All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

Mythology (History of Mankind)

Back in the early days of mankind, observation formed the basis
for day-to-day life. Lunar and solar cycles, though not really understood, were followed for planting, the solstice, summer and winter, each had their celebrations.

But unfortunately, observation gave way to superstition and religions were born.

2039
====

Mankind almost never recovered from this black period. More people died in the name of religion then from any combination of diseases, and it was in this realisation that globally in 2039, religion was officially declared an "infectuous mental disorder" and a cure was sought.

2050
====

The Only treatment was determined to be isolation, so a dome was created over Australia and all religious zealots were relocated there and the dome was locked for what was to be 1000 years, at which time, the doors would be opened, and the world would find out who won.

3050
====

The doors were never re-openned, no one cared ..
Mankind was saved!

Yikes, stray cat on wood floors? The answers I have seen are being penny wise and dollar foolish.

Cat urine does not come out of wood, if you want to get an idea of the costs that could be involved, get an estimate to replace the wood floors. This just happened to my uncle, a good tenant went bad due to job loss and cost 11,000 to replace wood floors in a small apartment, when they stopped caring.

Two things:

One:

I would send them a registered letter detailing that they are in violation of the lease by taking in the cat without permission and explaining that they are responsible for any damages and/or legal costs. Attach a seven day notice to remove the cat or eviction will follow.

Two:

Call them or see them in person and explain what you are doing and that you do not want to lose them as a tenant but the average wood floor will run many thousands to replace and you can not let that happen.

You are not running an animal shelter!

25$ a month will not cover anything and failure to do anything will create a legal gotcha, implicit approval, due to lack of reaction when you knew about it, is the same as approval and therefore you will lose your ability to get rid of the cat or even get an additional deposit.

Get rid of the cat!

Mike,

I fear that many owners simply don't understand accounting and the implications of depreciating assets and that they are real.

Everyone grasps the idea of prepaid expenses, we pay our yearly insurance and each month we take off that portion that has been used, if we cancel the policy, then we get back that portion that is as yet unused.

But try and explain that about a roof. A new roof might cost say 12,000 for a building, but it occurs once every 12 years, but do most owners actually budget for the resulting 90 dollars a month in cost? Of course, no.

Therefore, getting most to understand that simply because the bill wasn't presented this year, doesn't mean it isn't there, is a bit of a problem. Add baths, kitchens, heating/cooling, etc, and it is no surprise that owners feel blind-sided by bad years and unusual expenses, I don't see them, therefore they aren't real.

If, in formulating a general rule, we say that depreciation is real and just, and that as a general rule of thumb, expenses must be related to that depreciation number as a MINIMUM, then

1- This might help in actually creating a provable and accurate general expenses formulation, of course this would require actually holding property for the depreciation periods selected by the accountants and business managers.

2-
Now aswe add in the property taxes, insurance numbers, and their tax implications on the total true expenses, I think it will be clear that expenses are actually far greater then the 50% rule generally used.

Finally, anyone who believes a realtor's assessment over that of an accountant, well, lets just say, there is no Santa, regardless of the sales person who thinks there is, and the investor needs to be aware or they will learn that the hard way.

Buying for Appreciation.

Where is the exit? Where and when it is needed.

If you purchase a "buy and hold" rental and your purpose is to unwind it for a profit when your income is at a lower tax rate, typically retirement, then that is where and when you sell it unless

1- a cash situation requires sale now

or

2- a bubble dictates a better cash return converting to cash and investing at a risk-free rate, typically treasury rate and equaling or bettering the same situation

If you have been holding a property for 20+ years, the yearly return on original investment is often well over 50% per year, sometimes 100% per year, rents rising and tenants paying off the mortgages and all.

Now, return on current value is no where near that, but that is not a criteria.

If we unwind, recapture depreciation, pay our taxes, and are left with cash, will that same income be available to us with the same tax implications?

It is all mathematics after all..

