All Forum Posts by: Chris John

Quote from @Wesley Leung:

What is your assessment of what happened in 2008? I am not saying that mortgage brokers and banks alonecaused the 2008 financial crisis, but they were certainly a contributing factor. There are many factors that resulted in the financial crisis.

I realize you didn't ask me, but here's my answer.  I think it started with the government wanting more minority home ownership and applying pressure to make it happen.  Hilarity ensued.  Lots of people disagree though.  In the end, it's however your personal bias will allow you to view and characterize the events of the past.

This thread is hilarious.  haha.  The next guy with his "first post" will talk about how the program also cured his cancer, regrew his hair, and made him 2 inches taller.

Quote from @Carlos Ptriawan:

the problem with basic investors are they do not understand when we invest to equity or even debt is that we are buying the spread actually.

I love the way you phrased this.  I've tried to express this general idea to people, but could never articulate it properly.  I'll be stealing this phrasing from now on.  Great stuff as always, Carlos.  Thanks!

@James Wise

That's the stuff!  haha.

@James Wise

With a conversion rate well under half of the others on that list, you might want to hit up Mike Dymski for help closing more of your posts into votes.  Gotta work smarter not harder, bro, and a mentor can help you get there.

Sadly, the link for Mr. Dymski isn't working, so I'll try this even though I don't think it will work.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/users/miked75

Quote from @Mike Dymski:

We need to find a way to clean up all the spam on the forums.

I'm confused.  Are you not offering to sell him something?  Perhaps in Ohio?

I'm not on BP as much as I used to be because, honestly, I feel like easy deals have dried up.  I'll leave the real work to professionals, so I'm kinda dormant and waiting for economic situations to cycle through so that I can find easy deals again.

However, I do remember several, several threads on BP a couple of years ago arguing syndications vs. doing the work yourself.  It's sad to see so many of these threads after looking through BP today, but it was totally expected based on the insanely low rates a couple of years ago and realizing how commercial lending works.

It's a bummer, but there's no such thing as passive investing and there's no alternative to digging into a situation and understanding it for yourself.

Quote from @Dan H.:

The reality is virtually all RE investments will do better than adding an ADU. I will say this is a difficult RE market and I can poke holes in most RE purchases at this time. It is a big reason my last purchases were Dec 2021 when the rates were less than half of the current rates (I purchased $4m that month that I have already made ~$1m from). I make offers but they are not accepted. My point is it is a difficult RE market, but adding an ADU is a terrible investment. Better to purchase RE with an existing ADU. Better to do virtually any RE investment.

I recognize it is a tough RE market with many challenges.   But the goal is to make money.  I have made a lot of money in RE (8 digits) and have not purchased in over 2 years.  

Best wishes

I logged in just to like this post.  Excellent advice and very well stated, imo.

I have some really good candidates for ADUs in California. Older homes on big lots in rental neighborhoods. When I ran the numbers, I ended up buying 4plexes in Jacksonville instead. Each pile of $200k got me 25% down and some money towards renovations on two 4plexes generating $8800/mo instead of one ADU generating $1800. I was also able to acquire $750k of real estate using leverage (now worth $1M).

Another great point is that this happened in 2020/2021.  If you're not already extremely well connected, buy some index funds (or the next Nvidia - maybe the current Nvidia still?  No idea...) or park your money in a money market fund.  Real estate is too much work to not be getting absolutely killer deals (and there's not that many available right now).

@James Hamling

I can't argue with a word!  haha.  I used to get frustrated, but instead I just tell my kids how easy the race will be for them since so few are running it.  Along the lines of Joshua 24:15, "as for me and my house, we will continue to work."  Well, and, more importantly, follow the Lord, but this is a real estate website, so...

@Nicholas Foy

I have no idea if it's an L or not, but if it is, I appreciate your ability to recognize it, own it, and move on.  That unvarnished ability to recognize a situation seems rare in this ever hopeful world where everyone seems like they'd rather complain and justify instead of accept, learn, and move on. 

Having said all this, make sure it's actually an L before you sell.  It takes a long time of losing a little bit of money every month to get to 25k. If you hold on long enough, you might come good through inflation alone. 

Best wishes