All Forum Posts by: Nick Sabat

You walk into your house, the door is connected to the T.V., the dishwasher can be run by your phone. You can have a discussion via text with your waterbed.

What does it all spell out? A smart home!

R developers and rehabbers really that far behind the times? Do people looking to buy or even rent, really want all these options?

How much does it add to the cost of building or remodeling? Then, how much do you pad the price to sell or rent?

The bottom line here is, we are moving into a new generation of better homes and more comfortable surroundings.  There will be and is a price to pay. Soon many things in the home will be outdated and antiquated.

Long gone will be the days, you manually opened your window in the morning to bring in fresh air - it will be set on a timer, much like your instant coffer maker is set today.

Are we really ready for this? Is the market strong in this arena? Who are the big players here, builders, developers or rehabbers?

Just a few thoughts to ponder! Any views and opinions are warmly welcome and taken! Have Fun!

I really don't think the object of this post is to argue what is right and wrong as what someone says - it is only natural to note, that the more people you have on one router, bottlenecking, the slower the speed - therefore the need for more routers to handle the load and the more energy needed to run each router. But, here is a paraphrase on use of bandwidth and energy "minimization of the energy expenditure in the maximum energy-dissipating node to achieve the maximum lifetime under bandwidth constraints" - just say n.

And after look n @ the brochure linked to here, I see that there is a cost for High Speed Internet, which is $35 - seems to me to be adequate - the ideas of this brochure were shared I believe as a helpful hint as to what some companies offer potential tenants as options to their lease.

As others have shared - clean and safe - are the most desired aspects of any rental. Again, I think the others are just options listed here. And as the creator of this post pointed out - pools are way to unsafe, unless you are willing to provide a great deal of expense on safety, cleanliness and maintenance and not to mention operational costs like water usage. :D

I would imagine that in an area with a lot of renters competing for your unit(s) that you would not have to provide any of it except maybe a soundproof wall and maybe a patio/balcony.

And I guess the assumption is that this is a multi-unit apartment house as opposed to a single family rental. These are all attractions that if you are in a great deal of competition, as a landlord with other landlords.

Then, I would assume, that with all these amenities you would charge extra for rent. Just the High Speed Internet itself would cause an electric bill to be high for a landlord, alone. The more people connected to a router the more it uses in (bandwidth) energy.

Then, a washer and dryer - where? In the units themselves or in a basement or lower floor of the apartment house? Coin operated?

I didn't read the article but again an assumption, this is for large corporations whom engage in building or purchasing large apartment house units. The average Real Estate Investor is more likely interested in 4 to 10 units, at best.

Interesting to know what they are offering out there though, on the higher end of the spectrum. I just looked at the brochure - yep! What I said! :D Thanks, it was informative.

One other note: You haven't mentioned whether you were looking for a fixer upper or full priced property.

According to RealtyTrac and quoted here on BP, the Single Family Rental Returns in LA are a meager .9% hardly a return an unseasoned investor would look for or want to have. At least in my opinion. And I would guess this is @ full price purchases.

Lance, I see a couple things here - first allow me to explain. Analyst is one of my keywords to be alerted on. 

So, with an analytical view, I see you say you looked at 50 - 100 prospects in West LA. And with this, I would say, that from what I know, LA itself is a highly competitive market. My mind is churning @ a million miles per second here. A small guy wants to go up to bat with the big guys. Seems to me you painted yourself into a very small box.

Looking @ where you live (I assume) to where you work, Santa Monica - it is @ least a 24 minute drive. Jumping outside your box, say for instance, West of Santa Monica or North or South, 24 minutes, my question would be, are deals better there? Another is, would this reasonably be the way to start out investing rather than trying to jump into a ring, with well seasoned investors?

To answer part of your question, "is now the time to invest in Real Estate?" According to the Pros, there is no bad time to invest in Real Estate. Now, it appears you want to "house hack", live in one side or on one floor while renting out the other. One factor to consider, alongside your income. The neighborhood, another. Etc., etc.

Your payback period - how long have you forecast it? Your stay in the house you wanna start with - how long? Are there other houses in the area, you can jump on once you get started, etc.?

