All Forum Posts by: Donna Smolinski

Those stats can be very misleading. I don't take any of them too serious until I see a 3 month trend. But then again, if prices escalated too fast, there could certainly be a minor correction.

Great job Andy! Congrats on your 1st closed project. Your holding costs hurt you, but still a nice return on your first deal. Best of luck again on your 2nd one! :)

We've been using our own money since profit margins have shrunk (due to bidding wars & fewer good buys). When we build in points, closing costs and rate for HMLs, the return gets hammered on flips.

We only buy in CA & NV, and it's really tough to find a deal when building in HML costs. Maybe this can still work in other regions, but it's tough in CA & NV (at least in the current market). A year ago, there was a good enuf margin to finance flips, but not right now. Curious to see what others say about this in CA & NV??

Jim... hello again neighbor :)
You can serve the 3 Day Notice one day after they are late. IF they are month to month (not a long term lease), you can also serve them a 30-Day Notice To Terminate Tenancy (but it sounds like you have a lease in place). If they do not pay after you serve them the 3 Day Notice, you better use an Eviction Attorney to follow up with the eviction. It's VERY EASY to screw up the eviction if you do it yourself. If they don't contest the eviction, it will probably cost you about $600-800 in legal fees (yuk). If they contest, your legal fees will go up,

Keep in mind that CA courts are much more tenant friendly, verses Landlord friendly. Evictions can sometimes drag on for several months (possibly longer if they file BK last minute). Good luck!

If you need the "30-Day Notice To Terminate Tenancy" form, just email me. Keep in mind, this is only if they are on a month-to-month tenancy.

Well that warrants some discount in the late signups, but I think they are still walking a fine line. They should be careful about their cost tactics or they are going to really hurt their reputation, which seems to have been good overall in the past. This downsell tactic could come back to bite them in the butt. Just a very bad mgmt practice IMO. They should offer the discounted price to the early sign-ups, excluding the 3 house tour.

HOA is solvant and cost $160 a month. At $800 a month rent, deduct $200 for HOA & taxes (we self manage). Deduct another $100 for unknowns. That's $500 month net or $6k a yr. Divide that by $42k investment (includes closing costs), and it yields 14% return WITHOUT any appreciation. Las Vegas prices are on the rise, so we are anticipating appreciation to sweeten the deal. Also, we got lucky... kitchen was already remodeled with granite!

Ahmed,
Workman comp rules probably vary from state to state. In CA, a contractor is REQUIRED to carry Workers Comp, even with one employee (not required to carry for themself). Our laws are VERY strict here. A roofer is required to carry Workers Comp, even on himself, with no employees (due to high risk injury). In fact, we own a small real estate office, and we are even required to have Workers Comp for our sales agents, who are independent contractors. CA is probably one of the strictest states with Workers Comp and Contractor laws.

Gen Contractor is not required to carry Workers Comp in CA IF he has no employees. Funny thing is, our sales agents aren't employees, they are independent contractors, so we've never understood why we are required to have them on Workers Comp, but it's just the way it is here.

Just for clarification for those not too familiar with Vegas. "North Las Vegas" is in financial disaster, as Phillip stated, BUT North Las Vegas is it's own city. Therefore the same crisis is not carried over to Las Vegas residents.

Vegas rents - big houses with alot of sq footage do not warrant good rents (way too low per sq ft). Inexpensive condos/townhomes are warranting VERY good rents per sq ft. We are in escrow on a $41k townhome (decent area) and fair rent is $750-800 per month for 2+2 with a 2 car garage. I'll take that return all day/all nite. Hope I can find a couple more like that ::)) !!

I'd be curious to know the legal aspect of them selling the same course at huge discounts AFTER charging some folks $25k that bought under high pressure sales onsite. If I remember, they were offering the mentor program at a discount ONLY if purchased that day on site. If they were actually discounting lower AFTER the seminar, I would think that's false advertising or misrepresention and they may possibly have to refund the difference to those who pd hgher at the seminar, if challenged in court. Sounds like they are walking a very fine line on their selling tactics. Maybe greed is blurring their ethical practices. I'm sorry to hear about this, for all the folks that paid $25k!

i've had very good and very bad experiences with Short Sales. Just remember if there are two loans with different lienholders, the challenge will be MUCH greater. If it's only one loan or two loans with the same lender, it will go much easier.

Also, you may want to ask what the seller's hardship is. If they have alot of savings or no true financial hardship, it's going to be alot tougher to get it approved. Sometimes in these cases, the bank will approve the SS, but they may want the seller to put in some funds (seller usually refuses to do so). I never tie myself up in a SS without having some understanding of the seller's financial situation.

Good luck.... hope it goes smooth!