All Forum Posts by: Justin Fox

Nope, new construction and housing in general are tanking in these parts while prices for labor and materials are the same or more.   it's a no-go for a bit unless someone's grandma dies or they get divorced.

@Gayle Eisner

Max segment length for cat 5e/6 is 328 ft.   Could you just run a direct bury line to the house in the back and have your tenants use a wireless router?

@JD Martin

Kind of like the stock market in March of 2020.  Just close your eyes and shoot from the hip!  Lol.

@Eric Fietz 

We built a house and then rented it. After six months we did a cash out refinance and built another one. They were built in 2015 and 2016 respectively, we then sold them both in 2018. Then built another house in 2019 with the original intent of renting it but sold Jan 2020 instead. We then built another home in 2020 while also building a client's custom build. The custom was completed early 2021 and the spec was sold that spring. We also closed on a rental property mid 2021 with the stimulus and child tax credit advances. We currently have a SFH spec for sale in town and just wrapped up another personal 2 year live-in for the 121 exclusion. We're about to close on another lot for new construction in town.

Realtors and the MLS are the gatekeepers to a sale generally. I think over time you'll find that realtors generally serve the interest of the commission, neither the buyer or the seller. They'll convince you it's a buyer's or seller's market and to pay asking or drop asking, whichever gets it to closing quickest. People would be much better off getting that % back in closing costs and still letting the title company to a majority of the work, lol.

Just like any business there are allies and rivalries, and politics involved internally as well. A realtor is going push a listed property, then a fellow brokerage's listing, a realtor friend's listing, a friend's listing, yours and FSBO offering buyer's agent commission last. They'll tell a buyer that FSBO house A is in a dangerous neighborhood but will tell that same buyer a listed home B around the corner is a great buy in a gentrifying neighborhood.

Having said that, you can travel the path of least resistance or not, it's up to you.  If you're only looking at listed homes, I would drop your agent and just contact the seller's agent directly and deal through them.

In a few years I'll have enough liquidity to offer in-house financing and avoid realtors and appraisers all together.  Utopia is real.

Paid our cars off, snow balled it to pay off the house.   A year later we were like, "Why not invest that equity?".  So cashed out and looked for rentals.  They all sucked so we built one, cashed out again built another, so on and so forth.  Lots of pitfalls and natural disasters that almost wiped us out but there's generally opportunity at every turn.  We pivoted away from solely building to rent into custom home building and spec homes as well.  We have a home for sale now.  With the softening market and increased cost to borrowers it's looking like the time to pivot back into rental acquisition/conversion.  Rinse and repeat until death.   

I could see using an ARM product as a builder with inventory that couldn't be moved and getting out of 9-12% money, and then subsequently renting while hoping for better terms down the road.

I'm not in that position but I could see doing that to avoid financial pain in the short term.  People coming to the end of their 'dream-home' interim construction loans and faced with the reality that they're going to refinance into a 7+% fixed-rate loan instead of the ~3% they were anticipating, I think, Is going to be the bigger problem that no one is really talking about.  It's not only a question of affordability but if they even qualify at that point for the refi.  This will no doubt result in more ARMs being utilized to save $$.

@Kar Sun

This is kind of like trying to haggle with a sub contractor who is way out of line with their labor prices.  I'm just going to move on.  I don't want to win the negotiation and then have someone working on my property that thinks they're being underpaid or being taken advantage of, even though they agreed to a lower price.  It results in rushed, sub-par work every time.  In this scenario, the sub contractor eventually finds someone to pay his price and I find someone to initially agree to charge less labor by their own volition, or we don't and have to concede down the road.  Everyone wins. 

I would simply not renew this lease and re-list the property at the new rental price.

I've never understood the idea of a tenant respecting me or being grateful for a place I rent.  I don't respect mortgage lenders, insurance brokers, the lawn guy or gas station owners.  I'm not grateful for their products or services either.  Gratitude is the result of actions or gestures of kindness, and profiting off of the scarcity of your abundance isn't kindness.  If appreciation and gratitude are what you desire, don't raise the rent.   

Bar keepers Friend, friend.

The amount the applicant allegedly made each night on a sticky note, signed by the strip club owner.