An Investor Killed!!!!!!!!
Investor · Fort Washington, MD · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
An Investor Killed!!!!!!!!
Most Popular Reply
Bruce WoodruffPro Member
Contractor/Investor/Consultant · San Diego / Phoenix · Member since 2021 · 12k+ posts · 15k+ votesQuote from @Account Closed:
So the people that invest in the neighborhoods need to invest in the community and that should be a mandatory requirement
How about the community gives enough of a crap about itself to invest in itself? Naw, that would make way too much sense....
Well, just have the Govt take over all the property in the inner city and run it, that'll fix things! Oh, wait....they already have and that's even worse.
Nothing will change until people - regardless of color - get a f'ing clue and take responsibility for themselves, their actions and thoughts, their families and their neighbors (communities).
Stop blaming skin color, lack of money, investors, Govt, and anybody and everybody else. This is about personal responsibility and nothing else...
92 Replies
- Investor · Fort Washington, MD · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes3y
Quote from @Bruce Woodruff:
Quote from @Mark Cruse:
Wow, so many incredible stories here. My damn, I thought I had some horror stories. Was it satire or was an investor really killed by a bear?
Sadly, it was a true story....rough way to go. Just sipping coffee and enjoying the morning... https://www.dcourier.com/news/...
This emphatically sucks.........................
My goodness what a horrible story.
- Real Estate Broker · Minneapolis, MN · Member since 2011 · 5k+ posts · 6k+ votes3y
Quote from @Joe S.:
Your post was very thought-provoking. You mention culture. There are cultures that will dismiss your logic simply because it was ingrained in their culture to do so. Basically it is their culture to blame everyone else.Quote from @James Hamling:
Quote from @Account Closed:
@Bruce Woodruff Blaming and truth is two different things. Again WHY are people in poverty? Is it because they don’t care about themselves or is it because they have been trained by a system that made them depend on the system, stole their freedom and lied to them for years. Sure they should care about a community they don’t own and have no equity in. The people investing in the neighborhoods have the resources.
Maria, why does money exist? Yes, a means to exchange goods and services, I get that BUT why does the very item of a currency, OF money itself exist? This is VERY important because your entire foundation of belief is wrong.
Money exists because humans require BRIBERY to act.
That is the truth and fact of it. Humans are NOT altruistic.
We produce enough food in the world to feed every human 3 times over, so why do some starve? We have the capacity to build a shelter for every human on earth in the next 12 months, but we don't. Unknown people kill other unknown people to help advance the victory of some other unknown persons wants and wills and it's ok because we call it war.
Humans are NOT altruistic. We are petty, lazy, selfish, self-serving, manipulative, destructive little hairless ape's who require EXPANSIVE systems of control to FORCE us to act civil, to participate in act's of social construct.
Your premise Maria, is flawed, because the foundation is flawed, by a notion that all people want to be good, do good, give freely. Fact and reality is the total opposite and it's been proven time and time again. WELFARE is the US is a prime example. As more and more is given more and more persons DISENGAGED vs engaged. Persons take the hand-out and DO LESS. That is the facts and reality.
And color has ZERO to do with it, but CULTURE has EVERYTHING to do with it. My culture was of such that the humiliation is too great a pain to endure to take such. I had many asian immigrant friends growing up who experienced very similar cultures. We did not have the option to sit on our duff and just enjoy existing, we would suffer berating daily for such. It was not the government nor any politics who drove us, it was our culture, our expectations of self, what our culture would and would not accept.
Why does poverty exist? Because a person has accepted poverty as an acceptable condition of existing FULL-STOP.
Poverty is a CHOICE for 99.8% of persons. And that Maria IS FREEDOM!
Freedom is by it's very definition the opportunity to have however much good OR BAD a person will strive for. A system that removes a persons opportunity of poor choices is NOT FREEDOM.
If you want freedom, there will be sinners, it will not be an existence of only saints, because persons are free to choose either.
Fact is today most in poverty live BETTER than any member of Royalty lived 300yrs ago. A "poverty" persons lives BETTER than a King or Queen had lived, think on that for a moment.
The problem is peoples CULTURE, there CHOICES, there accountability of self, family, community.
We could house every human on earth, feed every human on earth, eliminate half the diseases on earth but, we won't, because PEOPLE choose to live by the metric of "me and you", and not "WE". It is why they define separators of persons at every chance; color, locality, education, etc etc..
It is not society's fault, responsibility or accountability for how one engages or does not engage in their own life. Society is not a thing of itself, it's a MIRROR. Society is a REFLECTION of the peoples choices, a mirror does not make one move in any 1 way or the other, does it.
Poverty will not end until people DECIDE to hold themselves to a higher standard, when they choose a culture, a self-accountability that is different. Opportunity has been given on a level and degree beyond any in human history and yet still, persons CHOOSE to not walk the "better" path.
