All Forum Posts by: G Pyros

 Agreed! The S&P 500 index is the benchmark to use, and long term CAGR has bee around 10%

@Nadav Akselrad I think you are misunderstanding what the CAPEX is for. It is money put aside for future CAPEX repairs which WILL happen, happen with any structure. A/C, Roof, Water Header, Paint...

An intelligent guess of Skip Trace Software seems like it can reverse search a name to a phone number. Is this correct?

If so, this is exactly what I need in my drive for dollars search, I can easily get the owner name through tax records but do not know how to contact further. This looks like the missing piece to that puzzle.

Am I correct? Is this what this software is used for?

As coincidence, I negotiated my first home through the "Local County Online Records". Property was listed on MLS and noticed there was a legal filing from CHASE mortgage for the outstanding balance of $88,000 within 15 days. List price was $115,000, I offered $90,000 and purchased the property. Little did I know, I did pre-foreclosure sale.

Anybody have experience doing this type of research and maybe a less time consuming method to "search" for these properties? I love looking through online public records but doing this for every property would be next to impossible. 

I agree with @Mark Fedorov on calculating what your plans and expectations are. You have time on your side and 7% in a low cost index fund (Vanguard S&P 500) and your age will amount to a lot, find out what your expectations are and put in that amount. Also, always invest at least enough for the company match, it is FREE MONEY.. The rest, you choose how you please, real estate or more 401(K).

The way I see it is, you got your rifle out but don't get an itchy trigger finger! Putting a time scale of 18 months and you want X amount of return scares me a little. Just don't get out of hand and make sure the # add up at the end of the day. 

Okay, ever institutional investor has what they call the benchmark, to all it is the S&P 500 composite index cumulative returns (See chart) It is 11% per annum since I think 1914. This is your money simply being indexed with no effort on your behalf and MINIMUM fees. This is your benchmark you have to beat. 6-8% with the cost of your time is not worth it. I ran your numbers with 100% down payment and 20% down payment. (7.3% ROI on 0% LTV & 13% ROI on 80% LTV)

 Throttle it back at your current job, I am an engineer like yourself and feel there is still opportunity to be able to work less but still give valuable contributions to the company/project. However, if you don't need the job, start saying NO to any new demanding projects or time constraints (no more working 60 hours leave at a more reasonable time), fight back for your time, there will be an infliction point, the company will hire a helping hand for you or you will be canned. 

I always thought of this, however, i compare it to the hotel industry builds. Look at hotel bathrooms, very minimum with the vanity designs and tile up 6" on the walls. I feel a lot of design details can be taken from this industry.