All Forum Posts by: Jonathan Greene

@Jim K. that last point is gold. We all get to the point where we outpace our business model and then we end up scrambling around finding all the spare bits we bit off when we shouldn't have.

@Nick Barlow that's something that any landlord has done. I've let tenants go six months before, but they were long-term and had a job loss. They are still there, six years later, and have been there more than fifteen so sometimes the decision is even harder. When we've had a property manager in some areas that helped because we didn't have to feel bad.

@Gabriel Edgar that sounds like an overall win in the end, but one of those that you really wish had worked out. I've always had trouble pulling the trigger on land because of all the things you mentioned.

@Daniel Umstead wholesaling is always a mess in the beginning. I think you are on the right path with advancing your networking because then, at the very least, you have more people to bounce ideas off as to how to solve things in advance.

@Courtney Jones that's a big one we were talking about above in a different context. Getting too comfortable with tenants and even banks, expecting the relationships we built to stay the same. At least it was only one more deal.

I always use these guys. I am not sure if they go to Mercer, but they may have a referral as well.

Accurate Tank Testing, LLC in Franklin Lakes

@Mark F. I've done that too. You would think when you give freedom like that the job would come in quicker and reasonably priced to foster future jobs, but they never do in my experience either. I think it ties in to other posts above about keeping all parts of our REI business business-like. The second we allow a more lax approach to tenants or partners, it seems to come back to haunt us.

@Dan H. been there as well. And your last point is another good one. It's not just friends as renters that become complacent, sometimes our relationships with our "team" can get too comfortable. I've found that as well and end up switching out my contractors and specialists too often.

@Nicole A. I appreciate it and get it, but if you track both posts, all I am doing is responding to what comes at me or about me, nothing more. I find it strange that I should be subjected to multiple personal attacks over and over, but my sarcasm is a bit much. It was a sarcastic post, more than half of the people probably find it funny. It didn't @ anyone. The whole thing is an abject comedy routine and continues to prove the point.

@Stephan Kraus continuing to prove the point of the OP over and over. I will say it again. I literally could not have scripted a more appropriate response base to what the post was about. The comedy routine continues.

@Jon Hill that is a great one and a good heads-up to all house hackers. Do you think it would be safer for new house hackers to treat that room rental as more of a business and keep it that way? Anytime I have mixed friendship in deals it has softened the line on the business.

@Stephan Kraus if you look back, I only crack back on those that come at me, bro. The fact that you take it so seriously to get invested in calling me names and old (at 48) and insulting what you don't know about my business all makes the points over and over again. To continue to think I want something from it is so ludicrous, it's just all you have. You spend all this time making comments about me and literally have nothing productive to add. If you don't like the way it was phrased or disagree with actual content, add some value. 90-95% of the crack back posts against me were personal which again, proves the point.

@Alexander Felice you are hilarious, bro. I responded right away, you ignored that. And then you talk about me in more posts. I am right here, it's no big deal. It's a thread. What you did is create an echo chamber so you could get more people to like you by sucking up to BP and glad-handing all the new investors a way to fight against a post. You seem like the type of guy who would post something similar and laugh about it so it's a little weird, especially with how you came at me personally for you to sit back and say you are just here to bring everyone together and sing songs around the campfire. The post wasn't poorly constructed at all because the construction doesn't matter. You just don't agree with the delivery, but the thing no Bros have done in the OP or here is actually use facts from what people here write to dispute it. The fact is, it's all true. You just feel ********* because you think it's somehow about you and not an ironic commentary on the blowholes of Bro culture. If you think the post was malicious, I'm worried.

We spend a lot of time at the end of each year celebrating our successes in REI and planning for an even better year next year, but sometimes we forget to take stock of our worst move of last year. Understanding what was our worst blunder in 2019 and why it happened can only help us upgrade our business in 2020.

So, what was your worst REI blunder of 2019 and what would you do differently today?

- - -

My worst blunder in 2019 was hiring a new contractor that my friend was using and said was "good." I failed to have the upfront discussions about how I work and what I expect and it was a personality and style clash from day one. I ended up firing him after four days (and $7,500 of work), but my friend had him finish her job. He finished 60 days late on a 30-day renovation. However, the work itself was decent, even though she did like a 1/4 of it herself. But moving forward I need to make sure my personality and expectations will match with anyone I hire so that we can be an actual team and not waste time fighting which takes away from the project completion.

@Nicole A. thank you for being a voice of reason. It's weird when the post is open-ended and everyone acts offended. You can only be offended if 1. you think these things don't happen and 2. you think I was talking to you. The response based wants to be validated for being here, that's why they respond off-topic. So many responses are "everyone is new sometimes." Of course, no one said they weren't. But even new people can do research and take the time to offer as much as they expect back.

Even if half of the responses are crack backs, the amount of responses are because it's hitting a hot button on both sides. The ones who are offended need to step back and think about why they took it personally when it wasn't written to them and why they run through personal attacks directly on me and spend time fabricating that I want business from it. It's a forum topic on a real estate investment site, that is all. It's ludicrous. But that is so Bro.