Robert Shemin's Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Frequently Asked Questions

The following are answers to some of the more frequently asked questions about Robert Shemin.

Q: My previous real estate purchases have always required up front expenditures for things like insurance, inspections and appraisals. How do you 'buy with no cash' and still cover those costs prior to closing?

A: I try to include all of my costs in the purchase price. The costs referred to are closing costs. They can range anywhere from 2% to 5% of the loan amount. If I were to buy a $100,000 property I may have $3,000 in closing costs. I simply make the purchase price $103,000 and ask for concessions or money back to pay the costs. The only considerations are that the property must appraise for at least $103,000, and the loan I am getting must allow for seller concessions.

Q: I intend to work with an assistant (not a young person who needs a stepping-stone job, but a seasoned professional interested in doing real estate deals to secure his family's future) and am interested in your thoughts about incentives to make him (and me) successful. Have you ever seen that work and do you have thoughts on how to structure such an enterprise?

A: A good assistant can make you a lot of money. I would suggest performance based bonuses, or a profit share. The harder they work and more money they help you make, the more money they make.

Q: I've asked my CPA about the self-directed IRA and got a pretty negative response, with the obligatory “there are lots of exclusions, IRS taxes them at a higher rate, etc.” Although her commentary doesn't scare me off, I am interested in knowing why the wealth experts (like yourself and many of the Wealth Expo presenters) are aware of these kinds of resources when the 'professionals' aren't.

A: The professionals are, just not the one you are talking to. Let me make a couple of recommendations. There are two companies I have heard good things about, www.guidantfinancial.com, and www.iraetc.com. I am not trying to avoid answering your question, we need to ask the right people the right questions. We need expert advice. I am not an attorney, so a legal question I may refer you to an attorney. With an IRA you need an expert to answer your questions. You can get a lot of your questions answered right on the web site or be able to talk with an expert that specializes in self-directed IRA's.

Q: Using tradespersons has been troublesome for me, and I want to use rehabilitation as well as buy and hold strategies in my business. How do you get the kinds of reliable service delivery without paying high-dollar contractors/companies?

A: Networking. You need to join your local investor association. There are plenty of rehab investors at the meetings. They can give you a referral. There may also be contractors at the meeting trying to drum up business. Get letters of recommendation from people that have used them before.

Q: In the past I paid for a 'coaching' service that was offered as a result of purchasing a real estate system. Of course, the service wasn't promoted as being quite as extensive as yours, but I was not satisfied that the 'coach' offered me much more than the system had. As I consider the $16K (or more) package that PRIEG has available, I want to avoid throwing good money after bad. Forgive my directness, but I want your opinion on why the PRIEG solution is worth it for a capable, professional, aggressive, risk-tolerant, committed team (such as mine)?

A: Our coaching system is the best available. We have a structured classroom environment to disperse as much information as possible. The classroom enables students to ask questions, other students may ask questions they didn't think of, hear answers to questions, and hear stories of other investors trying to do exactly what you are trying to do. We have the ability of learning from each other. The classroom is a combination of an audio tele-conference, and an internet slide presentation. The internet presentation allows the sharing of web sites, and documents during the class. It is very powerful. In addition to the classroom training we have personalized, one-on-one training through the resource line. We are able to take as much time as necessary to answer any questions from the classroom training or reading materials, and help with real estate transactions.

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