Investing 102

[Vegas69]

I agree, I offer a flat fee in these situations. Some see the value, others don't.

I can tell you that I just had interaction with another attorney yesterday on residential sale. The concerns he communicated about the closing documents were elementary and showed very little expertise. The numbers were correct and the documents were valid as they were prepared. (We are an escrow state)

It's a personal preference. Your level of knowledge plays greatly into that decision. For a majority, I see value as it could save you money and surprises that an attorney just doesn't have the expertise to negotiate or communicate.

My interactions with Attorney's over the last 16 years has shown me that they understand law, not the market dynamics. That's exactly how it should be.

I rest my case..

[ironworks]

I'm just stuck in this position where I'm not sure its worth it to purchase this building if the owners who have it in a trust will even do. The benefits for me are the landlord they have managing the property is not really doing much for them. My lease rate is pretty low. So it makes it tough to swallow the payment increase but sets me up for later. So I'm working on buying what I in to avoid moving. Plus I like the area I'm in, The building works well and is very close to 3-4 of my repeat customer.

But the commercial market around here never really took a dive like the housing market did. The housing market has doubled in the past 6 years or so. The commercial has not. I'm wondering if buying another property would be more well suited with the rental rate I have. I sold a couple of my race cars in the past year and have been stashing money away to work toward owning my shop and setting myself up for the future. Just trying to understand things. I get the vibe from realtors they want to sell me something and not so much forecast what they see coming.

With the price of oil being down and unemployment being higher then normal, I'm surprised the available properties have not gone up. The rentals have. But maybe that is the sign before those unfilled rentals go up for sale. Bakersfield has always been a weird economy. When the world is falling apart things are OK. Its Agriculture and Oil that really kill us. Currently Dairy and Oil are pretty tough right now.

Just trying to learn more and more. Thanks for the info.

[Vegas69]

An example of a surprise:

The agent makes you aware of a recent code change that will stand in the way of ownership transfer and/or your financing. The seller and their council is unaware the property you wish to buy has the deficiency. You negotiate terms where the seller is responsible for any code violations. They don't realize the ramifications of the terms until they are balls deep. They are left with no choice but to bring the building up to code at their cost which could be substantial.

There is purchase price, and there is terms. Both are very important.

[dhutton]

It looks like John Oliver found this thread... LOL...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvZSpET11ZY

Don

[Vegas69]

[ErikLS2]

I am not against agents in any way, especially for housing, but there really is no comparison between commercial and residential agents and deals. The commercial ones I've dealt with care most about getting the deal done and protecting their own arses in the process. Most residential agents are looking out for the client first and closing the deal second and almost none of the deals are dual representation (like a lot of commercial deals). All I'm saying is do your due diligence yourself and don't rely on what a commercial agent, that has skin in the game, tells you about the market. I would do a commercial deal without an agent, but I wouldn't do one without an experienced commercial real estate lawyer.



Do a search on www.loopnet.com for similar commercial properties in your area, both for sale and lease. It's a little limited unless you pay but you can still get a pretty good sense of what's for sale and for how much in your area for free.

[Mizzouri]

Originally Posted by GregWeld

So -- I was just listening to statistics for "MAY" -- and the "sell in May and go away" -- which gets lots of questions in this thread. And I normally say - pay no attention to all that kind of stuff - it's trader talk - not investor talk.

May was UP (percentage wise) more than almost any other month.... so if you sold - you blew it. LOL

Next week's vote on Britain exiting the EU could create another nice dip (buying opportunity) in the market. One will have to be nimble as the ECB have pledged to bolster a transition (chaos).

[GregWeld]

Originally Posted by Mizzouri

Next week's vote on Britain exiting the EU could create another nice dip (buying opportunity) in the market. One will have to be nimble as the ECB have pledged to bolster a transition (chaos).

If you've been in the market long enough - you come to understand there is ALWAYS SOMETHING coming along that's going to be the next big market disruptor. About the time you set yourself up for some event happening - that something goes the other way. LOL

[toy71camaro]

Originally Posted by GregWeld

If you've been in the market long enough - you come to understand there is ALWAYS SOMETHING coming along that's going to be the next big market disruptor. About the time you set yourself up for some event happening - that something goes the other way. LOL

Curveball!

[Vegas69]

How about a discussion on legal tax shelters?


We've all seen the publicity about the super wealthy having a low tax rate. The reason for that is that they tend to invest their money in vehicles where they can grow their money and not have a taxable event. There is realized and unrealized income every year. The more you pay the tax man, the higher your realized income was.

I've been utilizing a SEP IRA for quite some time. Any capital invested yearly reduces your taxable income by the same amount. This allows us to keep more of what we earn, thus freeing up capital for investing. I believe the maximum contribution was $53,000 last year. You will need to pay taxes on the money when you withdraw it after age 59.5. However, your tax rate may be lower at that time and you can choose to withdraw money in leaner years, thus reducing your tax burden.

If you have employees and they wish to participate, you will need to make an equal percentage contribution on their behalf. Other similar vehicles are available like a simple IRA and self employed 401k.

1031 Exchanges: A 1031 exchange is utilized when an investment property is sold, but the investor wishes to avoid capital gains. The proceeds are held by an exchange company until a like kind property is purchased. This is a snow ball strategy that could allow you to keep growing your equity position without incurring a tax bill.

Converting an investment property to a primary residence: This can be done by moving into one of your investment properties for a minimum of two years. After two years as your primary residence, you can sell the property with no capital gains utilizing the 2 out of the last 5 rule. That means a single person can take up to a gain of $250,000 with no tax event, a married couple up to $500,000.

My understanding is that you still must be levied the tax bill for the depreciation you deducted while the property was an investment.

Charitable Contributions: I'm a believer in giving to those in need. I see it as a triple win. You get to help someone that really needs it, it feels great, and you get a tax break.

What else do you guys have?