Like I said, my mind is churning @ a million miles per second. But these are the things you need to consider and look strongly @, before jumping into a deal that may falter.

None of the above is extended as advice, just some thoughts to consider! Good Luck!

Depends on what you want and how much you wanna expend in time and money - hand sand will only take care of the surface damage.

If you want a great looking job you can remove all the wood work that is flat - take it to a local woodworks and have them plain down the outside of the board. It can be refinished after that - most gouges should be removed at that point.

You could ask an instructor at a school's wood working class if he wants to give the kids a extra project to do - this will save money but it would be nice if you donated something to them - like a few cheap hammers or a ton of carpenter pencils with your business logo on them. :D

In any event, you will have to make sure u take out all the nails. The boards must be devoid of all of them, for the wood to go thru the planers. And to keep track of where you took the wood from, use a felt tip pen and mark the backs, upstairs hall/downstairs hall, bedroom 1 door, etc., etc.

Just a thought! :D

Depends on what style of box you have!

If u have an old steel box with bx cable coming into it, you can ground your outlet to it. The way to tell if there is a bx cable is look inside the box and you will see a grommet attached to the box - this sort of system is tied into existing electrical systems by way of steel connections through out and generally lead to the grounded service panel.

Theoretically, if there is a steel box attached to a wood stud, this should ground out the outlet. However, there are no guarantees there - it is just a theory.

Now as far as ground faults are concerned, I think there is a limit to how many outlets you put upline to protect that circuit. 3 tops and one light or something like that. Otherwise, your system will trip regularly.

Actually it seems banks tend to hide their ownership once they take control of a property through foreclosure. I would say the biggest reason why? Is they get a lot of calls from people who are not sincere about purchasing those properties and they end up fielding useless phone calls about properties they own.

For instance, I am a person interested in getting a house from a bank. I call and I ask all sorts of questions. How can I do this? How can I do that? Will the bank lend money on this property? Etc., etc.

Years ago, you could search Real Estate Owned and find a whole lot of listings that the bank owned. They no longer do this. As with any other business, the other reason why they do not give out a list of properties own by them is, in steps the big guys. Big corporations that have the right idea, for the banks and leave a bad taste in the small guys mouth.

For instance, you find a great R.E.O. u look into it and find out that Auction this or that has taken over sale of the property. They usually place minimum bids (reserve price) on auctions that start way above what the bank may take for it, if you had a broker making an offer on it to them. They could set a "lender approved price" on it, known as a "lender confirmation auction" but they don't.

These auctioneers are out to get the biggest bang for their buck and it leaves little or no meat on the bone for an investor. Sadly. I located a property once, prior to one of these auctioneers taking over and asked the broker what banked owned it - he adamantly refused to tell me the name of the bank. And stated that the bank is not accepting (entertaining) any low ball offers until a 30 day trial had passed.

As soon as 30 days were up - bang an auctioneer sign was up and they wanted twice as much as the original offering. Go Figure!

Hey Everyone, 

Been traveling around the net, since 1997 - in and out of one business or the other, online.  It was a wonderful time. But like any other business it has it's ups and downs.

I think many of you will agree - that there are just some circumstances we have no control over - like 9/11 that blindsided the travel industry.  Or AiG and other big powerhouses hitting the skids and wrecking the economy. Would hope that the Real Estate and Travel Industries have recovered since then.

Still trying, however, to "get down to business".  As a buddy of mine likes to introduce himself as an Entertainer/Real Estate Investor, funny guy - I will introduce myself as a Property Owner - Remodeling and Demolition Contractor - Web Site Developer/Owner - Dad, Friend and well, I think I earned the title Businessman. :D Like many of you, we wear many hats.

I'm working out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Which incidentally, was spared the onslaught of this last economic downturn. Prices in Real Estate remained relatively stable and increased slightly - according to news sources. Deals, I know r a plenty. I come across them everyday.

For now, dabbling in the idea of becoming bigger - like I started out here with - the ups and downs of well just life in general - I'm building a couple more webs. Good weather has broken, here in the burgh and well, as ususal, it's time to get out and get some sun in. :D

To all of you who r reading this, take care and have fun!

