All Forum Posts by: Brian Armstrong

I just replaced the thermostat today and it's doing the same thing as before. I'm thinking it has to do with the furnace itself. 

help!!

I'm in San Francisco and I have a furnace that isn't working. The thermostat seems to be working and the furnace fan seems to turn on, but I don't hear the flame light and after a bit the fan just turns off. The instructions on the front of the furnace say it doesn't have a pilot light.

Does anyone in the Bay Area have a good hvac/furnace repair guy? Thanks in advance.

Keywords: Oakland, Bay Area, SF, penninsula, east bay, 

I posted this late last night...so I'm bumping this in the morning

I'm starting my first direct mail campaign this month. I'm working on a limited starting budget and I'm handling the mailing myself until I get a deal and can afford to outsource it. As I'm working on getting a mailing list together, I started to wonder is it better to send fewer people more pieces of mail or better to send more people fewer pieces of mail? For example, is it better to send 500 people a mail piece 6 times or 1000 people a piece 3 times.

I have heard most of direct mail folks on the podcast talking about more touches increasing the response rate, but it also seems to be a volume game to touch as many people as possible.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks @Brian Gibbons and @Tom Mole Sorry I went radio slient for a bit. Your responses are much appreciated and very thoughtful.

The deal would be for a buy and hold and I would be buying it for below market value at the price I'm willing to offer. After running the numbers it looks like it should cashflow reasonably well after all expenses.

I know everyone says get the deal and the financing will come. Is it acceptable/legal/ethical to make an offer without having all of my financing in order? Would a cash offer be wrong? I assume I could include an inspection contingency to get me out of the deal if I couldn't find any financing in time.

I'm a newbie investor who has been learning a lot by reading many of the forums and listening to the podcasts. I've been searching the web for properties and target areas. Through my searching, I found a foreclosure property that has been on the market for a long time. I think it will be a good property if I can get my price for it, but it does need some work. The biggest problem I have is how to pay for it.

I don't have enough cash on hand to go with a 20-25% down payment which I assume will be necessary with conventional financing. Also, since it's a foreclosure, seller financing doesn't seem like a viable option. 

Would investor friendly banks loan to an investor without putting much money down? Are there other options I'm not considering?

Thanks

thanks for the very helpful information. Rather than continuing to dwell on it, it sounds like opening a 529 for now might be best. If the Ira makes sense down the road, I can certainly open one of those too. 

Do you have any recommendations on how to find a good financial planner? I've asjed my friends for referrals and no one has any recommendations. Is there a website that I can use to find a good person locally?

he does not have any earned income. This would essentially be a savings account that we contribute to and the grandparents could also contribute some funds as desired. 

Can you use earnings from a Roth ira to help pay for college? If so, do you need to pay it back like a loan?

I'm not sure if this is the right forum category for this question, but it seemed most appropriate.

I'd like to start a college savings plan for my son and I'm curious if a 529 plan or a ROTH IRA is a better choice. I know there are different advantages and disadvantages to both, but any input would be greatly appreciated.

I do anticipate my son will go to college. I am also planning to have enough rental property in time to not need the money from either of these plans, but it seems like it wouldn't hurt to have more than one option.

Thanks in advance BP community.

I'm new to investing and trying to learn the best ways to do a direct mail campaign. This thread is excellent. So much useful information.

Thank you all so much for providing such helpful tips.