All Forum Posts by: John Clark

Great. Thanks for sharing.

I only emphasized "only," so now you know. Lesson for you: Go to the source, not the salesman. Here, the salesman is AirBnB. The source is the town.

"What I'm seeing in your reply is someone with nothing better to do than berate those BP community members looking for helpful, thoughtful replies"

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Nice try, but it wasn't a thoughtful question. The original poster criticized AirBnB for not being helpful -- as if a national company would have up-to-date information on every town in America and risk liability by giving wrong answers. The original poster needed to use his head for something besides a hat rack. If one has a question about local  government rules, the ONLY intelligent thing to do is go to that locality and ask.

"That is frightening looking at this from a small local level. Consider the bigger picture and taxpayer liabilities on a per person basis created by the FEDERAL Gov."

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Consider the bigger picture and you run into the fact that the federal government can print money, localities cannot print money, and therefore fed debt save for inflation expectations is irrelevant when analyzing state/local debt. Want to go back to the gold, or even bi-metal standard(s)? Sorry son, but it didn't work. Bryant was right; We will not crucify mankind on your cross of gold.

"I called Airbnb and they were not helpful at all."

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Nor should they be. Why take the liability of giving you a wrong answer when AirBnB can tell you to get off your duff and CONTACT THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACTUALLY CONTROLLING THE SITUATION!!!!!!!!?????!!!!.

I know for a fact that Forest Park has a website.

"DC Office of Human rights has fined plenty of people for telling prospective tenants that a unit will not pass a s8 inspection."

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So don't tell the prospective tenant that the apartment won't pass inspection. Just tell them you're not in the program.

My question is; Can you be compelled to enter the section 8 program, particularly if you are a large-scale landlord?

I can't understand why anyone would not want to have metered water. Businessmen need to know their costs. Metering  gives you cost information. Metered accounts get  billed every two months, too, so by making the tenant pay, you not only give the tenant an incentive to keep usage down, but have an early warning of possible financial problems. You avoid having to come up with large chunks of money at inconvenient times, too.

Get your degree. Just don't go into much debt for it. Take lots of general math, bookkeeping, statistics, and finance courses, so you can work the numbers for proposed deals and learn how to compare properties. College is a great way to develop networking skills, both with other students and with their parents.

College also is an opportunity to get a well-rounded education. That helps with networking, and with just plain enjoyment of life.

@Jay Hinrichs

"so if ask is 250k we never offer more than 255 with a max of up to X in the case your saying 280k they would have to prove they have another offer at that price point.. and we can always reject."

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Understood, but as a seller, I run the risk of some technical breach of the buyer's contract that allows him to void  his own escalated bid, which means that in chasing after your $500 increase, I blew my chance to sell to a solid offer for $275,000. Why would I want to take that risk, AND give up the chance of getting a pile of money from a buyer who has tipped his hand as to what he'll pay?

Then there is the potential liability for violating an offer with an escalator that I "accept" by taking someone else's offer without getting back to you. And, do I have to show your escalator contract to the higher straight offer bid? You've already told me that I have to "prove" the existence of the higher straight offer. If I get two offers with escalators, do they automatically ladder each other up to the maximum of the lowest ceiling bid (plus the ladder amount of the winning bid? 

Sorry, your escalator works in theory. I get that. But as a seller, I say it is too much bother. Give me your highest and best.

"You could do that, sure, but if you are asking your sellers to counter at $280K, then you are telling the buyers that you can't produce a second offer that can trigger the escalation clause up to that price, letting them know that there may not be as much demand for the property as expected, so there is room for negotiation."

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Not at all, as a seller, I'd just say that I'm short-circuiting the process. You're willing to pay $280k. So pay $280k.