All Forum Posts by: Shanti S.

Originally posted by Joshua Dorkin:

Tim -
Thanks for starting the topic . . . I was just about to do just that. In terms of donating and giving, see the following.

This is right from the White House website:

Couldn't be easier, folks - had colleagues doing this with me early in the AM

Do you already have good reserves of at least 6 months' living expenses, or is the 10k your life savings at the moment? Don't let greed make you gamble with your reserves is all I'm advising....in fact, I'd put some of those reserves in physically held precious metals for two reasons - they won't deflate, and it adds an extra obstacle to spending them foolishly.

There are owner-financed investment properties out there that make sense, the $10k could cover closing costs on a couple of those. There are also "Lonnie deals" being worked in mobile homes by many BP members, with good profits, for well under your $10k limit. Maybe not in your area though.

If you've decided that you want to invest long term in real estate, I don't see a reason to invest a lot of time in learning about flipping used cars or other unrelated transactions. Just keep networking, educating yourself, saving, and watching your credit. Opportunities will present themselves. Hope you have a successful 2010!

Before, people were flipping because of the crazy appreciation in the market, and nearly anyone could do it, selling at market price shortly after buying and doing some upgrades.

Now, people are flipping because of the crazy deals available in the market, and those that know what they are doing can still be extremely successful with a flipping strategy. They are buying very low and selling still below market after their rehab, in order to move the finished product. Rehab $ is much more carefully spent these days out of necessity.

My current rehab project was purchased with conventional fixed financing from a bank. No problems there.

Hiya Joe - let us know what size/type of properties you're looking at and your strategy and I'm sure you'll get some good advice

Is this a property for your primary residence or an investment?

I'm just asking because if it's an investment, you need to base your offer on what is going to make you money.....and that doesn't have much to do with the asking price. In general too, if you're not worried that the owner is going to be insulted by your offer, you are probably offering way too much for an investment property!

If I was shopping for a new primary residence and got emotional about a particular property, that's a different calculation of 'value' entirely :-)

In my experience recently, the banks seem to care more about you being able to close easily than about how much you are offering....

While it could be the tenants' fault for being slobs and providing food for the mice, I keep a very clean kitchen and house and still get mice almost every year. It can be nearly impossible to figure out where they are getting in, they can fit thru a 1/4 inch hole and climb walls.

I use peanut butter and old fashioned mousetraps until the whole family is gone - then I know I won't have little corpses in my walls, plus I see when I catch them so I know it's working. I've tried some of the new and improved traps and nothing works like the old standard so far.

I have heard landlords who swear by allowing ONE cat for the FIRST floor tenant, even if they normally don't allow pets - solves the problem :-)

If I understand your statement, yes, that would be prohibited. It sounds like you want to use the property or stay in it, even part time, while your IRA owns a piece of it. This would be interpreted as "enjoying" the asset and is a no-no.

I agree with the principal point of the post, but on principle I'd vote against wholesale automatic correction of spelling 'errors' in past posts - some people like to have fun with language and spell check isn't perfect yet. Maybe it could suggest an edit and you'd have to accept the correction to your own post?

I have received business cards from folks who list themselves as the principle of their business - didn't ask them if it was wordplay ;-)

Originally posted by Eddie Ziv:

Well, they are shooting themselves in the foot since that practice would cause more to people default on their cards.

Probably true but in balance they still win even bigger - I believe they make far more $ on their masses of desperate customers who continue to pay the minimum payment month after month, no matter how high the APR goes. Their ideal customer has crippling balances, lives check to check, is vulnerable to overlimit and late fees, and probably has a declining credit score, while 'deadbeats' like myself that pay in full each month are barely tolerated.

Will have to check it out - the book was stunning. Cormac McCarthy is an author with a style like no other, I find myself reading sentences a few times in a row just to savor them.

I don't think anything but a supergerm will create a doomsday in my lifetime but I do enjoy the fictional scenarios and the survivalism