All Forum Posts by: Loc R.

John,

I'm interested in the deal. Please PM me and let's have a conversation.

Loc

I'm a big fan of John T. Reed, and he is of the belief that hyperinflation will occur within the next 4 years.

Now, what does one do about it? Reed recently moved a lot of money to Swiss Francs (currency) in Canadian bank accounts. Not sure if that is what I'm going to do, but I am reading up on it.

So...the kitchen in one of my rentals really bothers me. It's really old and tired looking.

It's apparent that the cabinets have about 20 coats of paint on them. Some of the cabinet drawers don't slide/close nicely or flush, some of the doors/hinges are warped.

The tile on the floor is an off-white; not sure if that is what it's supposed to look like or if that's just the result of years of abuse.

The tile on the counters are small (4x4) white tiles.

The last time I had to go through it, I repainted the cabinets and had everything deep-cleaned, twice...and it looked "OK" at best.

I don't know if the return will justify the expense...I rent the place out just fine, but in the back of my head I feel like I'm bordering on disinterested landlord (slumlord?) with it.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Within LA (proper), you have rent control - BIG NEGATIVE in my books. LA is generally speaking a tenant friendly county.

I would look at non-rent controlled cities for properties that are undermanaged and with transitional neighborhoods. Around my part of town, that would be Northwest Pasadena, Monrovia, Duarte, and Azusa.

Jeff S. you are correct, in a primary residence short-sale, the forgiven 1st TD debt is not taxable. However, the short-sale 2nd TD debt is still taxable. I should have made the distinction.

$300k is essentially 30% down on a $1M property.

In So Cal, that *might* get you 5-10 units, depending on where you buy. Read up on cap rates, rent/purchase price ratio, and cash-on-cash returns here on BP.

In a short sale, proceeds go to:

1. Closing costs/commissions
2. Tax liens (if any)
3. Senior liens
4. Junior liens

The further down the line you are, the less likely you'll be "made whole".

As the mortgagee, the amount written off (in the case of this particular 2nd, $30K), is counted as income on your taxes.

Without question. In fact, if you ever come across this agent again, you need to put in a "10% EMD" clause.

Good luck.

Jessica,

First off, welcome to BP. It is, by far, the best online community of its kind.

I would encourage you to go to as many REI meetings as possible. You'll never know who you'll meet or what you'll hear/learn.

Finally, don't limit yourself to thinking that no one will lend to you. You hit a rough spot (we all do), got through it, and are now on your way.

Happy investing.

So I've been mulling over a couple of things:

1. Earthquake insurance

My initial thoughts are is that it's an unnecessary (perhaps) and expensive (definitely) item. Should an earthquake hit that is big enough to level my house, I would imagine that most houses would be leveled. And in that scenario, the agency wouldn't be able to handle my claim/pay me out, as they would probably go under - even if it is a state agency. In addition, have you seen how they're written? The deductibles are sky-high.

So, instead of an insurance policy, I have then looked at:

2. Earthquake retrofitting

Once again, not sure if it will make a big enough difference to justify the cost. If it makes any difference, my house is at the bottom of a hillside (it butts up to the bottom of it), and my garage is street level, with the living spaces sitting on top of the garage (and crawl space).

Any thoughts would be appreciated.