Your argument is with human nature.
And now were getting to the heart of things arn't we, that there is some toxic cultures.
All my Tech Engineers should be able to 2nd that GIGO (Garbage In - Garbage Out); it's a fundamental knowledge point of computer programing that to get good results one must start with good inputs. And if they ignore that, trying to fix, fix, fix out-put's, patch and patch away, it leads to a cascade of failures. To correct, one must go back and change the core inputs.
- 3yRick WiedenhoeftPro MemberReal Estate Agent · Melbourne, FL · Member since 2015 · 33 posts · 28 votes
Real estate is technically classified as a high-risk career due to the inherent risks involved in showing property, being in vacant homes with strangers, etc. Each of us needs to decide to what extent we are willing to tolerate that risk in order to have the reward possible. I carry a weapon daily; many I know carry other, non-lethal forms of self defense; pepper spray, mace, etc. I've never personally been accosted or even felt close to the need to draw a weapon, but I believe it's a matter of time until it happens. We all should believe that. Be aware of your surroundings, be diligent in your defense strategy, and mitigate risks. We cannot let the fear of the potential bad outweigh the opportunity before us; at least I won't. It's a personal choice.
- Investor · Fort Washington, MD · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes3y
Quote from @James Hamling:
Quote from @Joe S.:
Your post was very thought-provoking. You mention culture. There are cultures that will dismiss your logic simply because it was ingrained in their culture to do so. Basically it is their culture to blame everyone else.Quote from @James Hamling:
Quote from @Account Closed:
@Bruce Woodruff Blaming and truth is two different things. Again WHY are people in poverty? Is it because they don’t care about themselves or is it because they have been trained by a system that made them depend on the system, stole their freedom and lied to them for years. Sure they should care about a community they don’t own and have no equity in. The people investing in the neighborhoods have the resources.
Maria, why does money exist? Yes, a means to exchange goods and services, I get that BUT why does the very item of a currency, OF money itself exist? This is VERY important because your entire foundation of belief is wrong.
Money exists because humans require BRIBERY to act.
That is the truth and fact of it. Humans are NOT altruistic.
We produce enough food in the world to feed every human 3 times over, so why do some starve? We have the capacity to build a shelter for every human on earth in the next 12 months, but we don't. Unknown people kill other unknown people to help advance the victory of some other unknown persons wants and wills and it's ok because we call it war.
Humans are NOT altruistic. We are petty, lazy, selfish, self-serving, manipulative, destructive little hairless ape's who require EXPANSIVE systems of control to FORCE us to act civil, to participate in act's of social construct.
Your premise Maria, is flawed, because the foundation is flawed, by a notion that all people want to be good, do good, give freely. Fact and reality is the total opposite and it's been proven time and time again. WELFARE is the US is a prime example. As more and more is given more and more persons DISENGAGED vs engaged. Persons take the hand-out and DO LESS. That is the facts and reality.
And color has ZERO to do with it, but CULTURE has EVERYTHING to do with it. My culture was of such that the humiliation is too great a pain to endure to take such. I had many asian immigrant friends growing up who experienced very similar cultures. We did not have the option to sit on our duff and just enjoy existing, we would suffer berating daily for such. It was not the government nor any politics who drove us, it was our culture, our expectations of self, what our culture would and would not accept.
Why does poverty exist? Because a person has accepted poverty as an acceptable condition of existing FULL-STOP.
Poverty is a CHOICE for 99.8% of persons. And that Maria IS FREEDOM!
Freedom is by it's very definition the opportunity to have however much good OR BAD a person will strive for. A system that removes a persons opportunity of poor choices is NOT FREEDOM.
If you want freedom, there will be sinners, it will not be an existence of only saints, because persons are free to choose either.
Fact is today most in poverty live BETTER than any member of Royalty lived 300yrs ago. A "poverty" persons lives BETTER than a King or Queen had lived, think on that for a moment.
The problem is peoples CULTURE, there CHOICES, there accountability of self, family, community.
We could house every human on earth, feed every human on earth, eliminate half the diseases on earth but, we won't, because PEOPLE choose to live by the metric of "me and you", and not "WE". It is why they define separators of persons at every chance; color, locality, education, etc etc..
It is not society's fault, responsibility or accountability for how one engages or does not engage in their own life. Society is not a thing of itself, it's a MIRROR. Society is a REFLECTION of the peoples choices, a mirror does not make one move in any 1 way or the other, does it.
Poverty will not end until people DECIDE to hold themselves to a higher standard, when they choose a culture, a self-accountability that is different. Opportunity has been given on a level and degree beyond any in human history and yet still, persons CHOOSE to not walk the "better" path.
Your argument is with human nature.
And now were getting to the heart of things arn't we, that there is some toxic cultures.
