All Forum Posts by: Alan Mackenthun

Welcome Chris. Thanks for your service. I'm from MN living south of Prior Lake now. Been up to Alaska a couple times. It is an amazing place.

Seems to me that this should be completely reversed. With real estate you actually own a physical asset. Equities are not nearly as good, but you still own part of a company. The downside is companies go bankrupt all the time, but real estate is not likely to just go away. The further in you get the more you're at risk of inflation and all you really have is paper. Now if you're leveraging yourself to the hilt you are at risk if interest rates rise, but real estate will never be worth nothing (unless it becomes a superfund site I suppose).

I got my license after purchasing a few properties. Long term I do plan on doing more retail sales when I leave my day job. The ability to see properties on my schedule, work on my own contracts, search the full MLS with all the options, and saving on some of the commission were my motivators and why I keep it. Joan is right though. The initial class and exam to get the license is one thing. The quarterly MLS fees, eKey fees, required continuing education, and possibly other broker fees are another. Maintaining the license is not free. Finally, I 2nd the recommendation to take a live classroom course. The discussions and Q&A opportunities are worth it.

Food for thought. We've got a few SFRs and are looking at quads now. I appreciate your thoughts.

We've only 3 br, 2+ba units and most are townhomes. We've 9 with only one turnover since January of 2013 (knock, knock, knock). Since we've only 3 bedroom units, it's hard to compare, but what I like about them is more $s per door. I figure the maintenance and turnover is similar no matter the size of the unit so I might as well have big units with higher cashflow/unit.

I'd consider the 401k loan, but only if you plan on staying at the job a while. If you leave before it's repaid, you'll have to pay it in full when leaving. Otherwise, you could refinance it later. On the other hand, it seems like you should be able to get a better rate on a 15 year or even an ARM mortgage. Of course there are a lot of other variables. Are you looking for cash flow now or building wealth.

Section 8 support has been positively impacted by the sequestration cuts. I thankfully only have 2 section 8 units. These are only section 8 because no one would pay their own hard earned cash to live in this development. At any rate, when their support was decreased, one paid the additional out of their earnings and the other actually went out and got a part time job. Imagine that!

Paul Ryan just came out with a plan to help wean people off public assistance that is worth a look. I strongly agree with an earlier poster; if your able bodied, you should be expected to get back to work. Temporary assistance is good, but it can't just continue forever.

The fridge wasn't that old and the insurance company wanted the icemaker to see if they could go after the manufacturer as well as a statement from the repairman so we had it replaced. Part of the cost (for the statement) was covered by the insurance company. We thought about not replacing it, but the renter wanted it and it seemed like a reasonable repair request.

Crime rates have fallen with increased incarceration rates and the right to carry movement blooming. Give a mouse a cookie and he'll want some milk... You're never going to be able to buy off criminals; they'll always want more.

If it was rented with a working ice maker, I'd say you need to fix it (hopefully for less than $325). I don't have ice makers in most of my units, but I bought a couple with fridges that already had ice makers. One of my tenants went out of town and came back 6 days later. The ice maker must have cycled, but the valve inside never shut off. Water flooded the freezer, kitchen and the rest of the 1st floor and then ran down inside the walls and flooded the finished basement before finding a floor drain. That was an expensive insurance claim and one heck of an inconvenience for both me and the renter. I think it's expected on a high end rental, but it's a lot bigger liability than I had thought.