All Forum Posts by: George Cavazos

Originally posted by @Spencer Cornelia:

@Russell Brazil I've been asked by one tenant to reduce rent. And I reduced rent for another two great tenants. Want to get ahead of it. My opinion: the rental supply is about to increase as people who just got laid off will all of a sudden not have their mandated "can't live with roommates" first world living mindset removed.

Add in Airbnb market potentially forcing owners to get some rent.

This isn't based on numbers or anything, just my hunch.

If you take a look at the AirBnB subreddit, they are all freaking out. A lot of them have lost a lot of their bookings.

I just moved up in the area and will be doing a lot of research in the area. It's got a lot of old brick buildings for cheap which I love, but you have to contend with the fact that Saint Louis is the murder capital.

Originally posted by @Doug Haisten:

With Walmart distribution center opening soon as well as the same for Amazon and another Airbus type company coming in (partnering with Airbus???) I am told the market for rentals is growing at a fast pace. 

 This sounds really good. I'm looking into getting into the Mobile market also. For anyone else trying to figure out if they should, I'm doing comparables and looking at market history, and analyzing the average rental rates. You can get a lot of this info from Trulia and Craigslist.

@Rob Burns Try checking in the Lakeland area. For the Pro members you get access to the local forums. The other day I was reading about the Lakeland market and some people were showing good population growth numbers for it. Check it out Rob!

Originally posted by @Marc Middleton:

Problem with the online test is that you still need to do an exam cram or some live portion to pass the state test. State is much harder and the online course doesn't do a good job prepping you. 

I used to teach the Pre-License course in a local school and the live class makes sure most students don't fail the school test. For the state test, you go to like a Gold Coast for an exam cram. 

Remember math is only 10% so don't sweat that too much. Focus on Ch 5 & 7 as that is designed to trip you up the most (and maybe Ch 13 too). 

 Do all the RE courses use the same book, online or live? And what book is that?

I live in Miami and have considered moving to Lakeland for inexpensive college tuition and living arrangements a few years back. I found out about Lakeland through doing my own research online and it seemed like a great area to live it provided that I can get a job I like there.

I wouldn't say Lakeland is unknown to people in Miami. The ones who will know about it are doing research online and comparing prices. They trying to stay in Florida in a cheap area while getting out of expensive Miami.

Thanks guys!

@Mark Ferguson That's good info to know! Makes me feel a lot better.

It's good to hear experiences and viewpoints from all areas of the country. You can see indicators for a good market and a bad market. I'm seeing people on the news and online speaking and writing more and more about how this economy is going to go down again, but I'm also reading articles on how we still have inventory shortages even though they are up from a few years ago. I think the only thing that people won't disagree with much is that; there will be some sort of correction in major cities, and it might happen this year or all the way out in the next decade. Anything more detailed than that is going to be speculation.

I still plan on investing somewhere. Right now I'm going to keep learning. Once I do my research in areas and weigh my risks and backup plans, I'll make a move. So even if there is some big correction coming this year, I'm still planning to take action.

@Matt Millard Funny you should mention subprime auto loans. I actually got a loan on my car a while back and it was my first auto loan ever. I didn't bring any pay stubs, didn't really have a strong credit history since I didn't believe in credit cards, and my credit was on it's way up but still in the high 600s. The car dealer guy was talking to the loan officer and she had a problem with me not having any pay stubs. But the dealer just nudged her saying "It's not even that big of an amount, work with me Brenda!" and I got it without verification of my income. So yeah, I can definitely see a subprime auto loan market going on right now.

Ahhh, I see. @Andy Mirza Sounds like you guys command a good overview of everything and make all the magic happen from behind the lines.

@Martha Bueno I love your shovel analogy! Makes a lot of sense.

Thanks for enlightening me!