All Forum Posts by: Richard Dunlop

I've looked into Thailand before, and unfortunately unless you are a citizen, you can not own property there. If I was going to stay in Asia, a house on a Thai beach would be the way to go. Cambodia is also beautiful, I wouldn't mind living there.

My wife is Cambodian and Long Beach CA is where she would want to live as it has the largest Khmer population of anywhere.

It's right next door to Torrance both of those cities are Way over priced without the returns.

Cambodia and Thailand are both way too hot and humid. A US type income lives like a king.

You mentioned you were considering Detroit, opportunities are amazing up here.

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Originally posted by @Christopher Martin:

@Ned Carey

I have a similar situation with tenants and the bank. How did everything end up working out the past couple years? Did the bank foreclose or short-sale the property? How long were you able to collect rent without having to pay the bank?

Your flag didn't highlight hopefully mine did. To get update?

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Originally posted by @Leo B.:

@Richard Dunlop

Thanks for the reply. What does the "winterize" process involve?

A house with a basement is fairly easy to do.

Turn off and Drain the water from supply lines usually by cutting the pipes in a couple of strategic places in the basement. If pipes are run level that usually will do it. If it is Pex you may need to blow them out with an air compressor.

Flush the toilets to empty the tanks and then pour antifreeze into toilet, tub and sink drains so the traps don't freeze.

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Originally posted by @Brigg Sabol:

I've been living in Japan for the past 10 years and I'm moving back to Southern California on May 30th. My wife is Japanese and through my research we have found that Torrance California has very strong Japanese community. Our plan is to move to Torrance Ca.

As I've been looking for properties on Realtor.com and reading various articles about the ridiculous housing market situation in the L.A. area, I'm starting to come to the conclusion that this might not be such a great landing spot to begin my real estate investing journey.

My Goal: I have about 12,000$ and .... I would buy a 4-plex with a FHA 3.5% down payment loan (12,000$/3.5% comes to about a 340,000$ mortgage)

Is the L.A. real estate investing market as bad as they say? Torrance, Ca?
If you could move anywhere in the U.S. to start your real estate journey (keeping the above "My Goal" in mind as the starting point) where would you go?

Don't think you can buy much in Torrance with your current budget. More like $850,000 and up. I think you would never be able to exercise your plan.

I re-located from Orange County California to Detroit because of the opportunities up here.

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Any pipe can freeze not just old pipes.

An occupied heated house does not have the problems you descibe.

A vacant house is Winterized if you are not heating it to at least 40 degrees. (Costs about $50-75 to have someone do it)

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Originally posted by @Zach Mitchell:

@Mindy Jensen .... Just frustrating since my market is so difficult to find properties even at 2%. I don't want my first one to be my hardest though.

I have posted my true thoughts about this property previously in this thread; So this suggestion is not what I really recommend doing.

This kind of property can be profitable for an Owner Occupant,but you won't live there so sell it to the long term tenant.

Get it on a lower down payment and try to get most if not all of your down payment back out (Tax time maybe)

A payment of $658.18 will pay off a $75,000 loan at 10% interest in 30 years. So you get $75,000 + any amount you can get down.

An owner occupant will sometimes put in a lot of work on the property and in this case only paying $300 more than they were paying to rent one unit now they own four.

Maybe none of the current occupants are up to par as owners/RE investors but I saw a 84 YO lady sell four units on the 2 lots next to her house because it was just now getting to be too much for her after 40 years In a bad part of Phx

1 Vote

Originally posted by @Lubasha White:

"An "owner" isn't entitled a "lien" on their own property, just a dumb idea."

.... I can put a lien on my own company or wait property is sold and put the lien on next "lucky beggars", but by all means I prefer smart arses to take a toll, not hard working guys.

A lot of knowedgable people have pitched in to help you for free on BP. Graciously thank them AND don't do anything that can get you charged criminally besides any financial loss you may or may not incur!

1 Vote

Originally posted by @Robert Burns:

I'm contemplating spending up to $15,000 to buy into an established mentor/coaching....

NO!

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Originally posted by @Rod Desinord:

Why is everyone so down on Detroit anyways?

I can't figure that out.

Metro Detroit has problems Yes, but it also has SF Houses that would sell for $10,000,000.00 in today's down market.

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Originally posted by @Jonathan C.:

Here are my results after about $67K worth of direct mail cost in 2014...

OVERALL NUMBERS:

Spend: $67,000

Total Profit: $106,000 (not counting one I renovated and will be selling early this year)

Net Profit: $39,000

Return on Spend: 58.2% (pretty sweet)

BEST PERFORMING MAIL PIECE:

Handwritten letter on yellow lined paper with handwritten invitation (A6) sized envelope in random colors (pink, light blue, yellow, etc)

Do you work a job also?

Sounds like a full time job with out full time benefits.

These are not the figures I would expect, when others on this board toss out to newbies that they should wholesale because they don't have money to start investing. (I wonder if they have $67,000 in their night stand to do the marketing you describe)

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All Forum Posts by: Richard Dunlop

Richard Dunlop has started 7 posts and replied 714 times.

Post: If you could move anywhere in the U.S. to begin RE investing right now, where would you go?

Post: Rent Skimming - long

Post: Freezing Winters in the Midwest cities and Plumbing Concerns

Post: If you could move anywhere in the U.S. to begin RE investing right now, where would you go?

Post: Freezing Winters in the Midwest cities and Plumbing Concerns

Post: First Rental - 4% Rule Quick Opinions Needed!!

Post: Lis Pendens from nowhere

Post: Major Investment in Mentor/Coaching Program

Post: Being surrounded by negativity and adverse risk takers

Post: 70,000 Mail Pieces in 2014; What Did I Get For It?