Luke – a bond (deposit, in our case) is indeed a great idea, and we do this once we identify a relevant property – the buyer must transfer the deposit before we will commit on his behalf – but there's no way you can charge anyone this kind of money before you show them the property in its full detail. The advance fee is a much smaller sum, and…[Read more]
Sorry, but not everyone who charges in advance is a crook preying on innocent naive investors. Some of us are not wholesalers and do not flip, shortsale or try to promote properties owned by ourselves, and cannot afford to be left "holding the buck". We, for instance, are proxies and buyers' agents, and if we don't charge in advance, we're often s…[Read more]
Same here, enjoyed this one tremendously (didn't know this place had so much spike & venom hidden in its midst, this is just like big brother, only you get to watch it while you work without feeling guilty… ))
CheevesFinancial wrote:
FYI, when shopping commercial / multi family, if you calculate anything less then 40% of your gross income as expenses, you likely don't have all the info. ..Important to get it and that is typically done in due diligence.
The way you keep referring to these properties as "hoods" and "war zones" makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside with the most "difficult" of our Japanese tenants. ))Just applied for a property that comes with the same tenant, single woman, 37 (my age!) who's been in there since 1992 and has no plan to move anywhere. Came to the big city at 18,…[Read more]
"Who sold you this in the first place and how does a 25 year old get into a positon to be where you are… 99% of 25 year olds in the states could never buy a home…. UNLESS they are in the BAY AREA and work for Google and facebook and if so they are looking at 2 million dollar properties"Priceless ) I'm also curious, how'd you get to this…[Read more]
Agree with Mic's philosophy 100% – viewing an investment property (unless you're a building inspector, electrician, plumber & town planner all rolled into one) is a purely emotional exercise. With a good team, correct and reliable numbers, and a bit of research about the area, there's absolutely no need to – it can even be counter-productive – you…[Read more]
lawsjs wrote:
So, as I suspected, you and your team Alex (like I would guess anyone else) are successful because you are different and do it better than the next guy. I would back you any day over a sharp suit….
Yup, that's the feeling I'm getting from him too Good on ya, Alex – just goes to show honest, knowledgable communication beats all…[Read more]
Sorry, said it before and I'll say it again – don't buy in dumps, but don't structure your entire portfolio on the hope of capital gains either – the world's changing – ALOT AND MORE BY THE YEAR – and cashflow (i.e. good rental properties) are the lowest risk you can take in real estate – money comes in today, fast, and without having to resort to…[Read more]
Have to say I like the owner-financed option as an exit strategy – I'm just wondering how much you could add to the price when selling it, if say the area hasn't gone up at all since you bought? If you add less than 12-15% to your total benefit, wouldn't you have been better off selling it, like Eng says, at no or almost no profit, just so you…[Read more]
Wow, how remarkable is that? In Australia it's easy as pie, and even in Japan, once you've visited the branch once and submitted a form (one form for every international account you want to transfer to), it becomes as easy as logging into your internet banking and just shooting it through (up to 10,000K a hit) – why would the US be so backwards in…[Read more]
You sound like you know alot more about the Philippines than I do – personally, I only know a few who invested there, and they seem generally happy. My personal specialty is Japan, in any case
Oh, they're not overbuying at all no more lol, giving us a very hard run for our money – there's a new breed of investors in Japan now, just as savvy – only last week I lost two beautiful properties, offers submitted and accepted 5 and 10 minutes after emailed to us by a local Japanese investor, on the first occasion because my client had to ask…[Read more]
JLH, I'll respect these comments as I have no intimate knowledge of the workings of the US system. As a Japanese and Australian land-lord (and renter, on many an occasion ), I stand by this 100% – good property managers (not necessarily the cheap kind) are worth their weight in gold, so to speak. Paradoxically enough, this is because they often…[Read more]
I would have to say cashflow only – build on capital gains and you're better off at the casino – world economy is in turmoil, if you haven't noticed, and if anyone thinks the 7-10 year cycles are still valid or are any sort of benchmark to go by as far as capital gains are concerned, I'd say they're hallucinating (or selling properties with little…[Read more]
Sorry to object, but I think quoting any kind of vacancy rates (10%, 6 weeks a year, call it what you will) or maintenance costs ($300? Based on what?) is misleading and unfair.In reality, there is absolutely no way to predict such expenses/income losses, and going off statistics for the area, similar sizes, previous deals or whatnot is a huge…[Read more]