All Forum Posts by: Scott Pigman

@Drae C. 

I second @Guy Gimenez 's suggestion. One nice thing about Austin is that we are awash in REI clubs and meetups. You can probably find one just about every day of the week.

@Tim Shin You should check out the cat litter house thread

You know,  @Ben Leybovich , it might be that all you need is Spring. I'm guessing that right now you've been stuck inside for most of the past couple of months, you barely see the sun and you're running a vitamin D deficiency. I know every year at this time when I lived up north I'd be feeling pretty listless by now. I say get outside and get as much fresh air and sunshine as you can manage. Book a trip to the Caribbean if you can. And recognize that at least part of your ennui is probably biological.

Okay, I was assuming that your balance meant that you had been paying it down for several years already and that by stretching it back out to 30  years you'd be lowering your payments. Guess I wasn't putting 2 and 2 together in regards to amount of time left on your deal with the city.

I'm in Austin and just starting out myself, so take what I have to say with a grain or two of salt, but I've been trying to understand the market so here's my thoughts.

1. There's a lot of crazy people paying crazy prices in Austin right now. I'm hearing of people paying 90%+ buying foreclosures on the courthouse steps which is not sane behavior.

2. Most of the people that are investing for buy-and-hold either (a) bought a few years ago. We're in our 44th month of appreciation right now, (b) are buying off-MLS properties from motivated sellers, (c) are buying things they can rehab or rebuild to generate value.

3. Buying a property that you know would be cash-flow negative from the start is gambling on appreciation. Which you've been told not to expect.

4. Property taxes take a big chunk. Make sure you account for them.

5. Given our tax rate and condo fees the 50% rule for expenses may not be conservative enough. 

-Scott

@Jason D.

You know, there are a ton of real estate meetups and clubs in this area. Why don't you come to a few and ask some of the people there for ideas. I especially like the one Thursdays at 11:30 at Big Daddy's. That starts back up in January.

The only thing that changes is that you pay back the 10K when you close the new loan instead of when you move.

@Jason D.

You know, $10,000 doesn't seem like a lot to spend to hang onto a property in Austin if it would cash flow for you after taxes, condo fees, vacancies, repairs, etc.

How about this scenario: You figure you can sell for $145K. Just for argument's sake, let's say the bank would appraise it at $140K. 

Instead of selling, refinance the condo at as an owner-occupied unit at 80% LTV for $112K. After paying off your existing mortgage of $87K that leaves you with $25K, minus whatever the closing costs are, let's say $3K. So you have about $22K in hand.

Now go shopping for your next house, but benchmark $10K to pay back the city when you move, leaving you with $12K for a down payment. It's not as nice as having $35K for selling, but now you're on your way to having two properties.

Of course, the condo still has to cash flow and you do have a condo association to worry about.

I'm interested. But don't tell anyone else.

From http://squirtyworm.com/2011.html:

"Time to get off your couch and experience the hot new sport of laser tag!"

Now I don't know about Lima, but even in my Podunk no-stoplight hometown laser tag hasn't been new since the Reagan administration.