All Forum Posts by: Ken M.
Ken M. has started 113 posts and replied 1501 times.
Quote from @Gregory Schwartz:
I’ve been thinking—are fewer people using great forums like BP and instead going straight to the “all-knowing” ChatGPT?
As much as I love these forums, sometimes getting a clear answer can be tough. BP has been the foundation of my real estate investing journey, and I owe so much to the community here, the podcast guests, and the hosts.
BUT… lately I find myself wanting quick, straightforward answers without the forum drama, side tangents, or sales pitches. And honestly, I’ve been spending less time here and more time asking AI.
Yes, I know—one day it may enslave us all and I’m playing right into its plan … but in the meantime, it’s hard to beat instant, drama-free answers.
Am I the only one?
Someone I buy properties at a discount for, ran into a legal problem that was unusual for him. He ran ChatGPT, and did a reasonably good job of defining the issue and showed me the result. I don't use AI or ChatGPT so I was intrigued to see what it would say. It was a reasonably good answer except that it didn't know about he case law that would get him sued and lose.
As someone else pointed out in a different post, "it just isn't there, yet".
Now, I could say, "go ahead and follow AI advice", which will likely get you side tracked and sued, that leaves the good deals for the rest of us, but I'm not that kind of guy.
Experience will always succeed over AI. Situations change too quickly.
Quote from @Joe S.:
Quote from @Ken M.:
Quote from @Joe S.:
Quote from @Benjamin Louie:
@Ken M.Oof… I saw that clip too, and man, what a tough situation. It’s one of those things you don’t think about when everything's going great in the relationship, but when it falls apart, all the legal blind spots show up real quick.
Honestly, this is why I always tell friends (especially younger ones) to treat real estate like a business, no matter how in love they are. If your name’s not on the deed, you're just a tenant with a liability, not an owner.
It’s wild how common this kind of thing is, too. I've talked to a few folks who either co-signed or helped with down payments “because they trusted their partner,” and it backfired big time.
Prenups, cohabitation agreements, ownership structures — boring stuff, but it matters so much. Hopefully, stories like this push more people to protect themselves up front.
Anyone here ever been in a similar situation or had to untangle a property mess after a breakup?
Prenups, cohabitation agreements, ownership structures — boring stuff, but it matters so much.
Couples are scared 😱 to discuss this. One of the reasons is because the other party insinuates that they don’t love them and are looking for a way out if this is discussed ahead of time. It’s one of those oops if you talk about it now and oops if you didn’t talk about it then.
Also it’s usually the side that has less to offer that is the most against prenups… IMO
My first & only wife and her first and only husband (me ;-), We have been married 47 years now, with I hope, another 47 to go. We didn't live together, we didn't pretend to be married, we didn't have family to show us how it's done. We committed, we got married first, followed what the bible says about marriage.
Both of us come from divorced families, my family was poor, uneducated with alcoholism, her family Harvard educated running a national company.
We simply decided that we'd do it God's way instead, and it works.
Congratulations Ken. It sounds like you got it right.
I’m married to my first and only wife and she still married to her first and only husband. Not quite as long as you though. :-)
Yes, I've looked at the divorce statistics and they lie. As my college statistics prof taught "There are lies, damn lies and statistics"
A lot of the numbers are repeats of the same people making the same mistakes, counted more than once.
Quote from @Brandon Lee:
I know speed is everything in real estate investing. Some lenders can close in weeks, others take months.
What’s been your average turnaround time when getting funding? Have delays ever caused you to lose a deal?
As soon as I like the Title Report.
I run the numbers, I make my offer, always creative financing, I don't worry about bank financing, and as quickly as the seller can give me clean title, we jump in.
Quote from @Becca F.:
Quote from @Ken M.:
Quote from @Becca F.:
That's what I thought. I emailed Help Support to ask them or if they can delete my posts (which contain a lot of personal info, good thing I didn't post my last name on here) and they said no. BP won't let us self delete posts unlike other social media (Facebook, Instagram).
