All Forum Posts by: Josh E.

 The dollar is strong because every other central bank is the world is expanding its balance sheet at an even more rapid rate than the Fed. It's a race to the bottom. There's also an artificially high demand for dollars across the globe, with the dollar being the reserve currency, oil being traded in dollars, etc.

Real estate would not be worthless if the US currency collapses. The world wouldn't stop spinning, but quality of life would decrease drastically in the U.S. People would still need a place to live and pay rent in the new currency. Would there be social unrest? Probably, and it would probably even be pretty extreme.

We've never been in this situation in modern history, with extreme levels of debt and low rates, so nobody really knows how it's going to end. Holding gold, if you're high net worth, is a prudent move.

 The Dollar has lost 95% of its purchasing power since the Federal Reserve was created in 1913. If you hold real assets (oil, gold, real estate) you shouldn't care if the dollar goes to 0, or even if its replaced by another currency altogether. People who own the real assets will simply be paid in the new currency.

Unless you have a significant net worth, there's no reason to hold gold. Buy real estate and invest in your business. Focus on growing your cash flow. Gold doesn't provide any cash flow. There's no reason to "insure" a 50k net worth that holds a couple SFR properties. $10MM is a different story. I'd be holding gold with a net worth like that.

I would consider myself a gold bug. Hyperinflation in this country is inevitable. I'm not going to be Peter Schiff and try to time exactly when it's going to happen, but it will. But again, your time and money is better spent chasing cash flowing opportunities than parking it in gold, unless of course you're already rich.

@Scott Jensen Being in the industry, you probably know what I'm talking about better than anyone

99% of financial advisors are useless. Most are simply salesmen who peddle the products pushed on them by Wall Street, they have no true analytical experience in the markets. If they did, they'd be working at a hedge fund, not Northwestern Mutual. If you're going to invest in the stock market, you're better off saving yourself the commissions and investing yourself. I'd recommend learning how to use stock options... it's really not difficult to learn how to use them properly, and you can collect nice cash flow from selling options or use them as insurance against your existing portfolio

Better yet, don't put your money in the stock market and keep it as liquid as possible (money market, T-bills) to invest in real estate!

Your best bet is picking up the phone and calling around to local community banks. Look for portfolio lenders, who don't have to conform to Fannie/Freddie lending guidelines and have more freedom with terms, leverage, etc. 

Asking local investors in your area which banks they use could also be useful.

@Wesley W. I'm worried that these laws are just the beginning. Frustrating to see, as this is a lose-lose situation for all parties involved... tenants, landlords, and the state economy. Guess the only winners are Cuomo and his bureaucrat buddies, who just won themselves a few more votes

Not sure how many of you all have seen in the news, but New York is going full-on-socialist with expanding "tenant protections" across the entire state.

NYC has had rent control for a while, from my understanding. But now they're expanding these laws to include upstate (Albany, Buffalo, Rochester, etc.), as if upstate NY cities didn't already have enough economic issues.

From the NY Post:

"The current rules allowed landlords to increase rents by 6% a year to pay for major building-wide improvements or unit rehabs. The omnibus rent bill cuts that down to 2%."

… So disincentivize landlords from making improvements to their buildings. Can anyone explain to me how this makes any economic sense? It's like they want building-owners to be slumlords!! I can't believe it!

From the local paper here in Albany, the Times Union:

"The laws require landlords to give tenants several months notice before an eviction for non-payment, and enable judges to "stay" an eviction up to a year if it will cause "hardship," such as adversely affecting the tenant's childcare arrangements or health."

If someone can explain to me how this benefits anybody in the long-run, tenants or landlords, I'd love to hear it. 

Saw a great quote from a local Albany developer in the newspaper - something along the lines of "The real estate won't move, but my money can." That about sums it up!

People always say Albany is a stable market, with the government, schools, universities, etc.... and that appreciation shouldn't be expected. While I think this is a solid point of view, I think there is some room on the upside, but the Capital Region needs to do a better job of branding itself beyond being the state's capital.

We're an hour from the Adirondacks, a couple hours from Boston, NYC, Montreal. Cost of living (and thus cost of hiring, doing business, etc.) here is low compared to cities like those. Regeneron has a major presence here and the nanotech scene has potential, although I haven't been seeing as much growth in this area as I'd like. I'd love to see Albany turn into a tech hub like Austin, Texas.

Could Albany become the Austin of the Northeast, a large tech hub? I think it could. Is it probable, or even likely? No. Our incompetent state government would need to make some major changes and take on some major initiatives.

But... I like to think it could happen. The government has got to do something about people fleeing Upstate. Albany hasn't seen the population decrease that other upstate cities have, but it's not attracting people, either. I see branding Albany as a "tech" city, beyond just a bureaucratic government jungle, as the most realistic solution to this.

Investing is a risk-reward game. Albany is indeed stable for the reasons I mentioned in the first paragraph... government, colleges, etc. But I also see the upside potential, albeit a small one. Not a bad tradeoff in my opinion, minimal risk (relatively) for a potential large reward.

Would love to hear what you guys think about this!

So I'm remodeling the kitchen in my first rental. Not doing anything crazy, just replacing cabinets, countertops, floor, and new appliances with basic materials.

It looks like Home Depot and Lowe's do kitchen installations. Has anyone used them to renovate a kitchen before? Or is it better off to go with a private contractor, and just pick out the materials myself?