All Forum Posts by: Bob Daniels

Federal fair housing laws only apply if you own more more than three single family homes at a time.  This means that if you are a small time landlord you can legally discriminate for any, or no reason whatsoever.  Protected class or not.  The only real rule that stands in this case is the 1866 civil rights act which disallows denial based on race with no exceptions.  I don't recommend that you ever actually do this however, since it makes you look like a giant $#*&.  However since you said you don't exactly care if its 100% legal or not then you are always free to do whatever you want, you just have to be prepared to suffer the legal consequences when someone takes offense.  

NOTE:  Some state or local governments have fair housing laws that are more strict than federal, so do your research.

If all you are doing is asking other investors for advice, then they don't need to know the property address, and any photos you provide should have the mailbox address wiped out.  All they need is general information about the property to give you the kind of advice you are seeking.  If you willingly give the address out to other investors before you have the property under contract then it's still a free for all.  Only once you have the property locked up under contract does any outside investor need to know the exact location.

If you need your lambo to count towards your net worth to qualify as an accredited investor, or to count towards assets for a loan, then you probably shouldn't be getting the loan in the first place.  The same goes for watches, art, and whatever other fancy trinkets you have.

Many lenders aren't going to care that you have a bunch of fancy junk.  If it can't be easily and immediately liquidated for full value, then it doesn't count.  Just like none of the lenders will count any of my crypto currency as an asset because the price is too uncertain...Which I am perfectly fine with.

I would triple check those rents.  Adding 1k/month for a bathroom sounds beyond ridiculous unless this is already a 5k+ /month rental in San Francisco or something similar.

We are involved in conflicts on what seems to be a daily basis, this conflict with Iran is nothing different.  Nobody wants to start WWIII during an election year, its better to look tough than actually be tough.  

Prices will not change in any statistically significant manner.  Keep calm and buy on.  

It depends what the issue is.  If its a leaky sink then absolutely you don't have to hire a professional.  If its a mold complaint then you will want to call in the pros.

However regardless of what the issue is, any time a tenant threatens to move, its probably a good idea to start planning on non renewing their lease when the time comes.  Life is too short to put up with problem tenants.

Personally I wouldn't include any of it.  If you have to sell your jewelry to cover a loan then you shouldn't have gotten the loan in the first place. 

It depends on what you consider "a lot of work".  Many of these techniques listed have a fair amount of industry specific knowledge that you would want to familiarize yourself with prior to jumping in.  Do you have experience lending money?  Do you know how to spot someone worth lending to vs someone who is risky?  Do you know anything about tax liens?  etc etc.  

The best returns will usually involve more work of some sort or another.  If you wanted to be more active, I would intimately familiarizing yourself with the ins/outs of buying and selling homes using owner financing.  However this takes time to both research, and a lot of time grinding the pavement trying to find sellers willing to do owner financed deals cheap enough to make it worth your time.  

If you wanted to be more passive, and still get a very solid return on your investment and 'probably' avoid that dreaded economic crash that we keep being told is right around the corner year after year, is to invest in something like Fundrise, a crowd funded real estate platform.  I've been averaging 10-13% returns using them.  The down side is that your money isn't very accessible, so you would need to be OK with leaving it in there for at least 3-5 years while you work up the rest of the money for your next downpayment on another rental.  

I also like the idea of investing that money into another vehicle and take advantage of the arbitrage.  However if paying down one of the loans was my only option I would pay off the 25k loan entirely.  

Obviously if you paid the money towards the 5.5% loan it would ultimately save you a little bit more money in interest, and I would suggest going this route if you weren't able to completely close out the other loan.  But since you can get rid of that smaller loan entirely it can give you some peace of mind and free up a little extra money each month that doens't need to go towards that second loan.

A 1% interest spread on 25k is only about $250 per year, so paying it towards the higher interest loan isn't going to save you a ton, and in my opinion not having two seperate payments would be worth that 250 yearly.  

Always conduct a proper due diligence, and never, ever, under any circumstances, start a remodel before you own the property.