All Forum Posts by: Stan Hill

Thanks for posting this. You reminded me of a situation I just encountered. We hired a contractor to do some foundation work. Within a year, it failed. I contacted him and he denied there was a problem- even though the left front was visibly crooked! I ended up getting an engineer's report. We went 'round and 'round. I got an attorney involved. Then, despite my having a quote, our acceptance, pictures he posted of the job in progress, an invoice upon completion of work and proof of payment, he denied we ever did business with us!

At any rate, what my attorney told me dovetails quite nicely with what you said. My attorney said most contractors are lousy businessmen. They buy a decked out F350 they don't need and can't afford, live from job to job and the risk/reward of going to trial made it too risky to pursue.

Live and learn.

Oh and I suspect the problem is worse in rapidly growing areas. When work is tight, I suspect the market weeds out a lot of the riff raff. No proof of it, just a hunch.

 It's been tough this past year. People are getting pretty proud of their houses for sale and the asking prices reflect it. We bought two duplexes last year (March and April). As I'm sure you've found out, since then the inventory has declined and prices have gone up sharply. I haven't seen a duplex on the market at all. Ours in Fort Worth are B and C properties.

True story on one of the duplexes: the appraisal district wanted to raise our assessed value from $145,000 to $175,000- pretty big jump. We hired a firm to dispute it. They got our taxes kept at $145,000. My takeaway is that there were no comparable duplexes sold nearby from March 2016 to August 2017, when the dispute was presented. Wow.

I've been seeing some apartment complexes going up around the northwest sector. It will be interesting to see how that affects the rental market. As it stands now, a sign in the yard and an ad on Zillow yields me plenty of prospects.

I ran into a similar problem. We have some properties in an LLC and others in our names. I specifically recall that SafeCo wouldn't even quote an umbrella policy unless we had their overpriced auto (and maybe home too!) insurance. It took me a few phone calls, but found a broker who would do it. We ended up not getting the coverage (though we really should). I suspect you'll get some solid answers and I look forward to reading them.

It's been a few years, but I remember the company we dealt with charged an outrageous appraisal fee: $795. There were several other junk fees, 4 points, charging me interest on money not even drawn yet. 11.99% interest rate- eh, I can live with it. But the loan rep telling me it was going to be 9.99% and it ended up at 11.99% at closing? I wish I would have walked away.

Your question is well-taken and I appreciate your asking. It's always good to know what in the minds of people in your target market. Oh and I have another bias- we were able to get conventional loans on properties up until just recently, actually. We pushed the envelope on one particular duplex with repairs needed, but still got it done. 

Also, I suspect the HML business is more competitive now than it was when we did this project- late 2014.

Research shows that the average number of best idea stocks is 20 or fewer. As fund assets under management (AUM) grow, it becomes increasingly difficult to find enough high-quality stocks that both meet the original investment criteria and have enough liquidity to satisfy the growing fund size."

Since mutual funds often specialize in certain sectors, they can run out of "best picks". Many if not most employer retirement plans often mutual funds as investment choices. Choose wisely.

 Ten BP bucks says McKinney would get the corporate aviation business. ;)

It would be interesting to see what the reverse mortgage offers. I called for information several years ago and only remember not being impressed. Thanks for posting this. We should see some great information from some smart BPers!

PS: document when the pet appeared- photos, letter, something.

I'm pretty sure with a doctor's letter, you're stuck. As of now, it sounds like she's in violation of the lease. Does your lease specify a penalty for pet violations.

Who knows if she'll ever get a letter. We put a $200 initial penalty plus $10 per day for pet violations. I'd go after her. Pretty damage sucks. Been there done that.

Maybe you can work out a deal where you don't charge him with breaking and entering and he lets the few items go.