I'm very likely to delete my account soon
I replied back to Help Support because they said they don't delete posts. This isn't true. I've seen Moderators delete people's posts or comments.
On the flip side, I've seen controversial comments that are related to politics not get removed
Here are my controversial comments "Pizza Hut is better than Domino's" and "Coca Cola is better than Pepsi" hahaha
You are a real terror! Heh
There is a new group running BP as of a year ago, if I recall correctly. Whether they have changed any policies, I wouldn't know. But getting someone to specifically respond to a question has never been easy.
Quote from @John Clark:
Quote from @Ken M.:
Quote from @Steve K.:
Quote from @Ken M.:
Quote from @Steve K.:
Quote from @Ken M.:
Quote from @Steve K.:
Quote from @Ken M.:
Quote from @Steve K.:
Quote from @Ken M.:
Quote from @Steve K.:
Considering how Trump was found guilty of fraud several times himself, he should be fired as well using his own logic in this situation.
No charges were "overturned". Trump was convicted in NY state supreme court on 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal a hush payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election in exchange for her silence about an alleged sexual encounter. This conviction made Trump the first president to also be a convicted felon. He was sentenced a few days before being sworn in for his second term, receiving an "unconditional discharge". This means he will not face fines, prison or financial penalties, but the conviction remains on his record. The judge in the case at the time explained that was the only lawful sentence that didn't encroach on the office of the president. So he is still a convicted felon, he just got a very light sentence.
There were several other ongoing cases, both civil and criminal, against Trump ahead of last year's election, this was the only criminal case to go to trial.
His business was also found guilty of fraud in the Letitia Jame's suit about providing one set of financial statements to lenders in order to get better loan terms, and a different set to the IRS in order to pay less taxes, and also exaggerating his wealth for decades, etc. This case was appealed this spring and the $500M fine was found to be excessive and was overturned, but the appeals court upheld the lower court's ruling that Trump and his associates committed fraud by inflating asset values to mislead lenders and insurers.
Then there was Trump University that was found to be liable for fraud and forced to shut down.
There was also "We Build the Wall" which raised money from Trump supporters to build a wall on the southern border that was found to be fraudulent (his sidekick Steve Bannon was sent to jail for 5 years over this but Trump pardoned him).
And in December 2024, a federal appeals court upheld a jury's finding that Trump sexually abused writer E. Jean Carroll in the mid-1990s and later defamed her, affirming a $5 million judgment against him. The appeals court declined in June to reconsider.
Then there were his casinos that went bankrupt and how he burned a lot of his business partners and contractors that never got paid, the list goes on and on if you look into his shady past.
This is the guy now acting as the ethics police? He's been a career criminal for decades.
If Cook should lose her job for simply being accused of mortgage fraud, then Trump should definitely lose his job in the government for not only being implicated but actually being convicted of financial crimes. Otherwise it's peak hypocrisy on his end. I'm not saying she shouldn't get fired if the accusations are true by the way, but she hasn't been charged with anything or had a trial and been convicted like he has.
Hmm, you have very interesting delusions. But, I'm told Trump Delusional Syndrome does that to people. You should see someone for that disorder. ;-)
Here's what is actually happening:
Total number of cases currently tracked: 384.
Case Status Summary
Case Closed in Favor of Plaintiff: 0
Blocked: 25
Temporarily Blocked: 77
Blocked Pending Appeal: 18
Temporarily Blocked in Part; Temporary Block Denied in Part: 10
Temporary Block Denied: 39
Not Blocked Pending Appeal: 36
Awaiting Court Ruling: 148
Case Closed: 22
Misc: Transferred: 2
Case Closed/Dismissed in Favor of Government: 7
https://www.globallawtoday.com/law/legal-news/2025/06/select...
We can discuss it when he sits in jail. Lol
I'm here to tell you, jurors can be biased. If you are ever in an antagonistic situation/state, demand a bench trial by a judge, not a jury. As you probably already know, the smart, fair potential jurors find a way out of the case and never serve. They don't need the $12 a day they get paid.
