Next Steps!

After speaking with the attorney last week, many of my thoughts and ideas have shifted, but I continue to have a vested interest in starting up my own property management company geared towards helping locals in the urban  neighborhoods. Currently I am working on narrowing down names and logo design. I have a few names in mind and once that is finalized, I will be purchasing the domain and start the Incorporation process.

I realized it isn't as intimidating as I though starting my own business and getting the ball rolling as far as developing a contract, with a list of services and prices etc. Now that I have an attorney on board as well as a Real Estate agent I'm slowly but surely getting the expertise that I need to make sure that I'm doing everything legitimately.

With the type of venture that I am looking to start up, all of the expenses would be paid out of pocket; buying a domain name, paying for an Incorporation, hiring graphic designer for websites and logo design. I'm not particularly sure to what extent I would need an angel investor. I'm not manufacturing anything, I'm not using raw materials. However, I would like to connect with a charity or another affiliate to be able to add a different element to our company as far as resources and funding to assist clients in maximizing their income. So many great ideas!!!

My research has become extensive, and luckily Atty Jim Harrington has made himself available to assist in any questions, concerns and guidance.  He actually is very well versed in  start-up and is a Co-founder of an existing non-profit.

My networking plan will be to meet with a banker to discuss escrow accounts as well as researching some charities that we can partner with to assist in providing additional resources. Once we are able to choose a name, contacting a web/ graphic designer ASAP to discuss logos.

I look forward to filling you guys in in the coming days. Stay tuned!!!

Meeting with Real Estate Attorney

After meeting with Jim Harrington of  NPH Lawyers in Lowell, MA,  My venture idea for my For Profit/ Non-profit Property Management company became a little more rigid. I really need to focus on the services that I would like my corporation to offer, that stands out from the existing competitors out there. For my  original venture idea i wanted to incorporate the idea of being able to help those who couldn't afford to  repair their properties with funding to put them in a better place financially and making their home more appealing for future tenants, along with being able to manage their properties once they were able to maximize their income. Here are some of the key things that Attorney Jim Harrington mentioned to me, after briefly pitching my idea.

•  no ownership of assets
• solely charitable purposes
• IRS sets limitation on Director income
• Two separate entities ( cannot be both profit and non-profit)
• Tax exempt status
• Housing court representation by attorney's only no longer property managers alone
• For Profit only ( with ability to a offer a resource to clients to obtain their own funding for repairs) 

Some of my original stipulations were contingent upon my clients agreeing  to hire us to manage their property upon us providing funding to repair their home, but whatever money they would pay for our services would be re-invested into the non-profit portion of my corporation. I was told that because I am a non-profit filing an exemption from taxes, I would not be able to require any clients to hire us after providing "charitable" funding for charitable purposes to in turn make a profit, even if it were to be re-invested into the company. This particular service is what I felt would separate my business from the several other property management companies out there. There are many restrictions involved with starting up as a non-profit that would prevent me from having total control over how I would like my business run and how to distribute the assets. Also, I would need to literally have two separate property management companies and NOT one company with two different sectors and tax filing status. 

I was able to get some insight on what would be necessary to start up as a For Profit and lean more on how I can tailor some of the very same concepts, while being competitive.

Please stay tuned for future Blog  posts, as I explain how I will transition my idea from a For-Profit/ Non-profit venture to now a For-Profit, focusing more on the services and consumers. I will incorporate much of the feedback I was able to obtain from speaking to Attorney Harrington into my future ideas going forward.