Business name/ Website

I am brand new also, so please do not consider my opinion to be fact. But to me, it was the first thing I did after reading the first book. My logic was that I wanted to pass out business cards and to find buyers/lenders ASAP. Also, I wanted to FEEL legit from the start. I do plan to Incorporate after my first deal as well, for legal/personal/financial safety and Building Business credit/reputation thru Dunn & Bradstreet. Best Wishes!

A business name is just one building block of building your business. I think the sooner you lay the blocks the more solid your business will become. I feel your business name is very important to have befor ordering your business cards. There are many more building blocks you will eventually need to protect yourself and your assets. So the sooner you start the better.

Good luck.

for the reasons mentioned. It builds credibility and you need to seperate your business from personal to protect your assets. Think of a name, and then get your business cards. A website can come in handy but is not a necessity, it just depends on how you want to approach things.

You also do not have to form an business entity, but it sure helps. Some say wait until the first deal, which is fine. However when you are doing deals you probably want to have a business name, either a DBA "Doing business As", or an LLC, or some other such entity, which you will need if you don't use your own name.

Jill & I have been doing this for 15 years & we did start a S corp in 2004, but only put vacant land in the corp.'s name for liability resons, then built spec homes on them using our personal names.
We have done 64 rehabs, all in our personal names because insurance is cheaper & the money is coming from our Home Equity Line of Credit, which is in our personal name for POFs.
I owned an oil company in N.J. which was a S Corp from 1981 until 2000 when I retired & sold my half of the stock to my brother. The company grossed 1.2 million to 3.9 million per year, had an excellent Dun & Bradstreet rating, but still had to give personal guanantees to the oil refineries & for loans.
Make some money first, use "We Buy Houses" with your name & phone number on business cards; use a magicjack phone number for a separate line, it's cheap & annonomus for bandit signs.
Despite a corporaton being a separate entity, you can still be named in a law suit. Having a corporation means having an account doing, an additional tax return, payroll taxes, workers comp.& other state fillings.
Keep it Simple when starting out! Make $$$$$$$$, then worry about it!!!

You don't need an LLC, you don't need Duns & Bradstreet, you don't need a website... I did all that when I first started and I have found out that I didn't really need any of it; I can't put my buy and holds in the LLC because the banks won't refinance them if I do...I would wait until you have your deals coming in, then you will know better what you need depending on the direction you're taking with your rei.
Definitely get some business cards; but they don't need to have a company name on them... Just put 'I Buy Houses' or 'I sell houses' your name and a phone number (get a google number or a magic jack)

Wishing you success,

until you start making money, you only have a hobby. The big thing you must do in the beginning is to be professional and treat real estate like a career.

I agree with Gary, Val and Bill. I started out setting up my LLC, my website, etc. It was a waste of money at that point.

Depending on what type investing you do (wholesaling, L/Os, Sub2, etc), you may not even be putting property in your name. If that's the case, again, it's a waste of money and effort.

Also, you want to wait to see if this is for you. It isn't for everyone and you don't want to have invested a lot if it is not necessary. You will have plenty of time to do that stuff.

If you do start doing a lot of deals, you will want to talk to a CPA who is knowledgable about REI to find out which entity is best for the type of investing you will be doing. You don't want to set up one and find out in a year or two that you should have done a different one.

Good luck!

Karen

I joined the success academy in Dec. and one of the coaches told me I should get an llc before i start buying properties. But I didnt really want to do that right now, so Im glad you're all telling me its not necessay. I am learning to wholesale so I guess if I'm getting houses under contract, is that considered buying? I'm going to talk to the coaches some more but I just wanted to get some other opinions. So thank you for all the advice!

When you wholesale, you are selling your rights or position in the contract before the property ever closes and goes into your name. So you are never "buying" the property. Same with L/Os and Sub2s.

If you are planning to buy and hold or do flips the props will be in your name, so at that time you may want to get an LLC or an S Corp.

Karen