All Forum Posts by: David S.

“Why do you need a yooough number of rentals?!?!” 

Now you’re right.

 I’ll take a Bell’s Two Hearted Joe! Nice talking sir.

Hi folks, your friendly BP socialist here! First off, thank you all for your responses and input! What a lively discussion!

I wanted to close out my last thread with some heartfelt clarification which I had posted but got burried in the 130 and counting responses.

Regards my comment on antitrust regulation...

 I’m going to take a step back and admit that the government should not regulate this. I would have been wiser to not make the knee jerk antitrust comment in my original post, nor do I feel that's a reasonable course of action nor the government's business. I do feel that there may very well come a point where that could be an interesting point of discussion with regards to the corporate side of things, such as the 82k units I had mentioned. We're certainly not there yet however.

To sum up my frustration and the use of that dirty word GREED...

I stand behind my use of the word, but a better way of putting it would have been to say that one should really consider their motives in scaling up as much as possible, even after they've attained significant scale. My heart in this is not a socialistic ideal but rather a discernment of what's good for the community/society. We're so incredibly focused in this nation on dollars and success, titles and achievements, we often forget we're in it together. There's certainly an undertow of greed prevalent in the world and this industry is not immune to it; and for that reason I ask, when is enough enough? I'm not calling every person with more than X doors greedy, I'm asking them to question their motives to ensure they're not falling into greed, because I assure you there are many who are. That's just the human condition. Always has been, always will be. There are plenty who do things to help raise up their communities, and of course naturally when you get into apartment complexes large numbers come with the territory, but so does syndication which tends to water those numbers down again.

In the end of the day one obviously needs to self-regulate their goals, intentions, etc. I hope to at least get some thought going at the individual level as to why we do what we do, especially when some have long ago attained their goals. The motives are important to say the least.

And finally, I do still find it somewhat ironic that many highly successful investors want to sincerely help others in their real estate pursuits, yet they'd be the first one to jostle over the next property that comes up for sale. That makes sense when one is still early in the game or mid stream, but why do that when you don’t need to and want to see others succeed behind you? I'm struggling to wrap my mind around that one, but let’s call it an open ended question/rhetorical, I’m not looking to stoke a big debate here. 

Again, great discussion! Thanks much to the BP community! And yes, I’m happy to be a socialist if that’s what it makes me. ;) 

Cheers

First off, it’s very unlikely this guy has a gun; that’s an espense most squatters cant justify and would give up for other “needs”. 

Second, what’s all this business in paying for your own keys. Should we start paying for hostages too? That’s foolish business and always the wrong answer if you have a squatter. 

That's outstanding David, congrats! Thanks for filling us in on the deal. You've really sparked my interest regards the mobile home community; I've always noticed there tends to be a lot more inefficiency in the market place for mobile homes. Inefficient markets are a good thing for investors, so for that reason I will start applying myself in that market place to see if it looks worthwhile.

Thanks again! 

My response to Joseph above will likely to suffice in clarifying my heart in the matter Joe. You're right, it's not mine to judge, it's for each of us to judge for ourselves. But to compare one's giving on a dollar for dollar basis is a poor benchmark regardless. I can do that with most any person in Venezuela today and subsequently pat myself on the back handily. If the dollar figure is the method of choice for a wealthy man in gauging his philanthropy it's likely because he seeks to keep a little more in his own pocket while looking good on paper. Even the bible made this concept clear 2000 years ago; that one's tried and true.

Be well Joe! 

I admit, all good and fair points Joseph. 

I'm going to take a step back and admit that the government should not regulate this. I would have been wiser to not make the antitrust comment in my original post, nor do I feel that's a reasonable course of action nor the government's business. I do feel that there may very well come a point where that could be an interesting point of discussion with regards to the corporate side of things, such as the 82k units I had mentioned. We're certainly not there yet however. 

A better way of putting it would have been to say that one should really consider their motives in scaling up as much as possible, even after they've attained significant scale. My heart in this is not a socialistic ideal but rather a simple discernment of what's a good for the community/society. We're so incredibly focused in this nation on dollars and success, titles and achievements, we often forget we're in it together. There's certainly an underlying motive of greed prevalent in the world and this industry is not immune to it; and for that reason I ask, when is enough enough? I'm not calling every person with more than X doors greedy, I'm asking them to question their motives to ensure they're not, because I assure you there are many who are. That's just the human condition. Always has been, always will be. There are plenty who do things to help raise up their communities, and of course naturally when you get into apartment complexes large numbers come with the territory, but so does syndication which tends to water those numbers down again. 

In the end of the day one obviously needs to self regulate their goals, intentions, etc. I hope to at least get some thought going on why we do what we do especially when some have long attained their initial goals. The motives are important to say the least. 

And finally, I do still find it somewhat ironic that many highly successful investors want to sincerely help others out in their real estate paths, yet they'd be the first one to jostle over the next property that comes up for sale. That makes sense when one is still early in the game or mid stream, but why do that when you don't need to? I'm struggling to wrap my mind around that one.

Thanks Joseph 

I like that perspective Mark, especially the last part regards most who are greedy tripping themselves up, thanks! 

For the sake of the argument assuming all other factors are equal, yes, I am deciding who's character is deepest. Drawing on the person's potential other character attributes is an insincere argument in this context. 

Obviously the richer man's finances make a bigger impact at 3%, but what if he too gave 10% seeing that the poor man gave 10% as well? THAT is the relevant question. At no point did I say that wealth is wrong. I said that greed is wrong when one accumulates for little other reason than to have more. If anything the richer man has more disposable income in both hard dollars and as a percentage of income. Apples to apples there's really no reason he shouldn't be out-giving the poor man on both fronts handily. 

@David Oldenburg Well? The suspense... it's killing me! 

How'd it sell and what were the final numbers all in? Thanks!