I hate to get personal about "Trump sexually abused writer E. Jean Carroll" but with his billions, he could do better? Puhlease. That didn't happen.
E. Jean Carroll was actually crowned Miss Indiana University and won Miss Cheerleader USA, so she must have been a real looker back in the day. But I think guys like Trump sexually assault women for conquest/ the power trip more than looks anyway. It wasn't just her though, 27 other women also accused him: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump_sexual_misconduct...
.
So, let's see, someone accuses a billionaire of something, in hopes he will pay money to keep her quiet (extortion) and even though she can't prove it, he denies it, he's the one to blame?
Interesting.
Hmmm, he's President and successful, and was there. You're not, you're not, and you weren't there! Jealousy?- who do we believe.?
I'd leave it alone and stop looking so petty, but that's me.
Take your pick world, Someone that has "done it" - "been successful" or a wanna be that's jealous?
Done with this one. Subject is immaterial and unprovable.
You don't have to believe E. Jean Carrol or any of the several dozen women who have accused him if you don't want to. Did you listen to Howard Stern back when Trump was on the show all the time? I remember him on there talking about cheating on his wife Ivana because he didn't like her accent, about how he only likes women under 30, discussing his own teenage daughter's rear end and how nice it is, saying she's always been very voluptuous and agreeing with Howard that she's "a nice piece of a**", having threesomes, and having lewd conversations with Bill Clinton when they played golf together (remember he was a big supporter of the Clintons and a Democrat for much of his life). Then of course there was the Access Hollywood tapes where he brags about sexually assaulting women. You don't have to believe the women, just listen to his own words and if you don't find him super creepy then we'll just have to agree to disagree.
If you have anything from 2016 forward, I'd certainly be open to hearing it. I believe in redemption, people change and as far as when I became aware of him, I'd look at 2016.
I'm not much of a TV fan and the last TV we had was about "Mork & MIndy" time, what's that about 1980 -1982? Anyway, nano nano
LOL
I'm a simple guy
"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
I would go nuts trying to keep up with all the wrongs everybody has done.
Quote from @Joe S.:
Quote from @Benjamin Louie:
@Ken M.Oof… I saw that clip too, and man, what a tough situation. It’s one of those things you don’t think about when everything's going great in the relationship, but when it falls apart, all the legal blind spots show up real quick.
Honestly, this is why I always tell friends (especially younger ones) to treat real estate like a business, no matter how in love they are. If your name’s not on the deed, you're just a tenant with a liability, not an owner.
It’s wild how common this kind of thing is, too. I've talked to a few folks who either co-signed or helped with down payments “because they trusted their partner,” and it backfired big time.
Prenups, cohabitation agreements, ownership structures — boring stuff, but it matters so much. Hopefully, stories like this push more people to protect themselves up front.
Anyone here ever been in a similar situation or had to untangle a property mess after a breakup?
Prenups, cohabitation agreements, ownership structures — boring stuff, but it matters so much.
Couples are scared 😱 to discuss this. One of the reasons is because the other party insinuates that they don’t love them and are looking for a way out if this is discussed ahead of time. It’s one of those oops if you talk about it now and oops if you didn’t talk about it then.
Also it’s usually the side that has less to offer that is the most against prenups… IMO
My first & only wife and her first and only husband (me ;-), We have been married 47 years now, with I hope, another 47 to go. We didn't live together, we didn't pretend to be married, we didn't have family to show us how it's done. We committed, we got married first, followed what the bible says about marriage.
Both of us come from divorced families, my family was poor, uneducated with alcoholism, her family Harvard educated running a national company.
We simply decided that we'd do it God's way instead, and it works.
A viral financial horror story exposes the dangerous pitfalls of buying property with an unmarried partner—and why legal protections matter more than romantic trust.
A recent YouTube short from financial content creator Caleb Hammer has sparked widespread discussion about one of the most costly mistakes young couples can make: buying a home together without proper legal protections.