All my Tech Engineers should be able to 2nd that GIGO (Garbage In - Garbage Out); it's a fundamental knowledge point of computer programing that to get good results one must start with good inputs. And if they ignore that, trying to fix, fix, fix out-put's, patch and patch away, it leads to a cascade of failures. To correct, one must go back and change the core inputs.
Could you provide examples of the toxic culture or garbage input?
- Severna Park, MD · Member since 2013 · 7k+ posts · 7k+ votes3y
Everyone has different criteria for investing , cash flow , appreciation etc . All different . I wont invest in any area I wouldnt live . And before the house is rented its done up so I would move my family in it . Bad areas are NOT for me , I like $$$$$ , but I like breathing better . I rent nice houses in good areas for a fair price .
Areas with lower income , the rentals look good on paper until they dont look good .
- Real Estate Broker · Minneapolis, MN · Member since 2011 · 5k+ posts · 6k+ votes3y
Quote from @Mark Cruse:
Quote from @James Hamling:
Quote from @Joe S.:
Your post was very thought-provoking. You mention culture. There are cultures that will dismiss your logic simply because it was ingrained in their culture to do so. Basically it is their culture to blame everyone else.Quote from @James Hamling:
Quote from @Account Closed:
@Bruce Woodruff Blaming and truth is two different things. Again WHY are people in poverty? Is it because they don’t care about themselves or is it because they have been trained by a system that made them depend on the system, stole their freedom and lied to them for years. Sure they should care about a community they don’t own and have no equity in. The people investing in the neighborhoods have the resources.
Maria, why does money exist? Yes, a means to exchange goods and services, I get that BUT why does the very item of a currency, OF money itself exist? This is VERY important because your entire foundation of belief is wrong.
Money exists because humans require BRIBERY to act.
That is the truth and fact of it. Humans are NOT altruistic.
We produce enough food in the world to feed every human 3 times over, so why do some starve? We have the capacity to build a shelter for every human on earth in the next 12 months, but we don't. Unknown people kill other unknown people to help advance the victory of some other unknown persons wants and wills and it's ok because we call it war.
Humans are NOT altruistic. We are petty, lazy, selfish, self-serving, manipulative, destructive little hairless ape's who require EXPANSIVE systems of control to FORCE us to act civil, to participate in act's of social construct.
Your premise Maria, is flawed, because the foundation is flawed, by a notion that all people want to be good, do good, give freely. Fact and reality is the total opposite and it's been proven time and time again. WELFARE is the US is a prime example. As more and more is given more and more persons DISENGAGED vs engaged. Persons take the hand-out and DO LESS. That is the facts and reality.
And color has ZERO to do with it, but CULTURE has EVERYTHING to do with it. My culture was of such that the humiliation is too great a pain to endure to take such. I had many asian immigrant friends growing up who experienced very similar cultures. We did not have the option to sit on our duff and just enjoy existing, we would suffer berating daily for such. It was not the government nor any politics who drove us, it was our culture, our expectations of self, what our culture would and would not accept.
Why does poverty exist? Because a person has accepted poverty as an acceptable condition of existing FULL-STOP.
Poverty is a CHOICE for 99.8% of persons. And that Maria IS FREEDOM!
Freedom is by it's very definition the opportunity to have however much good OR BAD a person will strive for. A system that removes a persons opportunity of poor choices is NOT FREEDOM.
If you want freedom, there will be sinners, it will not be an existence of only saints, because persons are free to choose either.
Fact is today most in poverty live BETTER than any member of Royalty lived 300yrs ago. A "poverty" persons lives BETTER than a King or Queen had lived, think on that for a moment.
The problem is peoples CULTURE, there CHOICES, there accountability of self, family, community.
We could house every human on earth, feed every human on earth, eliminate half the diseases on earth but, we won't, because PEOPLE choose to live by the metric of "me and you", and not "WE". It is why they define separators of persons at every chance; color, locality, education, etc etc..
It is not society's fault, responsibility or accountability for how one engages or does not engage in their own life. Society is not a thing of itself, it's a MIRROR. Society is a REFLECTION of the peoples choices, a mirror does not make one move in any 1 way or the other, does it.
Poverty will not end until people DECIDE to hold themselves to a higher standard, when they choose a culture, a self-accountability that is different. Opportunity has been given on a level and degree beyond any in human history and yet still, persons CHOOSE to not walk the "better" path.
Your argument is with human nature.
And now were getting to the heart of things arn't we, that there is some toxic cultures.
All my Tech Engineers should be able to 2nd that GIGO (Garbage In - Garbage Out); it's a fundamental knowledge point of computer programing that to get good results one must start with good inputs. And if they ignore that, trying to fix, fix, fix out-put's, patch and patch away, it leads to a cascade of failures. To correct, one must go back and change the core inputs.
Could you provide examples of the toxic culture or garbage input?
