All Forum Posts by: Jason S.

If Mike has already purchased the property and does not need the HML to acquire it - then Mike does have skin in the game.

If Mike is relying on his "skin" to be the equity at acquisition, based on an under market purchase, Mike may be able to find money as long as he does not get anywhere near the final 65% LTV against ARV - 50% would be more like it. Even then, HML's like to see everyone putting cash on the table but it is doable at lower LTV's.

Unfortunately the percentage of life savings that you have in the game only matters to God with the Widow's mite.

The unfortunate fact is that if the person has 1,000 and he puts in that $1,000 as 100% of his net worth he can still make back that $1,000 easily with a second job, a sold car, or even doing any number of things that can easily net you $1,000. The fact is that it is probably easier for the guy to make back the meager $1,000 than it is to for him to salvage a Real Estate deal that is going sideways.
Will the borrower get up every morning and work 10 hour days on the job just to save a no profit deal? Or will he eventually have to re-direct his efforts to simply making back the $1,000? Especially if he is "on the edge" in the first place. In the end, the guy will have to walk away from the RE project and do other things to make money, rather than work a no profit deal. Especially if he has a family to feed etc. It's just the way life works.

If I know a specific product that I want then it's all about price. I am not interested in spending money locally if it is simply to keep a business open that is incorporating an inefficient business model, my few dollars will not keep them open and it is simply a waste of resources. You would be better off helping that local business have a back office that doubles as an online retailer, have them organize events like the motorcycle store, and/or somehow diversify, maybe even start a hobbyists online forum where they help expand the desire and interest in their business etc.

I knew a little Dutch store that stayed open long after the local Dutch community left the neighborhood. The reason they stayed open is because they were a major importer from Holland and supplies Dutch items to other stores throughout the United States. Lesson learned.... the adapted to a changing local dynamic/economy.

But if a local store has the best price I would rather go pick it up than order and wait for delivery for most items.

Even computers, my last 3 laptops I bought at Best Buy. Walk in, pay $350-$399, walk out and you are good for cheap portability for a couple years. I could not find a better deal for the processing power/screen/RAM etc online even when I tried.

Clothing is the toughest buy online. Well cheap clothing is easy but I would never buy slacks, ties, or suits online. There is too much that cannot be discerned through the computer screen. Texture of fabric, feel, the way the suit lays. Never. Even shoe and work boots - unless I can find an exact model match for what I already own, then I would need to go to the store. Same manufacturer and different style never fits the same.

You made my point Jon. My comments were tongue in cheek - though there is a bit of nostalgia for a time when I could not be reached, when it was excusable to turn a draft document around in a day or two instead of ten minutes, etc.

Of course those innovations have helped the people you referred to - but so could have a million other innovations or their governments opening trade, freeing up controls, and bringing in free markets. We could discuss that for hours as I could the numerous affairs that have occurred via Facebook, the divorce's etc. What about the same woman that checks the water hole in her village that was beaten by her husband in a news story a couple weeks ago? The arguments you make are much greater than the use of those innovations - and the fisherman could have made due with a normal cell phone - not a smart phone which I was begrudging.

I wish him well for his health.

But I also wish him good riddance from Apple. It will be so nice for techie innovation to slow down - less new things to learn. Now if we can just get rid of social networking like Facebook then we can get back to a world that "makes sense".

I mean, I understand niche based networking like Bigger Pockets but this other stuff is ridiculous. Would the world really be a worse place without iPods, Smartphones, iPads and Facebook/Google+?

That is the definition of licensed real estate activity. But you need an agent's license not a broker's license - just in case you were being precise in terms.

Kevin, Fair enough. I knew of a bank like that once, Merchants National Bank in Sacramento, I bet they are doing well too.

Will, the richest guy I ever met, billionaire and that is not an exaggeration, told me in 2005 that when the mother of all booms was over, there will be several major drops. Each drop will wipe out many people - particularly those that jump in thinking it is the last drop. He told me it is going to be a disaster beyond anything he has every seen by the time everything stops.

I am not certain one way or the other but his words reverberate through my brain daily, especially when I read posts like yours.

Clearly in CA - LA and OC have a long way down to still drop - I would be cautious making anything but short term investments in those markets. I figure this thing will have hit bottom when there are just 1 or 2 people at each trustee sale again. It will have hit bottom when everyone has given up and lost interest.

I really do not know - and that scares me daily.

Will - how is any bank any better? Unless its a small regional bank - is that what you are advocating? I will not buy a Dell computer anymore either after dealing with One West.

Wouldn't they all go under if they were forced to acknowledge true asset values?

No one takes anyone seriously because they are immune to the sky is falling arguments. Chicken little has cried out too many times and now no one believes it.

And then buy deep out of the money leaps - puts on Gold and calls on the market? Looking for the big swing?

Or you see sideways from there for more than a year?