The story, which has resonated with thousands of viewers, centers on an unmarried man who contributed to purchasing a $350,000 house with his girlfriend, only to discover he had zero legal ownership when their relationship ended just months later.
https://news.yahoo.com/news/finance/news/hes-still-paying-mo...
When Reality Hit Hard
The relationship deteriorated rapidly after the home purchase, with the couple breaking up after living together for only a couple of months. This timeline highlights how quickly financial decisions made during the emotional high of a relationship can become devastating liabilities when circumstances change.
Upon separation, the harsh reality of the legal arrangement became clear. While the man remained responsible for his portion of the mortgage payments, he had no claim to the property’s value, future appreciation, or even a say in major decisions about the home. Essentially, he was paying rent on a property he would never own, with the added burden of a mortgage that would impact his credit and debt-to-income ratio for years to come.
Quote from @Becca F.:
That's what I thought. I emailed Help Support to ask them or if they can delete my posts (which contain a lot of personal info, good thing I didn't post my last name on here) and they said no. BP won't let us self delete posts unlike other social media (Facebook, Instagram).
I'm very likely to delete my account soon
Quote from @Steve K.:
Quote from @Ken M.:
Quote from @Steve K.:
Quote from @Ken M.:
Quote from @Steve K.:
Quote from @Ken M.:
Quote from @Steve K.:
Quote from @Ken M.:
Quote from @Steve K.:
Considering how Trump was found guilty of fraud several times himself, he should be fired as well using his own logic in this situation.
No charges were "overturned". Trump was convicted in NY state supreme court on 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal a hush payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election in exchange for her silence about an alleged sexual encounter. This conviction made Trump the first president to also be a convicted felon. He was sentenced a few days before being sworn in for his second term, receiving an "unconditional discharge". This means he will not face fines, prison or financial penalties, but the conviction remains on his record. The judge in the case at the time explained that was the only lawful sentence that didn't encroach on the office of the president. So he is still a convicted felon, he just got a very light sentence.
There were several other ongoing cases, both civil and criminal, against Trump ahead of last year's election, this was the only criminal case to go to trial.
His business was also found guilty of fraud in the Letitia Jame's suit about providing one set of financial statements to lenders in order to get better loan terms, and a different set to the IRS in order to pay less taxes, and also exaggerating his wealth for decades, etc. This case was appealed this spring and the $500M fine was found to be excessive and was overturned, but the appeals court upheld the lower court's ruling that Trump and his associates committed fraud by inflating asset values to mislead lenders and insurers.
Then there was Trump University that was found to be liable for fraud and forced to shut down.
There was also "We Build the Wall" which raised money from Trump supporters to build a wall on the southern border that was found to be fraudulent (his sidekick Steve Bannon was sent to jail for 5 years over this but Trump pardoned him).
And in December 2024, a federal appeals court upheld a jury's finding that Trump sexually abused writer E. Jean Carroll in the mid-1990s and later defamed her, affirming a $5 million judgment against him. The appeals court declined in June to reconsider.
Then there were his casinos that went bankrupt and how he burned a lot of his business partners and contractors that never got paid, the list goes on and on if you look into his shady past.
This is the guy now acting as the ethics police? He's been a career criminal for decades.
If Cook should lose her job for simply being accused of mortgage fraud, then Trump should definitely lose his job in the government for not only being implicated but actually being convicted of financial crimes. Otherwise it's peak hypocrisy on his end. I'm not saying she shouldn't get fired if the accusations are true by the way, but she hasn't been charged with anything or had a trial and been convicted like he has.
Hmm, you have very interesting delusions. But, I'm told Trump Delusional Syndrome does that to people. You should see someone for that disorder. ;-)
Here's what is actually happening:
Total number of cases currently tracked: 384.
Case Status Summary
Case Closed in Favor of Plaintiff: 0
Blocked: 25
Temporarily Blocked: 77
Blocked Pending Appeal: 18
Temporarily Blocked in Part; Temporary Block Denied in Part: 10
Temporary Block Denied: 39
Not Blocked Pending Appeal: 36
Awaiting Court Ruling: 148
Case Closed: 22
Misc: Transferred: 2
Case Closed/Dismissed in Favor of Government: 7
https://www.globallawtoday.com/law/legal-news/2025/06/select...
