you want to purchase. In a changing market, this ability to be flexible is especially important and using direct mail is the only marketing tool available that gives you the opportunity to pick and choose the types of sellers you want to deal with.

The more direct mail campaigns you do, the higher the response rate gets. So the more you do it, the less direct mail costs per lead and per deal. Direct mail is the only marketing technique out there that allows you to have these controls. I provide my students with a number of different types of direct mail campaigns to make sure they have the best opportunity to create more deals in their real estate investing business on an ongoing basis.

In addition, you are using your available marketing dollars to target specific types of sellers as opposed to other types of marketing like signage or an ad where you are hitting a much broader market area and hoping someone in that group has a property for sale. You should always have between three and five marketing techniques working for you at any given time and one of those needs to be direct mail marketing. I have lots of great information about other types of marketing tools on my website. Read More→

A Quick Guide to Setting Up Your First Squeeze Page – Part 3

Welcome Back…Again! We’ve been talking about Squeeze Pages – what they are, why you should care, and why they work so well. In the last issue, we covered why Squeeze Pages work so well, the required elements of one, and what it should look like. I even gave you an example of one of my kick-butt headlines that worked like gangbusters! So this month, we’ll close things out nicely, but start it off here:

What You Need To Make Your Squeeze Page

There’s a few basic, required things you’ll need in order to make your Squeeze Page work. These items include: Read More→

The Key to Your Profit

Posted on February 9, 2016 by

People from all over the world have a common trait. No matter what the product, the word SALE always draws our attention.

When it comes to real estate, that same line of thinking stands. The phrase “you make money when you buy, you realize that money when you sell” continues to ring true. The challenge is being able to spot that awesome deal amongst many poor or inadequate deals. I cannot stress enough proper real estate investing education should be your goal. Using REIA comps to analyze every new deal you do is the avenue that will help you make such a distinction.

There are many people venturing out and searching for additional ways to make additional income.   Investing requires knowledge of different techniques which can be used when trying to buy, sell, negotiate or repair a house. Having proper investing education to stand on can mean the difference between success and failure. Read More→

Safe and Sound: Keeper App Review

Posted on February 9, 2016 by

“Treat your password like your toothbrush. Don’t let anybody else use it, and get a new one every six months.” ~ Clifford Stoll

I’ve tried everything to keep all my passwords secure but still accessible. I’ve tried using phrases, combining dates, symbols and the like. But still my password combinations never seem to be long enough or ‘strong’ enough. When I think I have a handle on the password situation it never seems to work out.

The Keeper App has solved many of my day-to-day problems with login interfaces. Sometimes there are two part login screens that slow me down, especially if I’m in a hurry. With this app, you can register a device so it is recognized as secure. If you have to give your login details to another person, like an employee, it’s simple to do in a secure way. It’s also great to share sensitive data files like contracts or reports.

The downside is that the password capture isn’t completely automatic. Which is probably a good thing. It gives you the opportunity to change passwords and secure data storage. To log into the app itself, there is no need to make a code that has different symbols or a change in letter case. But again, I don’t see that as a negative. I think as long as your password is a unique phrase or something uncommon, you’re pretty safe. Read More→

Goals… Good or Bad?

Posted on February 9, 2016 by

Goals can be a great thing if we set the right goals using the right methods. Setting the wrong goals can be very detrimental to your business. Are you setting the right goals? In this article I am going to take a contrarian point of view to the normal goal setting info that most people teach. Let me go on record as saying I disagree with most of the general goal setting info put out in the information market these days.

When I take on a new real estate student one of the first things I do is to have a discussion about the student’s goals for the future. Usually I receive relatively similar responses such as “I want to quit my job and create $10,000 a month in passive revenue in the next 6 months” or “I want to quit my full time job and close 1000 units in 2016.” These technically may seem like good goals. They have a definite time line and a clear starting and stopping point. It will be easy to know when you have reached these goals. These are all things that make up a good goal but they may not be good at all. If these seem like goals you would set or if you have goals that are similar then I will ask you the same question I ask my students.

“Do you know what it takes to complete these goals?” Read More→

Recently I did a meeting where we discussed what a wholesaler needs to do to have an awesome 2016. After giving it some thought, it’s really quite simple. Only four steps are needed and doing these four things consistently will make a huge difference in how much success one has. Let’s get right to the four steps to an incredible 2016 wholesaling!