Given the cash coming in, constant capital improvements, meaning changing but constant depreciation flow and therefore return with minimal taxes being paid,

unwinding earlier must be the result of that emergency need or the said bubble in values resulting in a chance to eat the cap gains, depreciation recapture and still be able to beat that return with a risk free investment of the proceeds left by Uncle Sam and local state taxes.

As far as believing a bubble is ever expanding like our universe, well,

Hogs get fat, pigs get slaughtered.. as always.

Wow,
Sorry, but the advice to go after hard money for a buy and hold rental is just wrong and suicidal.
If you have to get a loan then get the lowest possible rate, not the high rates designed for a short-term flip (the hard money solution), and you should line up your financing before you make offers, just stay away from hard, expensive, money!
My advice is to make offers WAY BELOW the market on properties you are interested in, and you will eventually get a hit. Be super realistic when you look at properties especially in the rehab costs, baths, kitchens, ROOFS, all the major cost areas. How old is everything from heating/cooling, what are you local insurance company requirements, ask before you bid!
Watch your areas, watch the rental rates in Craigslist and the local papers and follow the oft mention 50% rule you will find mentioned here, just search.
You are new so until you have done a few renovation jobs, take your best estimates and double them, you will be wrong and WAY LOW on the first couple.
Remember, it is a rental, not your own home, renovate for low maintenance costs, again search and you will find advice on how to do this.
Also watch your areas, are the jobs leaving?, if so rents will be dropping, is it stable?, Be realistic in your view and watch the ads like a hawk, even chart them across the different rental groups,
two bedroom/three bedroom/studio, etc.
Watch the number of ads and be your own best source of info on your area because you are watching.
TAKE YOUR TIME. This is no loss of opportunity when you are learning before you toss your money into an albatross but there certainly will be when you have to take a loss of capital to get a bad one from around your neck!

GL

Here .. Here .. Rarely stop by here much anymore, too much political garbage and not enough real estate, hope that changes, like this layout better then ..rain or linked.

This is more than a "smell issue". You had a water leak, and removed the materials but from the sound of this, you have a mold/mildew problem, and need to address this before sale.

Otherwise you knowingly passed on a problem.

This must be eradicated or you may well have a legal issue on your hands as well. If you sell the unit and someone gets sick, even dead mold spores can cause illness, you may well find yourself on the wrong end of a lawsuit, rightfully.

If there is any insurance involved in this leak, I would contact them as well, and get some professional help.

Here is a link for more info.
http://fwdmagazine.com/sixpackabdominals/2009/04/21/how-to-get-rid-of-the-mold-from-the-house/

ps. bleach doesn't work and you're liable to kill yourself from the fumes.

http://www.moldacrossamerica.org/notobleach.htm

Joshua, of course, didn't mean to actually burn them, the smell would be awful, and the pollution, completely unacceptable, though Mike does bring up an interesting point about the CO2 emission effect of a failure to act!

Thanks for the flowers, Mike, have enjoyed many of your posts as well, and unfortunately, it does appear that no matriarchal societies have indeed survived, although there is a theory about one in Greece that lasted for 1500 years, but alas, gone without a clue as to why. I guess we will just have to learn to live together.

Tim, no contest, Republicans, Democrats, or Spiders ? Only the Spiders actually perform useful services.

The answers are clear.

1- Burn all registered Democrat Men at the stake
They are socialistic **** and we are best rid of them

2- Burn all registered Republican Men at the stake, twice.
They are irresponsible. Twice as homage to Bush.

3- Keep the unaffiliated around to perpetuate the species but don't let them handle anything more complex then cooking, don't educate them, it is a waste of time.

Woman takes over the country!

Try an experiment, it might give an idea or two or a hundred.

Register a subject with Google Alerts, if you do not use it, it is very useful.

Now start a forum question using the subject you registered the alert for, whatever subject you wish you are interest in.

Now when your Google Alert mail comes in the next day or so, you very well might see your forum entry number one. DO a search and see where it comes up via the standard google search for the subject. Think about this and it becomes clear that you have managed to steal SEO, even from those who paid for it. other advertisers.

Now if your brain is beginning to smoke with the ideas for marketing plans and approaches, then social media is beginning to set in.

Cheers