All Forum Posts by: Dan D.

Not a realtor, but don't quite understand the complicated way of listing, compared to using a flat-rate / discount service for listing and adjust buyers commission however you want.

As mentioned by others, I would send an email or letter to tenant explaining that you will take care of it and cover the cost, but they need to comply.  If they refuse to comply, you will let them out of their lease.

In most cases, if you are charging a competitive rent rate, they won't like the idea of leaving.

Hi all,  I'm be interested in a South of the River meetup.  Looks like I'm close to a few others.

Good example.  

Wealth has more to do with time than it does money.

The ability to have your wife at home with the kids when they come home from school is wealth.

Having both spouse work with kids spending time in day-care or after-school programs having experiences with strangers instead of parents is the lack of wealth.

In the end, the person working two jobs may retire with  more cash than the surgeon, but the kids who grew up with mom at home have 1,000's of more memories with their real parents.

When both couples are 85, both could buy their dream car, but at that stage in life, one will recall the memories of greeting their kids at the bus stop.  Which has more value at that point?  The car or the memories?

I disagree.

A bum likely wouldn't consider themselves wealthy.  If they do, then maybe they are fine.

If the extreme savers are doing everything they want to be doing and enjoying the time they want to spend with the people who they want to spend time with and they are experiencing the experiences they want to, then how are they not wealthy?

By your definition, very few will ever be wealthy enough to do whatever you want whenever you want.  You're essentially saying it's someone who could afford to acquire or achieve all of their goals.

The only way to achieve this is that your pursuits are so limited that you can afford to buy them.

The mind and the adventures you mind may want to pursue are infinite.

Does one want to buy a Maserati if one doesn't know it exists?  The more limited one's mind would be, the better their options to achieve wealthy by your definition because each new thought and idea would broaden your world and make it less likely you'll achieve wealth.

By your definition, the person with the least imaginative mind would have the best odds of being wealthy.  

That's why the super-savers, who consciously turn off the pursuit of material goods and social experiences are often the ones with the best odds of retiring early.

Just look at the house next door to yours.  That one looks nice.  I'd buy that one.

Looking at yours, you wonder if the siding is asbestos.  You wonder how you have to make exterior repairs.  The exterior look of the windows scares you off.

It's all about the exterior I'm afraid.

I don't know enough about the neighborhood, but it's close enough to be where it's not a no-brainer good to great neighborhood.

1 bed / 1 bath...  that's scary for any single person to rent not knowing who you share that house with.

I'll say this as well which no one else has said, but it lacks curb appeal.  It's not a cute / attractive house at all, so as a duplex it looks even worse.

If it were mine, I'd turn it back to a single family.

I'd upgrade the exterior.  Get the various wires off the roof.  That's a horrible install by the satellite dish company.  Maybe straighten out the porch.

Clean up the bushes around the house, and the lawn wasn't cared for well as evidence by green weeds and no lawn.

Inside looks nice enough, but outside of the house to me just gives me bad feelings.

I think what the discussion and article supports is that "wealth" for many is more of a state of mind than a financial number.  I think wealth has more to do with an abundance of time than an abundance of money.

If you read about the ultra-saver groups where they are retired at age 27 living in a tent or sailing a boat, they consider themselves wealthy because they have the abundance of time on their side.  

The abundance of time to do what you want 7 days a week is wealth.  The having huge houses, nice cars, and high salaries can create wealth, but if you aren't making yourself more able to be independent of your need to commit your time to a business or company against your free will, you aren't inching towards wealth.

My wife and I aren't fond of raising kids in a tent though, so we aren't as wealthy as a 27 year old retired blogger, but the blogger doesn't have the wealth of the experiences my wife and kids provide me.

Wealth is in the eye of the beholder.

The rising interest rate issue is a problem in two ways as you said.

1. Homes effectively become more expensive.

2.  People with lower mortgages (basically everyone who has an existing loan) will want to keep their mortgages.

Years ago, you had re-assignable mortgages where you could keep your mortgage and change properties.  They stopped doing that.  But it would be an interesting discussion to possibly bring that back should mortgage rates vary by a couple points.

The argument to re-allow it might be that people who want to move might keep their mortgage but would need a new one for the additional balance of moving upwards in price, so that would be good for the mortgage companies.

Example would be having a mortgage for 100k and re-assigning it to a new house, but you still need another 50 or 100k to bridge the gap of what you had and what you want.

I've been renting a property since 2008.  Started renting another in 2016.  Working on a couple others.

About 3-4 years ago, one of my neighbors who knew we rented bought their own townhouse to rent.

In the past year, my father-in-law bought two different rental properties.

My MIL (they are divorced) and her husband are looking to buy a rental property now.

My neighbor in the last week mentioned they are now buying a condo to rent.

When this many people in your circle of acquaintances jump into being landlords, is this a good sign or bad?

Bad in that a bubble is maybe being created 

or good in that people who associate with me are assimilating to what I'm doing?

(The idea that people you spend time with you start to do the same things as them)

Thoughts?