All Forum Posts by: Shane H.

Hi @Grant Bumgardner  -- Message me - I've heard through the grapevine of a big time investor that lives close to Manhattan - I dont know the guys name - but I think with some investigative work you can dig them up and cold call them --  I know of a building they own in Topeka.  You can look up ownership records there and probably narrow them down.  Message me if interested and I'll send you what I know.

I like Grant's energy but don't agree with everything he says - he comes off as a braggart and I just dont like people like that - would never hang out with them.

Anyways I do partially agree with his stance on college - I went - and spent my money - my wife got her BSN -- but in a lot of cases it is worthless - especially now - In the age of the internet, social media and if you have an ability to teach yourself and network you do not need to spend XXXXX on College -- **** I'll place an asterisk here as it is necessary for some professions but not all - and certainly the educational system has not reacted or attempted to change in the internet age - The present education system is antiquated and just wants to suck every last dollar from folks - It's broken like our healthcare system. 

Dave Ramsey is a man that developed a business around making people think he understands finance more than you - it is ALL about BASIC math - I think he has preyed on people - but that's my opinion.

You have CC debt at 10% interest, house debt at 3%, student loan debt at 6% -- and you always spend more than you earn - it doesnt take a rocket scientist to tell you to cut back on your spending - then attack the debts with the highest interest first.  BASIC MATH!!!!!  Dave Ramsey is not special - I learned though that he doesn't always preach paying off the highest interest rate in the early steps - say the student loan debt was smallest at $5k and CC debt was $40k - he'd preach paying off the student loan debt first even though it's a lower interest rate than the CC debt for mental/accomplishment reasons - I get it - but I think that does people a disservice.  

Does Dave Ramsey think the vast majority of investors buy big time apartments, industrial buildings, senior housing etc with all cash?  Very very very very rare.  Ramsey is crazy preaching that.

Dave Ramsey has some good points - but he's not the end all be all and for God Sakes - he's not that intelligent - basic fricking math people.  

I love a couple of my friends to DEATH - they got on his bandwagon and I'm glad they did absolutely - We all went on a road trip to a friends wedding last fall (19 hrs driving one way) -- we listened to a lot of Ramsey podcasts on the way.  Ha -  We had our discussions and I respect people if they want to pay all cash - but like the old country cliche goes - there's more than one way to skin a cat - and as a common person who wants bigger and better things - good luck saving up $1 million or more for a bigger deal in your lifetime if you want those big deals before you reach retirement age.   

***PS - I hope I'm not jinxing myself - I dont consider myself slam dunk successful but am proud of where I'm at now - but have had debt on properties since I started in 2006 with my first one.  Going forward since I'm a little older I want to balance the debt a bit more -- at one time I also made the mistake of not treating things as business like as I should - but I learned and think I've implemented the knowledge going forward.  So no - 10 yrs and flaming out - that's bs like a lot of what Ramsey sells.

@Jeff S. @Greg Dickerson

Thanks guys - no one to really bounce that question off of that I know personally.   I'm not going to lose sleep over it - he sent me the deal so if he's not willing nor the seller willing to provide the info then that tells me they're hiding something or they're waiting for a sucker to come along.  I was just curious with the flak I caught if I was not following the normal biz/buy/sell decorum so to speak.

If it's still available in a year or more I'd circle back around.  

I kind of left it that if they can't provide the information I have no point in submitting an offer.  I probably annoyed the guy which is fine - if he's catching attitude over a simple request then he's not doing his sellers any favors.

Hi there- not sure where this topic belongs - figured in this subforum may be best -- Please move if not.

So far I've purchased one business - our present Senior Living Business almost 3  years ago - so I'm not the most experienced but learned A LOT in the process.

I have been looking at other senior living businesses for sale and a broker that had kept my name sent me a deal.  I signed the NDA and he sent me their listing detail which is about 10 pages long and didnt tell me much.  I asked for figures - they sent me only figures current to May 2019.  They are cash basis accounting and IMO in our business I can get a better idea on the health and profitability if I have Accrual basis figures by month or by year and I can average it out - the broker is acting like I'm asking to move the Earth over 6" and that without a submitted contract they're not wasting their time paying their accountant to give me those reports.

I didnt run into any of this when I bought our existing business.  

Am I out of line without a submitted offer to ask for Accural accounting figures vs cash (as the broker told me they use Quickbooks and have clean books) -- If they truly do it would take less than 5 mins to give me what I want - it's just a few mouseclicks.

I shot him a snarky reply if they dont want to give it to me that's fine but based on what they presented showing the business makes little money on paper and cash basis figures I'd offer a quarter of what they are asking - said I'd be glad to make a fair offer with the appropriate information and left it at that.

Anyways I dont get people.  Am I out of line - I dont have much experience buying/selling a business so maybe I'm asking unusual questions.  Seems dumb to tie up my money in an offer without appropriate information.  

@Ryan McCalla    That's kind of a transitional area in my opinion - one I'd personally be leery of but others it may be in their wheel house.  Just depends on what you want.  From my recollection things can change from block to block there - If you want to avoid a bad situation drive around on a weekend in the afternoon - Sunday on a nice day - see if families are milling about or a bunch of WT dirtbags or drug addicts living in rentals the other landlords dont care about up and down the block.

Or go for a walk in the evenings with your dog and simply walk the sidewalks and take it all in.   Will give you a good feel for the neighborhood before you buy a house.  I want to like the energy of a place before I buy - but that's me personally.  Low Income areas can be a close tight nit few blocks - or some can be total crapholes if the people holding the neighborhood together move away and it's solid rentals with landlords that don't care.

