All Forum Posts by: Edward Barnes

Redfin if it's available in your market. Certain sites are more accurate in certain markets. But our local MLS has a public access. Probably not the same view as realtors (doesn't give days on market, etc.), but it's the primary source and all these others sites are just pulling from it and they do get it wrong.

Yeah, you've been too soft on him. He's got some bad habits now. Is he current? File notice as soon as you can and stick to the timeline for eviction in your state. Seems like he just doesn't think paying rent on time is that big of a deal or he has some kind of irregular pay schedule where he's working different jobs. But when you filed notice last time, you got paid. Keep collecting late fees. If there's no other extra fees stipulated in the lease, you can't go that route just for being a pain in the butt to collect from.

I think HD's military discount is capped at a $50 discount (basically purchases up to $500) and it doesn't apply to building materials. Somebody correcting if I'm wrong.

@Brandon Hall

I appreciate the lengthy response. I'll have to look into it with an accountant for next year. Seems like I would qualify without a property manager.

My wife owns a condo about in 2008. I married into this pig (the condo, not my wife) as we filed jointly last year. It loses about $500/mo after everything's said and done. Doing the taxes last year it wouldn't let me declare a loss on the property as it was considered "passive income" because I have a property manager and don't actively manage the property myself. Is this correct? If so, my property manager's costing me more than 10% of rent.

@Daria B. I'm a real estate power player. I invest all over. Or I saw your profile said Gainesville, googled "Gainesville FL MLS" :)

@Daria B. I hear you on the DOM.

Yeah sorry, forget Redfin doesn't serve all markets. Your MLS, GACAR, has public access.

My preferred real estate website is Redfin. I think it's better than Zillow and Trulia, but I use those as well. All these websites are pulling from the MLS and county websites for their info and they're imperfect, but the layouts are more user-friendly and there's more info at the tip of your finger tips than just the MLS. Anyway, if you find a "deal" I would just verify it with realtor.com or whatever your local MLS website is. For example, I've found a Ben Leybovich $34,600 "pig" on Redfin...on Zillow's it's listed at $88,000, and on Trulia it's "off market". So I went to the MLS and it's there for $34,600. On Refin, there's a $25,000 house that would be great cash flow, well it was sold like 4 months ago, not listed on Zillow or Trulia. Point being, don't rely exclusively on any one of them.

As far as DOM, I think it depends on the local MLS. Some will reset the DOM if it's off the market for 30 days, others 90 days. Some track a cumulative DOM, CDOM, where if you pull it off the market and put it back on the it keeps adding days and doesn't reset till it's sold. Certainly would be beneficial to realtors to reset the DOM so the listing doesn't get stale, interest is always highest on new listings, and I'm sure it's been done plenty of time. Doubt anybody's scamming Zillow though, it's probably just pulling in bad data.

@Paul Ellis

"Comps" being comparable properties. Look for homes that sold recently, not for sale homes, near the home you're looking at and are similar in number of bedrooms and bathrooms, condition, and age. That'll give you an idea of the price. Obviously the further away the comparable home is, the greater the time that has elapsed since the sale of the comparable, and other differences in amenities, lot size, age, condition, etc. the less accurate the comparable's price will be to the home you're looking at. And the more comparables you can find the better off you'll be.

Redfin is a good idea as far as comps go and looking for properties in general. It's not available in all areas, but is very effective (more so than Zillow or Trulia) in mine.

@Vincent Guerrero

refi = refinance