All Forum Posts by: Marcus Johnson

 Is the property sellable as a home for someone?   If so why not put it up for sale and get rid of it?  We bought a cabin on a lake that we thought we'd vacation at and run as an AirBNB.   After the running the business successfully for 2 years, I got tired of driving 57 miles each way almost every weekend.   Hiring a cleaner wasn't worth the cost it takes to run the business.  I sold the property to the first buyer in a week and made money off the transaction.  I learned a lot.  

It's funny.  If you go to Boglehead's they tend to bash real estate investing, whereas on this website the subject tends to favor more real estate. 

 Yes, humans always adapt to any change in the world, no matter the problem.  That's why I'm not alarmed.   

 I remember in the 80's when my high school Geography teacher would try to scare us to death, saying that the pollution in LA and New York were so bad that people would die.   Well the car industry found ways to develop cars that would emit less emissions.  You don't hear much about this anymore.   The other thing he would scare us about was landfills.  Our landfills would fill up one day and we would have no where to live.  The industry found better ways to make pop cans aluminum versus metal, recycling became more common and 35 years later, you don't hear about this anymore.

 We know that the gov't will allow tenants not to make rent payments should there be another pandemic.   

I sold my rental duplex in South Minneapolis in 2022 after getting frustrated with the City Council and leadership allowing riots and the burning down of local businesses in the local community and the gov't not stepping in until 4 days later with the national guard.  The rioters burnt down the local Holiday station, looted the Target, liquor stores, Walgreens and burnt down the 3rd precinct.  Total anarchy.   The city council also voted on rent control.   I figured we better get the heck out of town and sell while the market was at an all time high in 2022.  So glad we got out of Minneapolis, I will never do business there again unless the gov't changes.   It's sad that Minneapolis doesn't want to keep quality landlords who have done an extremely good job as we did.  

It's interesting that I'm seeing more and more posts about energy costs.   I ran rental properties for 10 years and never once did I run into issues with tenants either keeping the heat to high or the AC to low.   I installed Honeywell thermostats that would allow me to make sure the heat was at least 60 degrees in the winter time just to make sure the pipes wouldn't freeze but that's about it.   Just throwing this out there, but are margins extra thin these days for landlords, because their mortgage payments are higher because of the costs of housing and interest rates?   Also natural gas and electric prices are higher due to the economy.   Just wondering what's going on.   

Doesn't seem very tenant friendly.  If your offering the unit as you the landlord is paying for the gas, then I don't think it's reasonable to cap temp on the thermostat.   I'd be very frustrated that if I like to have my heat at 72 and you cap it at 70 degrees, then how am I suppose to feel comfortable in my own living space.   Costs of goods and services rise with inflation and is just a part of operating a business.  

Are they married?   The reason I ask is that if they are legally married, then the debt is the responsibility of both of them.   If not, then that tells me the one party isn't very good with money management and will probably be late with their rent.  Do you have other options for tenants?