All Forum Posts by: Christie Gahan

They cashed your check  in November and the kid got sick in December?  If so, there is no story of being desperate / stressed / sick kid/ blah blah

Sounds to me like they are criminals and they have a sick kid.  Now they have a story about thinking the check was a tax refund?  Uh, a tax refund would have your actual name on it.  File the police report and feel no guilt at all.  All of this comes from their own actions.  You reap what you sow.  Maybe they are experiential learners and this will help them get on the straight and narrow.  Remember, you provide housing not personal reform.  You do not steal from people and then go ask them for a favor.  Not in any neighborhood or any culture.

Quote from @Bill B.:

Also don’t forget much of the insurance leaving California has been caused by their premium increase caps. By state regulation/law they are only allowed to consider past losses when calculating rates, not current/future risks. The state thinks by controlling the prices they are controlling the costs. They are not. 

The forest fires on the West Coast have been out for almost two years but the costs still keep going up!  I bought a house in Oregon in 2023 and had a small hiccup with insurance carriers not writing new policies because of the costs of the 2022 fires.  Now, in 2024, the utility company PGE is getting hit with large verdicts for their part in some of the fires. ( Negligence re power line area maint)   So now, PGE is trying to pass the cost of the verdict on to customers.  Rates up 30% since 2022 and they are pushing for another special rate hike to cover the legal costs.   As a consumer, I feel like I incurred expenses for these fires with my taxes ( to fight / manage the fire), via insurance rates increasing and electricity rates increasing.  

Quote from @April VanCleve:

I know this may leave a bitter taste, but I have found a lot of fast, concise, well put together answers to most of my questions on Chat GPT/Open AI. No $10K program for me! Not to say an experts advice isn't solid - just saying the culmination of information across all experts and all spans of time in one place is pretty helpful. 

 Chat GPT will give you the most common answers.  This is not the same as the most correct answer.  It does not provide context or nuance.  Important to know the limitations.

Quote from @Bruce Woodruff:

Quote from @Patricia Steiner:

If ever there was cause to come together and fight for better enforcement laws, the issue of squatters is it.  How the law 'protects' their 'rights' to breaking the law and stealing possession of a property is beyond me.  The thought of paying them to leave makes me ill but the $2500 spent on doing so was a cheap date considering the other options.  Crazy...

It's insane. I saw a news story this week about squatters breaking into a home while the people were home and claiming tenant rights. The police wouldn't do anything...they refuse to look at leases or deeds.....amazing world we have. But people vote for politicians that allow this so someone must like it....?

We need to figure out some strategies for this.   Maybe rental agreements need to be recorded like a deed?  Right now anybody can create a fake lease and say they live in a house.  Police deal with criminal matters not civil.  How can we make this a criminal matter?   Something we can prosecute quickly.  If this escalates, people are going to get shot and killed.

Hi Tate:

  Compounding interest is an amazing thing and it applies to all investments : stocks, bonds, real estate.   Take a class on Financial Planning at a local Junior College.  It is best to get a broad overview of your investing options at the beginning of your career.  

   A balanced portfolio is best imho.  This is not a question of stocks vs real estate.  The question should be: what percentage of each?  

   Time in the market not timing the market.

Quote from @Robert Rixer:

@Christie Gahan That's a very good point I had not considered. The second part of my question which I excluded was that where I'm originally from, Australia, there is also a similar housing shortage despite no population growth rate - and the same with other Western countries such as Canada and England. It could all be coincidence but I figured there is something larger at play. The number of households theory could be the answer.

 A second piece, that you have prob heard, is that the 2009 crisis wiped out a great number of builders financially.  Most of them never came back.  We were overbuilt in 2009 and new builds went down dramatically.  The current shortage took 10 to 15 years.  Somehow, it seemed to blow up as an issue during Covid.  Nobody cared in 2019.  By 2021 it was front page news.  Do you know if builders in other countries got beat up as well ?

Do we have a shortage?  Or changes in lifestyle?  50,60,70 years ago extended families lived together.  Now Grandparents , Parents, and Adult Children all have their own place.  The adult children don't want to live together so they all have their own place.  This leads to the number of households created.  It does not have a lot to do with birth rate, it is the number of house holds.  I believe this is why I believe many immigrant families continue to move to the US and do well.  They live together in one house.  Imagine how quickly the "typical' U.S. family could own a home with no debt if three generations lived together and paid one home off instead of renting three? 

I also question how many new units we need.  Lifestyle creep has led us to build very large homes.  New homes in my area are often 2,500 to 3,000 sq ft and they are for a family of 3 or 4.   Eventually these children will move out and there will be only one or two adults in the home.  We def have some McMansions that could be remodeled to add a second unit and this would save infrastructure costs.  

After World War 2, houses were built at about 800 sq feet. When families had enough money they remodeled the attic or basement. I think a lot of folks would be better off if there were more homes litke this being built today. Maybe smaller homes with an ADU.

I think I know what you are getting at but I am not sure there is a  common phrase for it.

Multiple Financing Strategies?

I often hear, multiple exit strategies and multiple financing strategies is similar. If you were to make a list: cash, hard money, 30 year loan, commercial financing, having partners ( you find the deal and they put up the money), IRA/401k Self Directed Investing and Seller Finance.

There is always a lot of talk about how to invest with no money.  Truthfully, those deals are pretty rare.  Most deals require a down payment and some sort of debt / leverage.  A good credit score and cash for a down payment are always a big help.  

Are you a lawyer?  Are you a CPA? This post sounds like you are giving legal / financial advise that you do not have the credentials to give.  

How does a cost seg change the value of an asset in my estate?  Are you saying a future buyer will pay more or less because the former owner had a cost seg?  

In 2024 the Federal Estate Tax is not applied on estates under $13 million.  

Quote from @Shafi Noss:

Quote from @Jay Hinrichs:

Quote from @Shafi Noss:

I'm interested. Where do you find the data and evaluate it's reliability?

city county  planning departments  then the long range planner most have a person tasked to long range planning..  also you look at the comp plan  comprehensive zoning plan.  

 And is there a way to evaluate the risk the project falls through like Foxconn or do you think it's reliable once it reaches the planning department?

Hillsboro is a company town for Intel.  Planning department will give them what ever they want. City is actually buying property in the area the plant will go.  They like to buy land, put in the infrastructure with public funds ( water, elec, water run off, roads etc etc)  then sell it at the same price they bought it at to a private company.  

Intel is getting free money from State and Fed to help build this plant.  The City will give them what they want.  They will not pay property tax.  They are getting a 25% tax credit on the funds they invest thanks to our Senators.  The list goes on and on.  President of Intel said last week that they will probably need a CHIPS 2.0    ???????????     

The Crazy Play to roll over in your head is this ..... there are Opportunity Zones 15 min from where this plant is gonna get built.  Buy now and hold ten years.  Plant opens in 2028 wait 6 more years and sell and wipe out your capital gains.