All Forum Posts by: Stan Hill

Take action now. If you let them get away with this, you will embolden them do take further advantage of you. I assume this is a multi-unit property with one water and sewer bill?

Heya... quick question. Your insurance is $100 per year? 

Overall, not knowing your market, hard to say. Looks reasonable, though at 1.33%. That just happens to be our minimum. The interest rate seems a bit high. Maybe that's due to the low loan amount? Anyway, keep us posted and I wish you success with this and other properties!

@Ryan D. I respectfully disagree on using the number of solicitations as a sign the market has peaked. I believe much of that can be accounted for by the increase in real estate gurus we've seen in recent years. This is a phenomena we've never had to factor in when trying to figure out where the top is.

I believe it is also market-dependent. Let's look at two states at the opposite end of the spectrum: Texas and Illinois. 

Illinois is the number one state Americans are fleeing right now. I will have to defer to Illinois residents as to how that is affecting their real estate market. That said, I will go out on a limb and  say having people fleeing the area in record numbers cannot be helping the market.

Texas has been a very pro-business state for years. We've all seen the stories of companies moving to Texas. The economy in the state is strong, even with oil in the $50 per barrel range. Just wait until it goes back up to $80-$90 per barrel! There is plenty of building going on in the DFW area. There is a labor shortage. The growth is strong and I know there will be a bubble in the future.

@Account Closed

Thanks for bringing up the CEO where you work. You reminded me of my parents. My parents operated a business from home for years. It was real estate that enabled them to grow their business beyond the home operation. They bought one house. Then they bought another. My mother tripled her money on the second house. Since the house was to be leveled and the land developed, my mother even sold the house to be moved prior to closing! Anyway, from there, they bought their first business building. Then a rental house. Then moved to a bigger business building. During slow times, they had equity to tap. Bottom line: I learned for years what a great wealth and stability builder real estate can be. I only wish I had started sooner. But it's best to focus on the positive. We are happy where we are and hope to do more.

I'm glad you have someone like your CEO to look at to see the benefits of real estate. There's nothing seeing and knowing it works via someone you know firsthand. I think you, I and others are lucky in that regards. Diving into real estate can be scary. Imagine how much more so it is if you've never even known anyone who's been successful doing it!

Oh and by the way, keeping the W2 job for as long as possible- great idea. That will keep more loan options at your disposal. I'm sure that's at least one of the reasons you are doing so and am obviously "preaching to the choir".

It's not just young women. There is, without question, a growing entitlement mentality in our population. The reasons are many. However, I will say that when you have colleges providing "safe spaces" for people to be protected from opposing viewpoints, Play Doh and coloring books because the wrong candidate won an election and emergency counseling funds released for people who had to go the atrocity of seeing political graffiti written in chalk on the sidewalk (all of these and many more events like them have actually happened), I would say in general we are raising a generation weak, entitled brats. This will likely not have a good ending.

A book I once read said something to the effect of, "don't worry about selling a wholesale deal. If you have a legitimate, workable deal, you will have buyers". That said, of course this can't happen if you don't do what you can to get the word out however you can, including BP other ways already mentioned.

Personally, I don't give out an application unless all decision-makers are present and have decided they want to pursue renting the property. There is no rule against handing out multiple applications. ;)

As far as who to rent to: the group with the better credit history, higher scores, no or least criminal background, most stable job history, rent history etc.

Very well thought out post. At age 24, I would have gone for the A property- no question about it. And that is ESPECIALLY if you already have some C properties. You know the work involved is much higher managing C properties.

So as with many things, why not diversify into an A property, have your tenants pay your mortgage and your place to live, and set aside that money saved for yet even more deals?

@Account Closed

That's a pretty loaded question. In addition to the excellent comments by @Anthony Gayden, I would add that it depends on the market you're in and your age. I live in the DFW area and am in my 50s. I am investing for income. The properties we buy probably won't see the appreciation some other areas around here will. If I was 30 years old, I'd take less cash flow for the great appreciation I believe we will see here in the coming years.

@Russell Brazil. Thanks for posting this. You got me curious, so I looked up Texas' view of the matter. In Texas, a realtor can represent both sides. However, as another BPer noted, and assuming this were to happen in Texas and not Florida, that the buyer's agent decided to abandon the buyer's interest to make a higher commission.

Also of note, unless you have a contract with a realtor to represent you as a buyer, by default they represent the seller- again, in Texas.

The takeaway for all- know the rules in YOUR state. Thanks again!