All Forum Posts by: Mark N.A

>> The truth is all laws legislate morality (even speed limits imply a moral right to life). And everyone in politics — conservatives, libertarians and liberals — is trying to legislate morality. The only question is: “Whose morality should be legislated?†<<

-- Frank Turek, LEGISLATING MORALITY: WHY EVERYONE IS DOING IT

It is definitely labor-intensive but if you have a couple of minimum-wage grunts it won't take 'em long. Makes a sticky pasty mess so cover the floors well.

Thanks for posting the interesting links, J Scott. It's obviously a hot-button topic among both the informed and mal-informed as witnessed by some of the comments following the Business Week article.

Not heavily touched-upon is that besides the estimated $40-100B tax revenues would be the savings generated among police agencies, courts, prisons and so forth.

Here where I'm at in NC it has traditionally been a busy moonshine area. Now the usual suspects have turned to either growing cannabis or off-loading various substances along the coast.

Interesting but sad anecdote: during WW2 there were some local clans that traded bread and other commodities to German submariners for gold.

How do you legislate morality?

Are there any studies out there estimating what sort of TAX REVENUES would be generated with drug legalization? It would be one vast VAST (Value Added SIN Tax).

RE brokers are great for the first-time or very-busy homebuyer/homeseller who doesn't know the ropes. But most experienced investors know the ropes and know how to put out the fires.

My prediction is that personal home-ownership will take a pendulum swing to the negative side as loans become harder to get, as the pool of qualified home buyers decrease, and as rents decrease.

Home prices will also decrease, but investors will make up a larger percentage of the buyers.

I see RE brokers offering more a la carte services, and the MLS losing its monopoly.

And after you negotiate your good discount -- pay for it with a cash-back credit card.

Research your state laws as to whether you might be able to press criminal charges.

Here in NC I can for certain intentional damage.

And while the only time I have collected money in a civil action is when I have lease guarantors, I still make it a policy to take all sinners to small claims court.

Costs me $75 and my time, but my satisfaction is knowing that no decent LL who checks their record will rent to them going forward.

Apparently PMI companies are pursuing deficiency judgements against people who walk away from their mortgages. There's a link in this article so you can check what your state allows.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/walk-away-from-your-mortgage-insurers-may-follow-2010-08-06?siteid=yhoof2

There are two factors the gurus hide and novice investors misunderstand:

1) REI is a cash-intensive business and you really need it to participate. Opinions vary on how to generate that cash (around here flippers and wholesalers starve).

2) REI is a rather simple business and not some magic panacea to cool cash flow. But 'simple' in no way means 'easy'.

There are many hundreds of ways for a hard-working entrepreneur to go into business for him or herself. But aside from the mandatory hard work, the type of business must match up to the individual's personality. What makes one person good at selling hand-made jewelry on ebay is no guarantee of success in the rental biz. The one thing I believe most succesful posters here on BP share is a 'passion' for the entire process.

Your mileage may vary, but in the meantime may all the gurus please move on to the 'next big thing' and quit polluting the waters.

In a lot of ways it's a 'family thing':

On some days my 'relatives' are kinda crabby.

Some days they're really generous with their time and energy.

Some of 'em don't know squat, ever. Some are know-it-alls, always. Some of 'em should quit hitting the Kool-aid.

But most are in the middle, and really mean well, and after a while you'll get a feel for who they are and when they have something valuable to say.

No need to send me $0.02 for my opinion.