All Forum Posts by: Anna Shaver

School districts I have dealt with request 2 items for proof of residency.  Typically it could be a lease and a utility bill with the parents or legal guardian name on it.  The school doesn't need the child listed because the child lives with their parent or legal guardian.

Our property manager requires $300 per property kept on account.  Any expenses above that are taken out of the monthly rent and they replenish the $300 being held back over the following couple of months.   If the expense is large (we just had the heater fail), we are sending the payment directly to the HVAC company.

Wow @Dawn Anastasi very well played.  Congratulations, very nice property.

 Some real estate companies do provide marketing materials for a fee and also charge for the website.  The websites end up looking pretty generic and so at least out here in California a lot of agents get there own websites made.  Some agents pay for companies that offer a full solution but you still have people who want to stand out and have something more unique that is professional but has some of their personality and content.  Most agents develop (or used to anyway) their own flyers and sometimes if their graphic design skills are not very good they come out ok, but not as professional as they could.  They are always looking for good dependable people to help them.

The marketing meetings are once a week and the agents from all different brokerages come and pitch the properties they have coming up for sale, that they just listed, and requests for properties that they may be looking for (for buyers they are working with).  They then go and tour each property that is in the list that week.  They bring enough property flyers for the group attending.  Usually it is only agents but once in a while a buyer will tag along.  I think the properties are open for a couple of hours after the meeting, it is like a weekend open house but as a preview for the agents in the area.  You would just need to let anyone know if they asked that you are working with an agent.  That way you didn't have a lot of people who are looking to represent you.  This wouldn't be something you would go and try to network with everyone.  It would be something you could do if you were low key and just checking it out.  They are happy to have people look at the properties because it helps to get them sold.

@Kurt Kwartdumb question, in California if something doesn't have permits as long as it is disclosed when you sell, it can usually stay.  Why do you have to remove it? 

@Scott Trench  I talk about our rentals to my daughter who is 13, she knows I believe people who can and do develop good credit can have more opportunities because their cost for money is less.  She knows we work hard and hope she will too so her life will be easier than ours was starting out.   I have talked to her about understanding costs for simple things like using an atm when you take out $20 and have a $2.50 atm fee vs. using your bank without fees or if it is not an option take out $200 if you can stretch it over a longer period so your cost for the funds is lower.

She knows I believe in saving for what you would like to have and don't buy it if you don't have the money or don't need it.

I think financial education is important and comes from home.  We have gone over what bills are and how it will be important for her to have a good education because money doesn't grow on trees.  Most families don't talk as openly about finances but I want her to understand without having to learn the hard way.  I think it also comes down to interest.  If she is open to a conversation and is curious it has paved the way to more interesting discussions.

I have also talked to hear about a Roth IRA once she is old enough and the benefits to the long term growth if she starts really early.

I have had her do some investing/finance simulators for kids, that she enjoyed.  She thought that they were a little basic but a good experience.  

@Nicole Pettis   

If you were to do transaction coordination for free for a busy Realtor team on a few transactions so you can learn the ropes and utilize their systems to go through the full process of real estate transactions.  In California about 7 or 8 years ago it used to be about $350 per transaction to work the file and keep on top of the paperwork.  I am not sure what it pays now.  If you are a highly organized, systematic person this can be a very good fit.   If you are currently working from home this might be something you can do.  It doesn't require you to work in the office in many cases.   You would need to be available during the day to interface with the different venders and agents. 

You mentioned design skills, if this is graphic design you could also offer to do agents property flyers and websites for them.  I would make some mock ups for them to see what you can offer and set a rate for it.  Put a professional portfolio up online for people to see what you can do.  Look at flyers in your area to see what the best ones look like.  Realtor marketing meetings are a great resource to pick up a large number of examples. 

This would give you transaction experience and also build contacts so if the agents in your area had properties that their clients didn't want to put on the mls because of the work needed, you could let them know you would be interested in hearing about them.  You would need to secure a source of funding as well though.

I would look at what you can offer through your experiences and where that would be a strength.

@Jon Huber   Thank you for posting AreaVibes.  I had been to it before and lost the url.  It is great because it lets you find nearby areas that you might be interested in.  Great list.

Some other interesting tools are:

Zipmap.net to have a zip code overlay for maps to drum down into areas

spotcrime.com and neighborhoodscout.com

If I could go back in time I would have invested more into my 401K than I have.  I have had money in it long enough to start seeing its benefits now which makes it much easier to be passionate about it.  When I was younger one of my employers (when I worked for a small business) started SarSeps for his employees and we received a bonus each year that was paid into it.  It helped because it wasn't my decision.  He knew that having money over long term would benefit us, we (his employees) were young and he wanted to pay it forward.  

I think something no one is mentioning is the power of compounding. When you are younger and are investing money into your 401K, Roth IRA, or standard IRA, you have the huge benefit of time. It you are earning 7%, you double approximately every 10 years. For a person who looks at the short term this isn't a big deal and they don't feel like this is something they need to be concerned about but if you look at the long term it is a much different picture. If your employer matches it is even better.

For example (taken from JPMorgan's site) if you invest 5k a year between 25 and 35 years old for a total investment of $50k earning 7% you will have 602k at 65 years old.  Another investor invests $5k a year for 30 years from 35 to 65 with their investment being $150k, assuming the same rate of return of 7% then end up with $540k at age 65.  Even if you only invest in your retirement fund while you are young and then stop you will be much more financially stable in the long run.  

I firmly believe in investing in real estate and have but I also believe in being diversified and making my life easier when I can and not just taking the hard path. Many people on this board are just starting out and have a unique opportunity to be my wayback machine and start investing now to make their path easier. If you have the extra $100-350 a month or can cut back on expenses to treat it as a bill, I would take the opportunity to do so. When my daughter is working we are going to help her start a Roth IRA so she can have the benefit of time and have an easier path than we did. There is a huge difference in your return when you have 30 or 40 years than when you start older because you are starting to understand you need to take it more seriously.

Even if tax laws change, which they can and likely will, you will still be better off than if you did nothing.  You also have the benefit of this being counted towards your real estate reserves which helps to complement your real estate investing business.