All Forum Posts by: Justin Foster

@Nathan Gesner Appreciate all you shared.  Putting power in the hands of the local level is wise and I whole heartedly agree.  What I asked is how can we make sure our charity is not Toxic?  And I think the method you suggest answers this in a positive way. 

On a personal level, I see a lot of folks who come from a completely different class and make wide sweeping judgments against folks in poverty.  The judgments are often times rooted in a worldview of meritocracy.  A meritocratic worldview has its benefits to be sure, but it also has many problems and its worthwhile understanding what those problems are.... because maybe they contribute to the problem we are seeing in the system!  

@Lillian BurkeYou're asking some good questions and have good ideas.  Everyone has a story and there are many ways we can give dignity to marginalized communities without that support being a stumbling block.  How do we support those at the margins while ensuring we are not providing charity that is Toxic???

@Joseph Konney There's a ministry in Denver Co that I LOVE called Mile High Ministries. They have a transitional housing program called "Joshua Station".  Over the last 2 decades, Joshua Station has provided transitional housing assistance to homeless families.  They have an old hotel which was converted to an apartment complex.  These families are often single moms with young children.  Families apply and at first they are 100% subsidized with housing and food.  Over a year or two, they work a program whereby they receive intensive counseling and support for the entire family.  They are helped in finding stable jobs and incrementally start to pay more in rent, groceries, etc until they can get enough to pay for market rates (quite a bit of $ these days in Denver Co)  The money they pay towards their living expenses is saved for them and a large portion (nearly ALL of it) is given back to them once they complete the program and are self-sufficient.  

We need holistic solutions....  It's a start to acknowledge I have never walked in the shoes of a homeless person - I wasn't raised by my abusive uncle on the Pine Ridge reservation, I've never been a war vet suffering from PTSD, and I don't understand what its like to have down syndrome or schizophrenia.  If you believe in an American Meritocracy - that all these "lazy" people just need to pick up a shovel... you simply haven't had the chance to sit down and hear the Others story.  If we heard their story and got to know people that are very different from us, we would probably see everything a little differently.  And the solution (if there is one) may be a little more kind and merciful because these "Other" people have inherent value just like you do. 

@Wesley Childers I think your are thinking correctly. If population is stagnate or declining / too small, then you may not realize some of the better benefits of real estate such as appreciation of rent and property values. Density of people is very important. What about Joplin Mo? That's probably the closest city to you that is actually a city.

I'm looking for advice on how to best outsource bookkeeping for a rental portfolio of 15 - 20 SFR and small MFH units. Here's some background. 1) I suck at bookkeeping. I'm in the process of getting everything caught up for this year with hopes to hand it off in January. 2) My wife equally sucks at bookkeeping. I married someone just like me. 3) I want a system that's as easy as possible for me to get receipts and information to the person doing our books. 4) our system MUST be secure. I don't feel comfortable giving account access to this person. 5) we have quickbooks desktop and use cozy.co for property management. I don't want to change our software for accounting / management because I have another LLC that requires quickbooks. That said, I'm open to compelling arguments.

Here's some of my questions for those of you who have experience with this...  

With 14 properties, how much time would a bookkeeper spend on keeping my books up?  I would hope to get financial statements on a monthly basis

What's the advantage of a local bookkeeper vs virtual?  Is there a benefit to looking for a virtual assistant that does more than bookkeeping?

How much do different scenarios cost? 

What's a good way to setup a system with expenses and getting the bookkeeper this data?

How much tax prep does a bookkeeper do? 

How have accurate books / outsourcing bookkeeping helped you in your business?

Thanks!

@John Morgan

I like it - especially if they are fixed mortgages. Also I like your question. I’m going to go deep and quote Wendell Berry here with my favorite poem. To me, he hits a note that should resonate with the FI community. Or maybe it’s just me..

Love the quick profit, the annual raise,

vacation with pay. Want more

of everything ready-made. Be afraid

to know your neighbors and to die.

And you will have a window in your head.

Not even your future will be a mystery

any more. Your mind will be punched in a card

and shut away in a little drawer.

When they want you to buy something

they will call you. When they want you

to die for profit they will let you know.

So, friends, every day do something

that won’t compute. Love the Lord.

Love the world. Work for nothing.

Take all that you have and be poor.

Love someone who does not deserve it.

Denounce the government and embrace

the flag. Hope to live in that free

republic for which it stands.

Give your approval to all you cannot

understand. Praise ignorance, for what man

has not encountered he has not destroyed.

Ask the questions that have no answers.

Invest in the millennium. Plant sequoias.

Say that your main crop is the forest

that you did not plant,

that you will not live to harvest.

Say that the leaves are harvested

when they have rotted into the mold.

Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.

Put your faith in the two inches of humus

that will build under the trees

every thousand years.

Listen to carrion – put your ear

close, and hear the faint chattering

of the songs that are to come.

Expect the end of the world. Laugh.

Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful

though you have considered all the facts.

So long as women do not go cheap

for power, please women more than men.

Ask yourself: Will this satisfy

a woman satisfied to bear a child?

Will this disturb the sleep

of a woman near to giving birth?

Go with your love to the fields.

Lie down in the shade. Rest your head

in her lap. Swear allegiance

to what is nighest your thoughts.

As soon as the generals and the politicos

can predict the motions of your mind,

lose it. Leave it as a sign

to mark the false trail, the way

you didn’t go. Be like the fox

who makes more tracks than necessary,

some in the wrong direction.

Practice resurrection.

Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front” from The Country of Marriage, copyright © 1973 by Wendell Berry, reprinted by permission of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.

@Geoffrey Fellner

You're absolutely thinking through this the right way. If you can give them a price they are happy with, try to control the terms so that the cash flow will work for you. 0% owner finance is a stellar deal if you are cash flow positive... it would be hard to mess this deal up in my opinion. Just the cheaper your payment here, the better for you for an ROI perspective. Any way you can get your payment down is good for you so if your parents are good with 20 year note vs 15 that's better. Or 30 year is better than 20... so long as the balloon remains constant. If they say they will do 30 years but want the balloon in half the time, you can decide if that's worth it. At any rate, the longer the balloon and longer the payment period / installment amount - the better off you will be... but it obviously has to work for them.

You have a good grasp on this. Trust yourself and go make the deal a win - win for both of you.

If the numbers make sense, but it doesn’t fit with your lifestyle, it may be a great deal but a bad decision.  You may have money or access to money but tapped out in your time as an example. So things like management and acquisition costs in regards to your time are very important factors.  Also, if it’s a great deal by some sort of objective measure but you need liquidity of your investments it could be a bad decision.  Finally, it could be a great deal because of speculation over appreciation in the market.  A great deal in LA county right now may wind up being a terrible deal in 1 year if the upside is all in appreciation.  It’s important to consider markets, your time, opportunity costs and lifestyle design with any potential investment.  Just because it’s a good deal doesn’t mean it’s a good decision to own it.  

Welcome Dennis!  Plenty of good folks from the Tulsa metro area on BP.  Happy investing!

James,

This is quite interesting and exhaustive!  I have numerous questions I would like to ask you - particularly in how you deal with constraints in your models as you employ a monte carlo method for inversions.  How much control do users have over the ranges of these constraints??? or is it run as a completely open model? 

Seems like quite a sophisticated way of looking at this and as you mention, worthwhile considering its our future at stake.  Reading through your book now and will look into your planner.

Cheers!

Justin

@Ryan Faber Good call.  Don't have to look too hard to find better ones out there.