All Forum Posts by: Christie Gahan

As a former employee at Intel, former resident of Hillsboro I agree this positions investors uniquely to benefit from this. Namely with the increases in land value and housing. My only question would be does this indicate that new housing will be built (i.e. more supply = less demand & appreciation) or more buyers inundating those class A markets (i.e. capped supply = more demand & appreciation). Or would it just even out and have negligible effect (i.e. more supply & equally more demand = nominal gains in appreciate or appreciation stasis).

 No i apologize i worded that wrong, i meant she wont be making any money on the account because she is leaving that company this month and is asking me if i could find a property that cash flows so we can use the money she has in the 401k to buy it instead of putting it into a CD. thank god for the bigger pockets community for helping me realize i have way more research to do!!!

Check out something called a Roll Over Business Startup (ROBS) account. You roll your 401k into an investment account that purchases stock in a corporation. You create the corporation and use it as a property management company, and the ROBS account essentially funds it by purchasing the stocks. There are a few companies which manage these types of investment accounts and can help navigate the setup process.

Well I never thought I would be the one saying something like this......but I have a recent good news story about a warranty company.

Based on an experience over 30 years ago, I have been on the anti-warranty bandwagon and even run them down on this forum, but:

I bought a house last summer (primary home) and the sellers agent threw in a Home Warranty. I ignored it figuring it was just BS. 

#1 - Then the cooktop starting acting up and I figured, hey why not call and give them a chance? Imagine my surprise when a guy showed up promptly, said he couldn't get parts for the Jenn Air model any longer (18 yrs old), and few days later I get an email from the warranty company offering me a replacement cooktop that was far more expensive than an exact replacement! Of course I said yes and the tech returned and installed the new cooktop. I was blown away to be honest, I was expecting a run-around....

#2 - A month later the dishwasher starting leaking. The tech tried replacing the door seal, and it still had a very slight leak, so he recommended a new one to the company. A week later I had a brand new DW. Once again, they did not go cheap...they could have spent $400 ish dollars to buy me a cheap DQ (I still expected as much) but they offered $1500 as a top limit and said go ahead and pick a new one! Once again, a brand new high-end (GE Profile model) DW

#3 - One of the water heaters went out and within a couple days it was fixed (new thermostat)

My co-pay was $85 each for all three of the above.....for about $3000+ worth of product and labor. I'll take that deal all day long. I'm not sure how they make any profit to be honest... :-)

I plan on renewing the plan when it expires in July. One of the smartest financial moves I've every made, Lol.... The AC condensers are both 18 years old so they can be expected to pass on in the next few years.

@Julia Hagen Be aware though that they will not just buy you a new unit. Their first effort (of course) is to attempt a repair. But at least those company will quickly shift their focus to new without hassling you for months.

So my final take is that - IF you get the right company, a warranty plan is actually a smart financial move - and I never thought I'd be the one saying that!

I have not disclosed the name of the company on here to avoid the appearance of impropriety :-)

Quote from @Scott Mac:

Well for only $200 more you could have bought her a Red Convertible Porsche 911.

$120k to a school.

$7k to an insurance outfit.

Hopefully she gets more  benefit out of this major purchase than the many others who have not.

Just my 2 cents.

I have to weigh in here and echo what @Scott Mac is saying. Are you positive, @Julia Hagen that you want to dump $120k on college education? I'm a little older than you, but I have seen only a couple of instances (out of so many) where the kid came out of college and actually used their degree for anything remotely productive. Have you run a spreadsheet and checked the actual numbers? What is your ROI? How about CoC?

You could use that money to buy properties and teach the young lady how to manage them.....Just my $0.02