All Forum Posts by: Shanti S.

I have a big problem with the entire "too big to fail" excuse and think the banks and the car companies should have been allowed to fail.

But that wouldn't align with the class/economic warfare that's been going on and being refined at the highest levels for some time now.

Not sure what to do about it on an individual level other than bank local, buy local, try to educate your friends, invest directly and/or locally (stay out of the stock market), and be as smart as possible about not paying any taxes you can legally get around paying.

I'm guessing that the assessments have been dropped severely to give locals a break on their taxes and try to keep more residents in their homes.

Are there many, many vacant houses in the area?

I'd check out the neighborhood - I'm guessing there are many other properties available for rock-bottom prices like this. No matter what it's appraised for, the real value is what it will SELL for. If nothing is selling because everyone is trying to sell and nobody is buying in that area, even a free house can be a bad deal in a blighted area.

If you can get searchable MLS access through a local realtor, you'll be able to see recent sales in the area and do this kind of research yourself.

Assessments are usually for tax purposes and based on recent sales and such. Appraisals are often ordered by banks in order to make sure they are not issuing too much mortgage on a property. They should be close to each other ideally but both may be way off base as well. Again, whether it's houses or hamburgers, the real value is what you can sell it for...

After trying to make a number of condos in MA 'work' in calculations based on renting them out, I finally concluded that the only good investment condo is one that you have converted yourself - buy a non-condo mutlifamily property and convert to condos for a higher ultimate resale value.

I tried to make those numbers work because the units were in good areas and listing for about 1/3 the price they had previously sold for. Ended up amazed at what awful deals they must have been before the crash!

I've been enjoying Jason Hartman's material recently - lots of interesting interviews. He's selling his company and general strategy, so there isn't much variety on the investing advice - but there is a lot of good information from various guests on the economy and finances in general.

And I think his general investing strategy makes a lot of sense - basically, inflation is coming, so load yourself up on income producing property in a variety of good markets, financed to the max at long term fixed rates. Then let inflation come and pay back today's loans with devalued future dollars. Even if inflation doesn't come (and I believe it will), it's still a very good foundational strategy IMO

SFR vs. Multi - there are many investors that swear by and stick to both categories. The general arguments for SFR's that I'm familiar with are -

-better appreciation when things are actually appreciating
-they are the bread and butter of the RE market, so easier to move them if you want to free up some capital
-different quality of tenant that will tend to think of the property more as their home than a temporary residence - if the tenants have kids and pets and accumulate all the junk that one tends to when one has the space to spare, less likely to just pick up and move on a whim
-exponentially more SFR's than larger multis, hence many more motivated sellers who will be open to investor-level offers
-possible to convert tenants into lease option buyers if you want to use that as an exit strategy

Yes, one tenant leaving a SFR = 100% vacancy, but one really bad tenant in a multi can also result in several tenants leaving - which won't happen in a SFR.

There are convincing arguments in every camp.

Well, you're not going to get cash out on a car loan refinance - what you might get are lower payments via a longer term (you pay more) or a lower interest rate (could be some savings), or both (could break even or pay more in the end) .

It really depends on how many payments into the original loan you are - the interest is usually stacked up in front like a home mortgage - so paying it off very early is a big benefit; paying it off late in the loan term you'll realize very little savings.

I just tell everyone I can not to finance cars - I bought a new car once when I was 19 and I'll never do it again. When you can get a serviceable ride for under $2k, why have a car payment? If you want a status ride save up for it.

Could be a purveyor of 'dangerous breed' dogs, trying to drum up sales of guard dogs

Or a security company trying to sell alarms

Or kids pranking

In any case, I'm sure we can all make a strong distinction between simple trespassing/banana theft and B&E in the middle of the night. A very different response is merited for each.

Every cop I've had the conversation with would prefer that responsible and qualified people carry, and do so concealed.

No, the spirit of my original post is really for a doomsday scenario of the US dollar, which I consider likely enough that I feel I should begin preparing for it.

If it's a true collapse of society, I think I'm well covered already. :-) But I doubt anything like that is coming.

I'm still using my supply that I picked up in a FL piggly wiggly