Hi,

New to the Forum and BP. Already, I feel the need to contribute. The subject hits home for me in several ways. Property owner Repair (Building) Contracting/Contractors - I've been in the in the Real Estate and the Contracting business all my life - been around a few great people, witnessed a lot of shabby people, (known as Fly by Nighters).

Like most people, as I grew older, I became more experienced. Nothing like an OJT (on the Job Training) Lifelong Course as in Real Estate and Property ownership. You get to know a lot of in's and out's as time passes and projects are completed or tenants move in and out or even yourself, moving from one place to another.

But, here, sticking to the script - Hiring (Dealing With) a Contractor - it is relatively easy to understand: That most people may have a problem with a Contractor or Two over the course of their investing or property ownership careers. Then, again, they may be lucky to have very great experiences with them, (contractors) - And this from both an ownership and contractor perspective, is great to hear.

Yet, some people need to hear it - the what to do's and not to do's when dealing with Building Contractors - whether for repair or new work or even maintenance of a property. (Note: This is not to put you down, because we all can be duped at some point in time in our lives or the other).

You need a contractor - you know one personally and that is great. Or you may need to go out and hunt one down. In any event, as with all contracts, there is an offering, terms of the offering, their acceptance and then, an agreement. When in agreement, always, always get it written down. Whether you are a property owner or a contractor, it is always best to safeguard your position, in this matter.

Performance, under the terms of the agreement. Both parties must perform certain actions to fulfill their side of the agreement. In most cases, the contractor will want a down payment and here lies a problem. Not for the contractor, but for the property owner - to trust the contractor with this money or not. A great big hurdle for many people, especially if they were burnt by a contractor before or they have heard horror stories from friends and family.

There are a few ways to overcome this dilemma - one, buy the materials needed yourself and have them on the job, when the contractor shows up. Two, have the contractor get all the materials together at the warehouse, have the warehouse call you and you pay for the materials with a credit card or by check. Or go with him/her.  When the contractor shows up to do the job, write a check, or pay him cash for down payment of labor costs, whatever you agreed upon (check or cash) and that solves the down payment dilemma, sorta.

Traditionally, Building Supply Warehouses dealt with contractors only. With newer versions of Building Supply houses open now to the public and getting wholesale prices, the contractor is out his/her portion of the retail price on those products. Are they entitled to a markup on those products - well, traditionally he/she is. So, to the contractor who is reading this post, know when going into an agreement of sale, you can ask for a markup. To the property owner, know that this is allowed and acceptable if a contractor asks for a markup on the products to do the job - that is part of his/her compensation.

The other end to this is, higher labor costs, if a contractor knows of his/her loss of markup. In any event, there is still the question of a down payment of labor. It can be half down or a third down - these terms have to be discussed prior to signing the agreement. Generally, half down and half upon completion. Or a third down, third halfway through the job and third upon completion. All this has to be discussed prior to agreement.

Now, if you trust this person - then half down to cover labor and material costs and half upon completion is not unheard of. This covers the down payment dilemma - what happens when a problem with the work, whether due to workmanship or unforeseen circumstances arises? Well, natually all work must cease, or a portion of it, til the problem can be ironed out. If it can be ironed out under the original terms of the agreement, great. If not, then a new agreement must be reached.

If it is a problem with workmanship - then, there really has to be a discussion and any adjustments/corrections that have to be made, costs must be absorbed by the contractor. If, say for instance, we remove drywall and find that a nest of termites lives behind it, in the studs of the wall, then new terms must be reached. This is unforeseen circumstance, that no one could have known, without removing the drywall. Costs must be absorbed by the property owner.

Other unforeseen circumstances could be - agreed to two layers of roofing removed, but turns out there are three. Or that we agreed no wood replacement, but once roof is removed and you can see wood needs replacing. Flooring, wall coverings can all find the same sort of oopsiz. 

This post/article just briefly touches part of dealing with a contractor, there is always more to the subject, but that is too lengthy to get into here - for now, hope you have enjoyed reading this and found it helpful and informative.