All Forum Posts by: Jeremy Z.

@Dr. Jordan E Smith

@Eric L. touched on an important point with his last question. If homes in the area you are looking to move to have also decreased by roughly 10% then it would essentially be a wash. Furthermore, if you wait for your home to stabilize, the market you are looking to move to may have stabilized too. You really need to evaluate both markets, but if both markets have had similar impacts I wouldn't hesitate to move forward with your plan if that is your preferred course of action.

The current market is a bit interesting in that some people think we are in for a long recession while others believe we will bounce back from this rather quickly after this virus subsides. In my opinion that has led to quite a bit of variance in the pricing of new listings hitting the market. Just be careful not to take a steep discount on your current house and then pay close to top dollar for your next place.

Regarding your HELOC, as others have already stated, your outstanding balance would just be settled with the sale proceeds at closing.

Have you run the numbers through the BP calculator? $250-350 margin left over for vacancy, maintenance, capex and management sounds like it could be a little on the thin side (but that depends on your market). I'm not entirely opposed to thin margins in order to gain experience and get in the game, but you want to make sure you won't have to feed it constantly. Perhaps it would make sense as a flip?

If you think the market is going to correct, I would walk away. $1500 is peanuts compared to a significant correction (unless it has decent cash flow in the meantime).

@Account Closed

  "Brother, the stock market is going to go down to its true value... zero."

Somehow you managed to make a more foolish comment than the since-deleted "Enjoy Foreclosure" post you made earlier. Impressive.

@Jesse Aaron

Did the current owners lie about the square footage, or were they just mistaken? I think that is an important distinction. Owners don't typically lie when claiming a building is smaller than it really is (although I suppose there could be circumstances where that would be the case). Could be a good opportunity if the additional square footage isn't being accounted for.

As for the closing costs, keep in mind that the percentage is often higher when dealing with lower priced properties. Many of the costs don't scale linearly, so the percentage of the purchase price will typically be higher when dealing with a $100,000 property vs. a $300,000 property. That said, $2,300 is a significant increase over the "worst case" $5,700 estimate. You might consider running it by another lender (whether you can switch at this stage is a separate topic, but the information would at least be useful). Six-percent is definitely on the high side, but it could be typical for a higher risk profile, especially in that lower price range. If certain costs seem out of line or are significantly higher than originally reported, ask for an explanation and push back if you aren't satisfied.

Did the original estimate of $5,700 include a breakdown? If so, it should be fairly easy to pinpoint which costs increased and determine if the increases are reasonable.

One common way for closing costs to increase is if the closing date changes. Closing earlier in the month will often require pro-rated increases for taxes, insurance, etc, but that alone probably doesn't explain an increase from $5,700 to $8,000.

@Kathy Fettke

I think this is somewhat debatable. Do turnkey companies and referral networks have any responsibility to oversee the conduct of their business partners? For me, the devil is in the details...

Your site makes the following claims:

• "We connect you with property teams with proven track records"
• "We are here to coach you"

The Morris Invest website, on the other hand, states the following:

• 1) Schedule a consultation
• 2) Get your property match
• 3) We do the rest

Their site goes on further to describe the actions required of the customer:

• Sit back
• Cash your checks
• Watch your wealth grow

Despite telling their customers "We do the rest" and describing their business as a completely passive endeavor, Morris Invest had the audacity to blame their victims for not taking ownership and action in a since-deleted "apology" video.

It absolutely baffles me that the MI website still makes the above claims. I thought for sure their pitch would have changed as these legal problems began to pile up.

I appreciate that your website is much more forthcoming and transparent about the services your company provides.

Originally posted by @Will Zena:

Originally posted by @James Wise:

Originally posted by @Richard Patrie:

So, I am suddenly back on MorrisInvest's mailing list. That guy has some balls. I went to his YouTube channel that I thought was defunct, and see he is still putting out content and recruiting a new generation of suckers. 

 Ohh yea Clayton Morris hasn't stopped putting out content for a second. He just tried to brush all of this under the rug and keep moving along like it never happened. Doesn't look like it's going to work for him though. A quick google or Youtube search of his name brings up bad press and a multitude of videos exposing what happened. Lol, he's still trying to ignore all of it though.... lol, well outside of suing me for $7.2 Million that is.

 I was shocked to see Kathy Fettke on a recent podcast.  I guess she didn't look him up to see whats going on

 Did she endorse Morris Invest? Do you recall which podcast?

No good can come from it? I just booked a four night stay at a house in Cabo for a large group to the tune of $5,500 (the owners take is roughly $4,500). The whole area is filled with STRs and amazingly most of them appear to still be standing. I can barely fathom the money those owners must be making.

In general, I would say that a duplex would be a better investment than the condo, but we are missing some important details to offer advice in this particular situation. 

First, how much are the monthly association dues for the $115,000 condo you referred to? $1,600/mo rent for a $115,000 condo sounds pretty good at first blush (but I come from an area where even the 1% rule is tough to find), but after you factor in dues it might be closer to the norm for your area.

Second, how much rent do you think you could get total for the typical $300,000 duplex?

I would let the numbers for your area dictate the decision. The agent you spoke with had a good point about reserves, but if you have other means of covering a short term expense (like a credit card), then go for the best overall investment. Be sure to look at the big picture though - if the typical $300,000 duplex has an older roof and older mechanicals then you will be looking at much larger expenses than a couple oven/range replacements.

@Kevin Grove - Thank you for checking out the app and sharing with the rest of us.

@David Dachtera - You said the app doesn't store anything in "the cloud". Was this an oversight on your part?