Playing it Safe

I talked to my lawyer yesterday and he said the court date is scheduled for Friday. I asked him about Laurie's lease not having a date, and he said it didn't matter so long as the lease specifies the lease term. Everything else, as far and rent and code enforcement, have nothing to do with the case. It gave me relief, but I'm still cautious that he may not be taking Laurie seriously enough.

Sha and I spoke a couple of nights ago, mostly about real estate. He said that he'd never do a mortgage again, as he hates the idea of paying the monthly payments and having to pay the mortgage even when the tenants aren't paying. A few months ago he got tired of the constant calls from bank debt collectors wanting his money and decided enough was enough. So he bought a 3 unit property for $35k by using the money from the rents of properties he was planning to default on. Instead of paying the mortgages, he kept the money and used it to buy the 3-unit property and put it under an LLC so that no bank can get it. Afterwards, he simply pays the mortgages only of those properties that he wishes to keep and moves along.

While I understood his frustration with paying mortgages and so on, I don't see myself adopting that tactic unless it's a last resort. From this point on, Sha will not qualify for any mortgages. He will have to keep buying properties with cash for the next few years until he's big enough to never need a bank loan again. It also helped that he already had 15-20 properties already, so defaulting on six or seven properties probably made him 5k -7k a month for a 3 month period, and the rest was history.

I need to get more properties the right way and, therefore, I need the trust of the banks with good credit and all. There is no alternative plan for me at this stage of my life: it's real estate or bust. I have to play my cards carefully and, unfortunately, play by the rules just a little longer. After I get properties Charlie and Delta, I will have more options like Sha has. Should the refinances of Alpha and Beta not go through for whatever reason, I may then consider alternate methods.