We can discuss it when he sits in jail. Lol
I'm here to tell you, jurors can be biased. If you are ever in an antagonistic situation/state, demand a bench trial by a judge, not a jury. As you probably already know, the smart, fair potential jurors find a way out of the case and never serve. They don't need the $12 a day they get paid.
I hate to get personal about "Trump sexually abused writer E. Jean Carroll" but with his billions, he could do better? Puhlease. That didn't happen.
E. Jean Carroll was actually crowned Miss Indiana University and won Miss Cheerleader USA, so she must have been a real looker back in the day. But I think guys like Trump sexually assault women for conquest/ the power trip more than looks anyway. It wasn't just her though, 27 other women also accused him: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump_sexual_misconduct...
.
So, let's see, someone accuses a billionaire of something, in hopes he will pay money to keep her quiet (extortion) and even though she can't prove it, he denies it, he's the one to blame?
Interesting.
Hmmm, he's President and successful, and was there. You're not, you're not, and you weren't there! Jealousy?- who do we believe.?
I'd leave it alone and stop looking so petty, but that's me.
Take your pick world, Someone that has "done it" - "been successful" or a wanna be that's jealous?
Done with this one. Subject is immaterial and unprovable.
You don't have to believe E. Jean Carrol or any of the several dozen women who have accused him if you don't want to. Did you listen to Howard Stern back when Trump was on the show all the time? I remember him on there talking about cheating on his wife Ivana because he didn't like her accent, about how he only likes women under 30, discussing his own teenage daughter's rear end and how nice it is, saying she's always been very voluptuous and agreeing with Howard that she's "a nice piece of a**", having threesomes, and having lewd conversations with Bill Clinton when they played golf together (remember he was a big supporter of the Clintons and a Democrat for much of his life). Then of course there was the Access Hollywood tapes where he brags about sexually assaulting women. You don't have to believe the women, just listen to his own words and if you don't find him super creepy then we'll just have to agree to disagree.
If you have anything from 2016 forward, I'd certainly be open to hearing it. I believe in redemption, people change and as far as when I became aware of him, I'd look at 2016.
I'm not much of a TV fan and the last TV we had was about "Mork & MIndy" time, what's that about 1980 -1982? Anyway, nano nano
Quote from @Peter Walther:
Quote from @Ken M.:
Quote from @Peter Walther:
I think one of the main differences between the two is the liability coverage you receive for a missed document. In the case of a title report the liability may be limited to as little as the amount you paid for the report, $50 or $60. Some of the limitations are for up to $1k. Of course, that doesn't help if you've spent more in reliance on the report. Many people don't realize that even a title commitment, a contract where the insurer agrees to insure title if its conditions are met, limit liability to the amount the proposed insured spends in trying to meet the commitment requirements. Searchers do miss documents, examiners do misinterpret what effect documents have, there are matters which effect title that can't be found in a search, so I'm carful in thinking a title report is a panacea for moving forward.
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Agreed. I use title reports initially to determine if there is a reason to not move forward, then switch to coverage if I think the risk is worth the coverage and buy the property. In reality, I've read that title insurance is one of the most profitable income streams for a title company. That must mean title companies really don't miss much, don't find it expensive to research and don't lose too many lawsuits.
When SubTo students/buyers don't transact using escrow and/or title insurance, in order to save money, I think they are foolishly making a terrific mistake.
Title insurance is what's known as monoline, so for the underwriter, it's all they do. The premium, search fees and interest on investments are the sole income streams. Profitability is tied closely to the real estate market of course. More transactions, purchase and refi, the more income. Sometimes net margins can be as high as 30%, other times it's in the red. Agents on the other hand receive closing fees and other charges that add to the bottom line. It can be very profitable, or not.
So can investing be :-) Sometimes yes, sometimes not so much