Hey Brian, I'm an Albany native who lives out west nowadays.

I keep hearing rates of 5.75% nowadays which makes 7% on a LC not sound that bad. 

I got nervous about sending that large of wire so I flew up from my Vegas home this morning to PDX to hand deliver a cashiers check.Keep in mind I have the 4 acre parcel right across from the Graton casino.. happy to sell it to you ..  3 mil its yours LOLI have only owned it for 25 years now..

Since all the listings and price related information are publicly and freely available nowadays on platforms, such as Zillow, I am wondering whether building and maintaining a private network is value-added, and if so, where the value is.

Especially considering your only other lodging options are smokey casinos or run down motels.I also don’t buy the “there’s always huge crazy parties going on” excuse often given by residents in these cases.

Is this the normal rate nowadays or should I continue to look for better rates?

Until this year, it was "easy" to get financing even with foreign income but this year last bank stopped to provide these mortgages and nowadays the requirement for investor from another country to get leverage is either to pair with Czech entity, have some connections to Czech Republic or finance through company.If you would like to know more about residential market, don't hesitate to ask.

Too many nowadays get way behind and can't catch up.

Since kids nowadays all have smart phones, maybe getting them an account and downloading a personal finances tracker app for them would be good.

It only requires 5% down, but the mortgage insurance is cheaper every month, and unlike the FHA loans nowadays the PMI is cancellable at 80% ltv.