All Forum Posts by: Joe M.

In my rentals I provide a stove and refigerator only. No washer or dryer. That's a pretty common practice in my area.

Also all my appliances are electric. I don't like the idea of open flames in my rentals so no gas stoves.

I hear you John and can certainly sympathize with your situation.

However, in my situation the very next day after the break in, this kid was walking the sidewalks outside of my house sort of "casing the joint". Then when he saw me inside he pulled his shirt over his head so I couldn't get a positive ID on him. The day after that he was out doing the same thing.

Now, this kid was just hauled off by the police the day before, and the next day he is right back out on the streets? Mom didn't even ground him?

I don't know John, it's hard to say what's best for this kid, but I know one thing. He'll sure as heck remember working at my house for the next 10 Saturdays......more so than Mom paying a measly $100 bucks in restitution which was the alternative.

Well, things might have been a bit different had you asked me what I wanted the day after it happened. Fortunately I had 3 months to sit on this as it worked its way through the courts.

At the end of the day I thought back to my youth and all the stupid shennanigans I pulled. Granted I never broke into someones house but I did do some stupid teenage boy stuff. The only difference between him and me is I never got caught!

We'll see how it all turns out. Hopefully this is a turning point for him.

When I founded my RE investing company one of the missions I set for the company was to improve the communities where we invest. At the time I was thinking mostly about fixing up old houses and making the community look nicer, but maybe there is more to it than just that.

On Friday justice was served, and the little juvenile delinquent who broke into one of my rental properties had his day in court. To bad for him it didn't turn out so well.

Apparently the evidence against him was so overwhelming that he eventually pleaded "true" to the charges of criminal trespass and criminal damaging. I had a chance to testify and look his mom square in the eye when I spoke of how lucky this kid was that he didn't get shot.

I had worked out a deal ahead of time with the prosecutor. I had asked that instead of reimbursement for damages we could maybe work out some "alternative sentencing" for the kid. She was all on board with that, as was the judge. So the kid is going to be mowing my grass, shoveling snow, picking weeds, washing windows etc. at my rental house every Saturday morning for the next 10 Saturdays. I had requested that he and his mother be present at my rental property at 7 a.m. or "first light" every Saturday morning. There they will find a list of the chores he is to do each week.

I really wanted mom the "feel the pain" of this thing, that's why I requested she attend. The judge loved the idea, and along with the punishment he placed him on probation and the court will also be monitoring his attendance in school.

I'm actually hoping to spend a little time with the kid and teach him a little bit about tough love. I highly doubt he has a male influence in his life, so maybe some good can come out of all of this and we can get him headed down the right path.

Any of you ever build/buy a mobile home park?

I'm not so sure I'd be interested in buying MH's but the idea of owning a park doesn't seem like such a bad idea.

That kind of common sense thinking will get you in trouble :D

I guess you didn't know that you could make millions with no money down, a 420 credit score and little to no knowledge of what you're doing........

Seriously though, the best investment you can make right now is in your real estate education. Fortunately here on BP you can learn a tremendous amount about the business without shelling out hard cash to some two bit hustler.

I only started active investing in real estate this year, but I spent the previous 5 educating myself and building up funds to be able to pull the trigger.

Has anyone heard of or done business with a company out of Memphis,TN called "Investor Nation"?

From what I can gather they are essentially buying up foreclosure properties targeting SFH 3/2's, then rehabbing them and renting them out. They then market the properties to investors as "turn key investments"

I signed up for their newsletter and got a call from a slick talking sales guy last night.

I picked up a check this morning from my PO Box. For once it was the insurance company sending me money rather than the other way around.

I had recently upgraded the HVAC on one of my houses and since the risk of it failing was reduced, my premium was reduced.

Just a reminder that should you do some major work on a house you own that you might be due some discounts from your insurance carrier.

I'm not a full time investor but I have a 10 year plan to transition to it being my sole source of income. I'm almost done with year 1!

As to the income question. I'm in sales so my income can fluctuate fairly substanitally from year to year based on how much I sell. Fortunately for me I can "live" off of my base salary and I don't rely on commissions to pay the bills. I've been able to do this by eliminating all my debt except for the mortgage on my primary residence.

I do still invest in my 401(k) and put money away each month in my kids 529 college savings fund. I'm able to do this because I've had a few good years and I've been able to build a decent sized fund for RE investments. However if I were in a position where my choices were to either invest in my 401(k) or invest in real estate, I would most likely not do the 401(k). My company doesn't offer a match on 401(k) dollars so it makes the decision a bit easier.

Before real estate I was investing heavily into the stock market. While I made a few sheckles here and there, the ride was just to much for me. I don't like the fact that one talking head on CNBC can either run a price up or drag it down. I like the control I have over my investments in real estate.