DDBD, LLC - a private lender

02/27/2025

https://www.yahoo.com/news/beware-title-pirates-real-estate-204700156.html

An emerging real estate scam involves "title pirates" who hijack property ownership to make quick, illegal sales—here's what realtors want you to know.

12/07/2024

Good conference event this weekend, hosted by Shane Seo. Pic of some of the people representing women in real estate investing. Networked, learned some things, and heard about some opportunities which may soon take my business to another level.

1st AtlRE Conference at Courtyard Hotel in Atlanta

Great value (Basic ticket)
Good location
Convenient parking
Comfortable conference room/setting
Good setup (stage/displays)
Reasonable product/service placement and
offerings (No hard selling.)
Good diversity of attendees
(Location of origin, experience, industry
relationship)
Felt taken care of.

✔️ Recommend

07/05/2024

https://www.yahoo.com/news/apartments-could-next-real-estate-200023675.html

It might seem like a great time to own apartment buildings. For many landlords, it is. Rents have soared in recent years because of housing shortages across much of the country and a bout of severe inflation. But a growing number of rental properties, especially in the South and the Southwest, are i...

07/04/2024

So, your goal is to own income-producing real estate free-and-clear.

Here’s a scenario to consider:

You purchase a fourplex (in an LLC or Trust) with financing and use all profits towards the debt on it. In 10-12 yrs it’s free-and clear. Yay!

A year later, a tenant twists their ankle on the loose threshold to their apartment or the hole in the parking lot and wants to sue for negligence.

1) Attorney looks at fourplex and sees it’s worth $1M and has no debt attached to it. They also think the insurance willl pay out $500k. Attorney feels there will be sufficient payout, so tells tenant they’ll take the case on contingency.
- Tenant sues. Owner suggests a settlement. Attorney sees LLC/Trust can get 80% LTV loan, so $800k. Attorney sees LLC /Trust can sell and net $1M. What might the attorney advise? ($800k to $1M plus insurance?)
- Tenant sues, wins, and awarded $1.5M. (Attorney asked for $1.5M because of equity and insurance.) Even after insurance, LLC/Trust may bankrupt (forced liquidation), sell, or sign over building to plaintiff. Owner is out the $1M of property value, legal expenses, plus the future revenue.

2) Attorney looks at fourplex and sees it’s worth $1M but has debt of $700k. (Owner refinanced it, took proceeds, and bought other investment properties. All properties held in separate LLCs/Trusts, so attorney would have a difficult time going after those.) There’s not enough ‘meat on the bone’, so Attorney either turns the case down or isn’t willing to take case on contingency and tells tenant the estimated cost to pursue a lawsuit.
- Tenant sues. Owner suggests a settlement. Attorney can see LLC/Trust likely can’t get much of a bigger mortgage, maybe 80% LTV ($100k more) plus possible insurance, so advises tenant to settle for that. Owner is out $100k plus legal expenses (plus possible higher insurance premiums).
- Tenant sues, wins and awarded $600k. (Attorney asked for $600k because of equity and insurance.) If LLC/Trust bankrupts (forced liquidation), sells*, or signs over business to plaintiff, owner is out $300k of value, legal expenses, plus future revenue. (*If sold, owner may not get full market price because buyers will do research and see it’s a distress sale and may make low offers.)
- Best case: tenant can’t get an attorney to take the case. Worst case: owner is out $300k of value, legal expenses, and future revenue of THAT property…BUT still has the other properties plus those revenues.

Keeping some debt on property (which gets paid for by tenant revenue) may be a reasonable expense to reduce litigation exposure. Even less expensive when the equity pulled out is used to purchase other income-producing properties. (And the value of sooo much less litigation headache.)

* Literally just attended a REIA mtg in FL that had an attorney as the guest speaker. Spoke about Land Trusts in FL. Included were examples of landlords being sued and losing their properties. It happens.

Disclaimer: I’m not an attorney and cannot offer legal advice. This is presented for entertainment purposes only. Seek your own legal and accounting advice from those that are licensed to do so. If an attorney wants to chime in below, great. If someone wants to tell their own experience, great.

06/17/2024

Cost segregation explanation for real estate investors.

02/09/2024

What did Uncle Charlie say? Do (legally) what you gotta do!

Here's the math behind why your Net Worth skyrockets after hitting $100K, and how you can get to $100K in investments as quickly as possible. Resources from ...

02/08/2024

I was telling someone recently that I worry young people are not realizing the grand goal of accumulating $1M won’t go near as far in 35 yrs as they may think. At an average annual inflation rate of 3.4% (the average between 1929 and 2023), that $1M adjusted is equivalent to approx $310,000 in today’s dollars. Then, using the 4% rule, we can see that it would throw off the equivalent of $12,400 a year in today’s dollars. Better than nothing, yes, but the dream of living well off $1M as a long-term goal is now mythology.

SmartAsset's inflation calculator can help you determine how inflation affects the value of your current funds. Check it out here.

11/12/2023

Be careful out there. People demolished their retirement savings last recession trying to save a house/business/car they ended up losing anyway. Sometimes it’s better to make the hard, difficult decisions earlier and save what you can.

The number of participants taking hardship withdrawals from their 401(k) was up 13% in the third quarter versus the second quarter, according to a new survey from Bank of America.

11/08/2023

Networking is part of my work. Meeting people like Rolanda Andrews, an entrepreneur in real estate investing and property management, among other things.

11/04/2023

Have you made extra payments toward your mortgage but now $ is tight? Call your lender and ask if they will “recast” the mortgage.