  1. Marketing – The lifeblood of your business. No marketing, no leads. It is a requirement above all else. While there is a plethora of free marketing ideas as well as paid ones, the key is to do them consistently week in, week out, month in, month out. If this is a constant, leads will be a constant. Very simple yet a major pitfall of most investors out there.
  1. Networking – You have to get out and meet people, preferably in person. However, if you are wholesaling virtually then this is not always feasible to accomplish. Most wholesalers tend to be local so if that’s you, get in the car and go meet people at meetings! And not just REIA meetings but other types of Real Estate functions, general business meetings and even non-Real Estate related meetings. You simply never know where your next opportunity will come from whether Buyer or Seller. Networking can never be underestimated! Read More→

The Addiction of Success!

Posted on February 9, 2016 by

Over the holidays I had a few great learning lessons. I volunteer for several different causes. The one I chose, was a half-way house for recovering addicts. I have learned from that experience that it takes on average 6 times or 6 attempts to become clean. Now this is an average. There are some individuals who will get clean in a much shorter time because they have super “WHY” and have the right relationships which will support them in their life’s journey. So I started to look at my own life and the struggles I have learning and implementing new systems in my own business. Why do I go to the seminars and training which I buy, spending thousands of dollars on my education? The day after the seminar I do nothing. I never implement the great knowledge and systems the gurus has provided. I don’t even open the book ever again. Does this sound familiar? Read More→

New Year, New Market

Posted on February 9, 2016 by

If you are a smart investor you read and stay up to date with the market. But as you read, you find that different people have different opinions as to why the real estate market has shifted, which range from the presidential election, the stock market, the price of a barrel of oil, employment reports, changing interest rates, etc. The fact is, all these are intertwined and they all have a chain reaction effect on real estate. While you cannot make a huge immediate impact on the direction of any of these factors, you can make changes in your game plan for investing in real estate in the New Year.

As we all know, the real estate market is cyclical. The majority of last year the market was at the height of its cycle. At the end of the year to present the market has begun to cool down or at least level off. Investors are no longer purchasing houses expecting one sales price and selling it for a much higher price because it “appreciated” while it was being renovated. Today investors are selling their investment properties for the original after repair value they had projected or a bit less if the renovation was not up to par. This has become the new norm. With that said, there are still a few sub markets in each of our markets that continue to sell fast and for record prices. However, those too will eventually cool down. I have mentioned many times that it is best to purchase investment real estate based on today’s values not anticipated appreciation one cannot control.

Here are a few items I would recommend when investing in real estate in today’s market. Read More→

Goodbye. We’ll See Y’all Later!

Posted on February 9, 2016 by

Kim and I want to thank you for reading our weekly real estate investing newspaper column for the past 13 years. With this last article, we say: Goodbye, y’all!

In 2003, when we started this feature, we were still fairly new to real estate investing. As we gained knowledge and experience, we shared the creative deal-structuring techniques we learned that allowed the impossible deals to become not only possible, but also probable.

We also shared most every mistake we made along the way. We did this because more great lessons are learned from failure than from success!

And, we wrote a ton of articles about what it takes to succeed. No matter what field you’re in, the attributes it takes to succeed can be boiled down to these ten: love, accomplishment, discipline, persistence, belief, integrity, associations, a yearning to learn, sacrifice and giving back.

The story about how our weekly column first got in the paper demonstrates these attributes at work. Read More→

It seems that nobody today learning how to be a real estate investor wants to start at the bottom anymore. What I mean is, most beginning real estate investors want to start at the top making money like those who have spent many years learning how to buy real estate and make money every time they buy. Having been a licensed building contractor in a previous life I can tell you that I never built a house starting with the roof and then built downward to the foundation. Investors today must realize it just doesn’t work trying to get rich quick without a solid foundation of basic investor knowledge. Unless you want to build a house of cards that will easily tumble down you must forget trying to start at the top of the learning curve and understand that the only way you will ever be truly successful is if you start learning real estate investing with sound techniques and strategies that will allow you to make the very best buying decisions every time. Read More→

Michael Mathe

Posted on February 8, 2016 by

Michael Mathe

Michael Mathe, Acquisitions with Little Pink Houses of America

Michael Mathe is a graduate of Bowling Green State University and native of Columbus Ohio. Michael has 15 years of entrepreneurial business experience specializing in the areas of marketing and real estate investing. His areas of expertise include networking, sales training and management, marketing and business development. He has built a strong reputation in real estate as an aggressive and trustworthy deal maker.

Marcy Moyer

Posted on February 8, 2016 by

Marcy Moyer

Marcy Moyer, Buyer Representative with Little Pink Houses of America

Marcy Moyer brings over 12 years of Real Estate experience, wit, and a bad singing voice to Team PINK. Her background includes on-site new home sales where she received numerous productivity and customer service awards. When she transitioned into general Real Estate sales in 2005, her efforts were recognized immediately. Marcy is a very hard worker and has been awarded “Agent Spotlights” by her brokerage, as well as, “Top Producer” for her selling efforts on multiple occasions.