All Forum Posts by: Jim Goebel

@Reagan Elizabeth

There's not a ton of acres there but I'd be curious if there's any timber value there.

@Susanne Owens

Yes, it happens.  Keep the faith!  When the right one comes along, hopefully your standards haven't dropped too much after the deluge of people that don't seem to have them!

@Paulo Bermudez

Hi Paulo and welcome.  Good for you, knowing your way around that work and making good money!

Money is money, and people take it, so it will invest just as easily as money made in other means.

That said, and I want to be clear that I don't know you and am not going to assume anything about you - however, my experiences with union members in terms of hiring has been challenging, to such an extent that I would observe there is SOMETHING about past experience in a union that actually prevents one from achieving success as an entrepreneur.  My guess is that the precise DNA in a union culture will be hard to pinpoint what that is, however I'd place a strong bet that by one 'trusting' a union to advocate on one's behalf, the main issue is that union members do not have agency, and get nearly zero experience in practicing negotiation and the soft skills requisite to be successful standing on their own in business.

As always, generalizations are dangerous, and I'll continue giving ex union members chances in terms of labor, depending on my needs - AND you can always be the exception!

The other consideration of your question is really about investing opportunities.  Money is money and if you can be disciplined about saving, you'll be able to invest in other markets.  In the meantime though while you're in the LA area, property is too expensive and you'd be limited to out of state investing, which I'd personally not recommend by any stretch, ESPECIALLY for a newbie.

@Thai Tran

Hard to say without knowing details, but in some cases you'd prevail here.  Keep in mind, though, that by going this route you'd need to protect yourself in other ways from your relationship with your PM.  Often they hold the cards because they collect rent, then disburse to you, which puts you in a precarious situation.

Sounds like the writing's on the wall, though in terms of your relationship with your PM and their sub(s).

So, I'd be thinking in terms of replacing them first, and then if you feel the work was truly out of scope, fraudulent, or borderline negligent, AND you feel the contractor and/or PM has enough to loose to actually have to defend themselves and pay out, then I'd pursue.

If nothing else this action sends out smoke signals to future PMs that you're not dealing with this nonsense.  You have to have your ducks in a row to keep them accountable, though.

@Blake Wilson

@Ned Carey

I agree with Ned.  Hard to see the PM skills translating when someone cannot have any way of knowing the order of operations in say, replacing a window.   That said, you can get this experience yourself you just have to be willing to dig in and learn.  I think if you go this route, you're also getting development experience, as you'll be investing your money on your project.  Low risk light rehab makes sense as a first deal.  

@Mauricio A.

@Pat L.

Pat's right; there's no way this can be a start to finish job in a day given that there's demo/prep, and then tile (the adhesive) I believe sets up in a day.

This is a tough project honestly Mauricio, I see some pitfalls with doing tile in a section like this.  Unless you've sourced replacement tile from the same supplier or have extra, that's another consideration.  It may not match worth a darn.

One more contingency is who would be replacing the sink cabinet, and re terminating the sink (plumbing connections) etc. I REALLY don't like have open ended stuff not defined before going in.  Even if there's a CHANCE of something happening, I think it's best to have that contingency pre negotiated.  Especially if the contractor views you as the kind of person that doesn't really know the construction aspects of stuff, that gives them an opening to really jack you around and make a lot more money along the way.

@Jay Hinrichs

I wish I knew how to quote!  I agree with sentiment that investor purchases of <100k homes in midwest is rising (just more people pouring into entry level investing) but I don't think it's anywhere close to 95%.  Not sure how we'd get data on this.

@Marisa R.

I think if it's a Warren or Bernie nomination then RE investors need to beware; not right away but looking out 10-20 years there may be enough credibility granted (assumed) by most people to some of what they're advocating to slowly move the needle on what people are willing to entertain.  

Although the wealth tax and rent control stuff gets trounced in a public debate of reasonable knowledge and facts, the blame the landlord and anyone who has money thing gets more in the public psyche.  Some of that wealth tax stuff is pretty silly to me, honestly.  Andrew Yang did a good job in my view shooting holes all through it in last Democratic debate.  Taxing assets, taxing equity, sounds good to appeal to folks who are looking for their straw-man, but the reality gets a lot tougher to implement.

I do view things right now somewhat cautiously.  Don't max debt is my view, and still focus on value add projects where we get a lot of equity by just locking in and doing work, and we can stomach any direction the macro economy goes.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/home-improvement-boom-is-forecast-to-fizzle-11571918400?mod=hp_lead_pos5

I know WSJ takes a subscription, but long story short, at least in the video: tariffs are ticking up material costs substantially.  I haven't really taken a big note of this with our recent purchases.  Menards is our biggest supplier, and lumber and steel for roofs hasn't been noticeably impacted.

@Mauricio A.

All well and good to remove existing if damaged, but you can't just remove random joists without replacing.  So, I'd recommend having some detail on that point otherwise they can have you over the barrel part way through the project with a change order.

Credit card is fine if contractor takes it.  From my experience, not a ton do.

@Travis Phillips

I've never personally done this, but especially if you're in the area, I'd bet that if you went on an aggressive pruning strategy over the next 5 years (maybe once a year prune it back a foot or so) you'd eventually get it to where you're pretty happy.  

You didn't comment (that I see anyway) on your time horizon of keeping the place.

If you're renting or selling here would be relevant.

I'd either go the above route, or I'd cut back whichever ones were encroaching on the house, and then wait for the adjacent ones to 'fill out' - not sure how long they'd take but if they're growing, I'd think within 2 years you'd have some green there.