All Forum Posts by: Matthew Gil

Oh, really? You have never met me. You don't know what my race is.

I have noticed throughout this thread that others are using other countries as examples to prove a point. But be careful. Most of the counties that have been mentioned are social democracies, or democracies using the parliamentary system.

America is truly unique, in that it is a Republic that was born out of the ashes of a revolution against tyranny. True Republics are rare in the history of the world. Because they contain strong executive branches, they lend themselves to evolving into dictatorships.

The founding fathers knew this. They assumed that at some point the people would have to turn against a federalist government if it became too powerful and tyrannical. Hence, why gun ownership is at the core of this country’s founding.

Guns, muskets and cannons gave us our freedom and they protect our freedom against enemies foreign and domestic.

Whoops! Our post, trans-racial President got snared by the race bait trap.

It is now time to bury the Jessie Jackson/Al Sharpton race bait handbook with the rest of America's darkest hours.

Moving on is how we get ahead.

You just might be a real estate investor if…One of your property managers emails you to tell you that a potential tenant you declined for tenancy is threatening to sue you and that they have “connections†with the city and your first thought after reading the email from your PM is, man I am hungry, it’s time to eat something.

I smell a wrongful termination lawsuit.

You are referring to Kelo v. City of New London? Yea, that was a bad decision. John Paul Stevens should know better.

Until the government gets it's act together, I am not happy to pay taxes.

I am all for paying for roads, a strong national defense and people to inspect the meat that I eat, but what is going on is crazy! It's generational theft and wealth distribution. This is not what this government was founded for. People through tea into the Boston Harbor for less grievances.

But, people are to busy drinking 3 buck coffees while listening to Jay-Z on their 400 buck iPod to give a damn.

I found some tips at the Popular Mechanics website.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/home_journal/how_to/4279117.html

Although, I doubt landlords will be able to force tenants to follow some of the article's suggestions.

We have a 3br house that we are selling in our market and we had a couple put an offer in on it. We have been going back and forth on the sales price, standard negotiation stuff. Now all of a sudden the couple is playing hardball and wants to pay WAY lower than their last offer. The reason? In the course of the past day or two they found out what we paid for the property and they feel it is NOT FAIR that we would be making so much money on the deal after only a year of holding the property.

The property was a REO when we bought it, so of course we bought it at a low price, but we also had to put some rehab (money) into it, while also paying property taxes, etc.

No mistake about, we will make a nice little profit. However, we also countered at a generous price. To the outsider, it looks as if it is a win-win deal. The buyers get a house they like at a price that is below market value and the sellers make some profit. But, now that is not good enough for this couple. They now think they we are being greedy and may not accept our latest counter-offer.

Here is my point, I am finding that buyers and tenants are getting more demanding while they are becoming less in quality. There is a toxin or virus floating around called “self-entitlement†and it seems to be spreading. So much so, that it makes me think we should reevaluate our business model. Because, I don’t see this attitude getting any better.

As investors do you see a change in the mentality of the end user landscape? If so, how do you deal with it?

Never thought I’d write a post about water conservation, but the I have noticed a trend that is affecting our bottom line.

Some back story. While we require some of our tenants to pay their water bill, not all of them do and on our multi units we pay the water and sewer bills.

In the past two years our water and sewer costs have gone up in a very noticeable way. So much so, that it is effecting our expenses ratio and we are actually considering moving to another secondary market. Between property taxes and this latest issue with water prices, are bottom line is getting thinner.

Which leads me to my question. How do you landlords contain water and sewer costs? Any simple (cheap) or green technologies that you use. If your tenants pay for all of the water expenses, what is your process and how do you enforce payment?

Thanks in advance,