All Forum Posts by: Matthew L.

 I feel your pain. My mother's house is a duplex and her tenants pay $800 when market rate is at least $1,400. I keep trying to explain to her that she is basically paying these people $7-8k per year in subsidies but they've lived there 20 years and she's got a soft spot for them. Don't get emotionally attached to tenants!

Put the money you'd pay for the warranty into a reserve fund; you will almost always come out ahead. Insurance and repair companies aren't charities; they exist to make money. If warranties saved the majority of people money over the long term these companies would go out of business. As long as you keep a healthy reserve fund, I think warranties are stupid.

I agree that if it is ONLY investors buying those properties ONLY looking for cashflow and they all follow that rule, then yes there will be a limit to how far prices go up. But, I don't think it's that rule specifically that is holding prices down; it's that investors want to be profitable and that rule makes being profitable much more likely (if not close to gauranteed). If a neighborhood is not a neighborhood that owner occupants want to buy into, then investors are going to be driving the property value and they are only looking at the cash flow to determine value. If the neighborhood turns around somehow through development, schools improving, etc., then owner occupants will start to buy into the neighborhood and prices will go up.

Time to grab some popcorn!

Great rehab @Slav Tkachenko ! Love the floors and built-ins; it definitely stands out from the average flip. How did you find the property and how much did the reno cost if you don't mind me asking?

Got my first one last year at 29. I have great credit and had 20% to put down so I went with a conventional loan.

I bought a condo in Cabbagetown September 2013 and comps have been selling recently for 20% more than I paid. I am close to being ready to buy another place, looking at a single family house this time, but I'm a little worried about speculation driving prices up and buying at the height of the market before prices normalize. I was specifically looking at East Atlanta and the type of homes I had looked at last year in the $100-125k range are now almost $200k. Now I'm thinking of buying a lower priced SFH in a C neighborhood for the cashflow and waiting out the hot market. I'm sure people a lot smarter than me are still buying up places in Atlanta but the 20% YoY increase in values worries me a bit. Of course great deals can be had in any market but it seems Atlanta is flooded with investors right now and it's slim pickings.

I love the look of a mostly white with grey/black accents granite counter, then white or a light colorored subway tile.

From the HUD website:

"In the Sale and Rental of Housing: No one may take any of the following actions based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status or handicap:

• Refuse to rent or sell housing
• Refuse to negotiate for housing
• Make housing unavailable
• Deny a dwelling
• Set different terms, conditions or privileges for sale or rental of a dwelling
• Provide different housing services or facilities
• Falsely deny that housing is available for inspection, sale, or rental
• For profit, persuade owners to sell or rent (blockbusting) or
• Deny anyone access to or membership in a facility or service (such as a multiple listing service) related to the sale or rental of housing."

A "pain in the ***" is not a protected class; pretty sure you can legally discriminate against them at will. Of course I'm assuming some scummy lawyer hasn't succesfully argued that a PITA is a mental handicap ;)

Congrats! I got my first check last year and it felt amazing!

Is the $250 cash flow after setting aside some money every month for expenses?