All Forum Posts by: Alex V.

Also just to play devil's advocate, I'm pretty sure the minimum investment to open a brokerage account and buy a single VOO at $250 a share is a ****ton lower that the uprfront capital required to buy a house and properly reserve against it 

 What has happened is that you generated a return on your investment. Hands down, no argument. That is the black and white of it. Translating your logic to your house example: it would take me 197,000 hours to generate the value of the house but it now takes me 250,000 hours to buy what I sold it for? That is a scam folks. Don't do that at all 

Hey guys. I lost money on a rental once in 1976 so it's a terrible investment. Look at how I made 50% you on my money but I had no control over it. I prefer hedge fund private equity. Fixed income is a scam. Buy gold

 Hey so can't help but notice how you completely side step all the logical arguments against your entirely irrational and incoherent argument. Care to admit that you had no idea what your were talking about when you started peddling that BS argument that the stock market takes away your wealth when you were arguing the complete opposite? 

Really? This seems crazy. Not saying I don't believe you, just that it's insane that "quiet street" is a fair housing violation. Are loud people a protected class now? Asking because my wife tells me to shut up all the time. Would it be nice to tell her she's being discriminatory if that's the case. In a seriousness is it because quiet street is a dog whistle?

Reading this makes me feel like I'm taking crazy pills. 

• The point the OP is making without realizing it is that, the DJIA has offered a great return for investors between 1970 and now. He actually does a pretty good job of highlighting "How Investing in the Stock Market Generates Wealth". If the DJIA cost the same in hours worked now as it did in 1970 then the return on the DJIA in real terms would be 0% (this assumes wage growth as a proxy for true inflation). One could infer from the OPs point that the DJIA is overvalued an maybe now is not the right time to buy, but there is nothing in there about how investing in the stock market saps your wealth. 

• Also, source for the data? This is the kind of thing that typically comes across from newsletters published by the experts at Bathrobe Capital and is followed by, "just click here to sign up for our free webinar on how to beat the market" 

• Finally, the entire argument is rife with control bias. "I like real estate because I can touch it." Doesn't mean you have any inkling of control over market forces that are the primary drivers of buy and hold real estate returns, interest rates and housing price appreciation. Don't get me wrong, there is a strong argument to be made for forced appreciation as an advantage of RE over stock investing but it's not made here. What would have happened to your return if we had a repeat of '07 in one of the most highly speculative, volatile, and appreciation driven RE markets in the country?

The Stock Market is for people who value their time, don't want a side job, and just want a truly passive return on their savings.

Perfect! Everyone has to start somewhere. Ignore the naysayers. Don't get me wrong, do not blindly jump into something with no research, but ignore the people on here being condescending. It's ridiculous that anyone would bother jumping in to a forum to drop a useless comment like that. Ignore those people. Their comments serve only to boost their feelings of self importance.

If you need any help feel free to ask. Also you asked a bunch of questions about how you could add value. Being a contractor is a big help. A lot of people with money want to get involved in real estate investing but have no clue how to estimate rehab costs and have 0 contacts in the various trades needed to do a rehab. Owning a painting business I assume you at least know a few good painters and probably have a good idea of who does quality dry wall work in the area. Try to leverage all your contacts in the industry to build a solid team of subs. This could be a huge value add for you to bring to a money partner who just wants to passively invest. 

Congrats @John Umphress. Mind sharing some of the financials on the deal? What is the current state of the property? Who were sellers? current vacancy and cap rates? deferred maintenance? What does your pro-forma look like a few years out? 

@Branden Sewell everything has been well covered here but just to recap you have a lot of options:

1. Find an agent on BP that works with investors and preferably is one themselves. They will be able to give you much more info in the way of local market knowledge and available financing. If they are active on BP and a lot of their clients come from here then they should have a relationship with an FHA mortgage banker.
2. Go to meetups: Search on Meetup.com and the events page here to find other investors in the area. Do an introduction post in the Orlando sub forum here and get to know the active investors in your area.
3. Read and catch up. You've got a lot of basics to learn still. Ignore condescending and insulting remarks from people in this thread. Read, learn, ask more questions. Most people here are willing to help and aren't going to respond with "I need to move on here, you just don't get it."
4. Run numbers on deals. Analyze them as if you had the money. One day you will.
5. If coming up with a down payment is an issue, take a long hard look at your budget. There are tons of blogs and information out there on frugality and steps you could take to get there faster. BP even has a dedicated money podcast. Mr. Money Mustache is a good place for getting in the right mindset for saving and for tips.

Also, not exactly mortgage rates, but just to put things in historical perspective:

Historical 10 Year Treasury Rates