My former W2 job I was in virtually every neighborhood over the years at any time of day so got to know many places well in Wichita. 

I haven't explored that particular block too much so who knows what you'll find in the immediate area.  For that price range I could think of a few other areas of town that would be "family" friendly.  For sure do your homework.

@Bernie Neyer they have some of those domes in Arlington KS where my buddy lives - not much going on there - but they are ugly - I can understand why the city didnt want them in town.

I'm surprised you can't get your costs down - but then again small town prices are way higher on trades and supplies than say Wichita for example.  I've found that out here in Topeka as we are planning a massive remodel and adding on about 2k sq ft to the dink of a house we live in.   I've about pulled my hair out with the contractors or getting any to give me bids.   

Are you buying and sourcing the big ticket items like cabinets, millwork, doors, windows, light fixtures etc yourself?  Or is the GC doing so for you?

****Thanks for the progress photos and real world numbers -- I'm horrible at showing progress pictorially on things I've done.

@Luke Moore

Outside looks very nice.   Are  you using PTACS or Mini-splits? -- Looks like you have wall sleeves in for PTACS?   What lighting did you go with in the hallways?

I'm hoping to retrofit ours with Lithonia LED 2x4 LED panels that fit in our ceiling grid and can be programmed to the solar tables (time of year) so the light changes brightness and color temp throughout the day to mimic circadian rythmns -- can't wait till I install those.   The lighting we have is so depressing in the hallways unfortunately.   Too "officey."

For your policies and procedures - redo your Infection control - even if you dont get any remarks from the state about it - Focus and focus hardcore there - I can guarantee state survey staff will be hitting that hard for the next year or so or however long COVID is around - I'm a member of our KS Branch of the American Health Care Association and they've been feeding us lots of information - some facilities have already had state surveys in the midst of COVID and they are beating it to death.   Visitor logs, temp logs (no blanks - all spaces need to be filled in) etc -- be studying CMS guidelines and whatever your state puts out and go with the strictest one.  Masks for staff etc.   It's going to suck for a while, I'm guessing unfortunately into next year - the social isolation aspect of this is what will SUCK the most - my personal beliefs on this whole covid situation aside.

If you have money start ordering or getting in line to order PPE - it's hard to get and will be for a while I think.  Gloves, Gowns, Hand Sanitizer (a bit easier to get now), touchless thermometers  - styrofoam plates, plastic silverware, room trays/plate covers, (to feed residents in rooms on quarantine).   Anyways some things you wouldn't have had to focus on before March.   Start coming up with COVID policies such as limiting visitors and window visits etc - prep families that will be the norm for a while and I'd plan on being on lockdown with necessary visits for showings w logs and keeping all unnecessary people out once open.

@Eddie Maynard

How old were you and when did you live in Albuquerque, Tuscon and Colorado Springs?   All areas my family is interested in (at least living a ways outside of city limits).

What did you think of those areas?

Your question is all relative and depends on the individual -- I have a love hate relationship with winter and dont know how you do it in Wisconsin.  We made the move 2 hours further north from Wichita KS to Topeka KS 3 years ago and just 2 hrs further North the weather and winter can be quite different.  Topeka's humidity sucks - Wichita's was bad - but it is far worse in Topeka and like we live in a tropical jungle to me --- also the amount of Overcast and grey days - I hate it - Wichita had more days of sunshine.  We NEVER went days on end without seeing the sun - that's been normal here off and on the past 3 years - thank the Lord we're hitting summer where that should stop until this fall hopefully.

Anyways - my personal preference is lots of sunshine and not days on end of clouds and grayness and hopefully no hurricane force winds for days on end - all things you can get in KS - 

I've lived in 

• Holcomb, KS - 9 miles from Garden City in western KS
• Wichita KS - most of my life with 1 place in city limits during adulthood, childhood out of town in a rural setting, and hs years on the edge of town in the burbs but with land
• Topeka, KS - going on 3 yrs now - we live out of town on land
• Ft Myers, FL during the height of the bubble and start of the crash in the 00's
• Cape Coral, FL - same time period
• Port Charlotte, FL - same time period

If we were to stay in KS - there are things I like about where we're at but we are not in "LOVE" with it - we're close to KC - close to downtown Lawrence and have a unique property that is affordable.   We'd rather be living outside of Wichita - I'd also live in Dodge City, KS but my wife would never have it...ha - lots of open space, good people and away from all the rif-raf and easy access to the outdoor activities I like to do.

We've talked about New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado and possibly Utah if we dont stay in Kansas.   We dont want to get blown away by the wind - we've had enough of that in KS, lots of sunshine as alluded - the gray dreariness is for the birds - we get more of that in Topeka than we anticipated and lots of open spaces to be outdoors offroading, riding ATVs, fishing, pheasant or quail hunting, bike riding etc.  If we're at least a couple hours from a major airport - that is another pre-req.  We just want to live in an area where the government leaves you alone and you can feel safe going about your business with good neighbors.  For me and I think my wife - the Great Plains and Desert SW can provide that.

I would winter in Florida - I did enjoy some of my time spent there - SW Coast would be where I'd go - Little Gasparilla is awesome, Marco Island, Sanibel etc - basically any place where you could have a house directly on the Gulf and there are walkable beaches.

I'd refuse to move my mixed race family to anywhere in the traditional "South" - ran into too many ignorant people over the years  (Big cities not included - but as you can tell we're not big city people - we love traveling and exploring big cities - but no way we'd permanently live that life).  Figured that was relevant given current events.