All Forum Posts by: Dan D.

Step one.

Go buy a property.

All you need to get started is enough for the required down payment on the property you want to buy, then enough income to offset / absorb unexpected expenses.

If you have enough income from a job coming in to fix or replace a water heater or a bad fridge every couple months (and pray against a major repair like roof or furnace) you're good to go.

Regardless of the numbers, get a 30 year mortgage today to lock in your force monthly gain in equity and start the timing to increased cashflow from inflation.

Two words = Back taxes.

@Richard C. Can you elaborate?

 I think a lot of people reference youtube video's on DIY projects.  They have a video on how to do just about anything, but that doesn't always mean you should take it on yourself.  Knowing your limitations and the value of your time are two key considerations.

 I send gifts, but I don't like to be "buddy buddy" with them. (the less I see them, the better and they might feel mutual which is fine).  

For me it's a way of expressing that I care without spending too much time with them.  As a tenant it's the way I would want to be treated, and many times the best gifts are the unexpected ones.

I just have one rental and we give a $40-50 tin of popcorn each year.  I usually have families in my rental because it's a 4 bedroom house, and the popcorn goes over well and they enjoy it.

If I have a decent tenant, I want to set myself apart from what others might do as landlords. 

I think people confuse "running it as a business" with "have no emotion".

This is (I've been told) a relationship business.  If being responsive, (which cost me almost nothing), being friendly, fair, but firm, (also costs me nothing), and sending a gift (cost $50 per year per tenant). helps to allow a tenant to add on another year to their lease with no vacancy, I'm $1500 ahead just on the non-vacant month.

 There will be houses available when baby boomers pass away, but keep in mind, our population will continue to grow.  From 300 million to close to 430 million over the next 20 years.  Demand will keep increasing, so good areas aren't going to become vacant unless something happens at a local level to deter people from living there.

Peak years for baby boomer births in the 1950's was around 4.3 million a year.

The last few years in America, approx 4.1 million have been born per year.  That number I would think would only continue to rise.  

People have different preferences as to where to live, but I know in the case of my parents and my aunts and uncles who are all baby boomers, many want to stay tied to their home until they die with no urge to move downtown.  (Small sample set of course).

More on the yahoo - remote worker policy:

"We spoke with a source familiar with Mayer's thought process on the matter. Here is what that person told us:

• Yahoo has a huge number of people of who work remotely – people who just never come in.
• Many of these people "weren't productive," says this source.
• "A lot of people hid. There were all these employees [working remotely] and nobody knew they were still at Yahoo."
• These people aren't just Yahoo customer support reps. They're in all divisions, from marketing to engineering.
• Mayer is happy to give Yahoo employees standard Silicon Valley benefits like free food and free smartphones. But our source says the kinds of work-from-home arrangements popular at Yahoo were not common to other Valley companies like Google or Facebook. "This is a collaborative businesses."
• Mayer saw another side-benefit to making this move. She knows that some remote workers won't want to start coming into the office and so they will quit. That helps Yahoo, which needs to cut costs. It's a layoff that's not a layoff.
• Bigger picture: This is about Mayer "carefully getting to problems created by Yahoo's huge, bloated infrastructure." The company got fat and lazy over the past 15 years, and this is Mayer getting it into fighting shape.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/why-marissa-mayer-told-remote-employees-to-work-in-an-office--or-quit-2013-2#ixzz3LDfuQ2So"

 I get the idea of baby boomers downsizing, but many I know and talk to would sooner stay in the place they have than move to some small condo.  I find an appeal to live downtown during my retired years, but only if it's one of a couple options.

From a macro standpoint, our population is still growing (and will likely continue to).  With that, urban sprawl I would think would continue because they can't keep building enough high-rises for this "demand".

Regarding Marissa Mayer and UHG...  I look at those types of moves as a workforce "correction" on abuses of privilege more than a long-term stoppage of that trend.

When the most highly sought and entrepreneurial labor prefers to work independently, they drive the market.  They have the power and ability to freelance or work for other companies who highly seek them, so getting cut from yahoo probably hurt yahoo (if the workers were real contributors) more than it hurt each individual if they are highly talented.