I grew up in the projects. Either a person knows, or they don't know, and nothing I can say will change what people think about what they do or don't know.
I was all of about 10 the first time I was shot at, for the "crime" of walking through parking lot while some person was getting all twacked out on ice and just, who knows, seeing things or just felt like shooting at someone. I wasn't even a teenager yet as I watched the millitary coming into my neighborhood, with machine guns and APC's.
There was/is a culture that revels in these things, takes pride in what most would call horrors.
What poverty does, is lends a convenient excuse, an excuse to accept the unacceptable. To excuse oneself from being a decent human being. To excuse oneself from having compassion, empathy, integrity, honor, VIRTUE.
From all you've ever shared, I know you know exactly what I am talking about in this culture. It's a culture of death, it consumes human soul's and cares not for color race or religion, it is an equal opportunity destroyer. It breeds actions that breed poverty.
- 3yBruce WoodruffPro MemberContractor/Investor/Consultant · San Diego / Phoenix · Member since 2021 · 12k+ posts · 15k+ votes
Quote from @Mark Cruse:
Quote from @Bruce Woodruff:
Quote from @Mark Cruse:
Wow, so many incredible stories here. My damn, I thought I had some horror stories. Was it satire or was an investor really killed by a bear?
Sadly, it was a true story....rough way to go. Just sipping coffee and enjoying the morning... https://www.dcourier.com/news/...
This emphatically sucks.........................
My goodness what a horrible story.
Yeah, on the other side of town. Made me look around a little more.....So would you rather get shot in a bad neighborhood or eaten by a bear?
- 3yJay HinrichsBusiness MemberReal Estate Consultant · Summerlin, NV · Member since 2014 · 45k+ posts · 66k+ votes
Quote from @Bruce Woodruff:
Quote from @Mark Cruse:
Quote from @Bruce Woodruff:
Quote from @Mark Cruse:
Wow, so many incredible stories here. My damn, I thought I had some horror stories. Was it satire or was an investor really killed by a bear?
Sadly, it was a true story....rough way to go. Just sipping coffee and enjoying the morning... https://www.dcourier.com/news/...
This emphatically sucks.........................
My goodness what a horrible story.
Yeah, on the other side of town. Made me look around a little more.....So would you rather get shot in a bad neighborhood or eaten by a bear?
it just dawned on me I dont think there are any grizzlies that far south right ? so to get killed by a Black bear is exceedingly rare in the lower 48.. Geesh.. If it was a Grizz then I can see that they kill people every year. - 3yBruce WoodruffPro MemberContractor/Investor/Consultant · San Diego / Phoenix · Member since 2021 · 12k+ posts · 15k+ votes
Quote from @Jay Hinrichs:
Quote from @Bruce Woodruff:
Quote from @Mark Cruse:
Quote from @Bruce Woodruff:
Quote from @Mark Cruse:
Wow, so many incredible stories here. My damn, I thought I had some horror stories. Was it satire or was an investor really killed by a bear?
Sadly, it was a true story....rough way to go. Just sipping coffee and enjoying the morning... https://www.dcourier.com/news/...
This emphatically sucks.........................
My goodness what a horrible story.
Yeah, on the other side of town. Made me look around a little more.....So would you rather get shot in a bad neighborhood or eaten by a bear?
it just dawned on me I dont think there are any grizzlies that far south right ? so to get killed by a Black bear is exceedingly rare in the lower 48.. Geesh.. If it was a Grizz then I can see that they kill people every year.Yep, Black Bear. I saw the picture of it...it was huge.
- Rental Property Investor · Brooke Park Drive · Member since 2018 · 1k+ posts · 2k+ votes3y
This thread reminds me of the old days of BP when you could login and read/learn something interesting every day.
- 3yMichael BlankPro MemberRental Property Investor · Atlanta GA · Member since 2013 · 85 posts · 82 votes
How tragic for that investor. My business partner Garrett Lynch started out with D-class properties in Chicago and he carried an ax with him for safety. He also hired dogs trained in protection. When his property was empty, a person tried to break in and steal the copper pipes, but the dogs chased the introducer into the bathroom and kept him in there until the cops came.
- Investor · Singapore · Member since 2013 · 1k+ posts · 3k+ votes3y
Poverty is everywhere but the level of violence in America is far and away greater than any other developed economy. Yes, personal responsibility has a role but a society that is designed to keep people on the edge and a government that fails to provide the very basics of safety, health, education and transport in many neighborhoods is a larger factor. And lets not even start the topic about the insane gun culture. Even slums in Mumbai are far safer than your average inner city neighborhood in Detroit or Baltimore.
- 3yBruce WoodruffPro MemberContractor/Investor/Consultant · San Diego / Phoenix · Member since 2021 · 12k+ posts · 15k+ votes
Quote from @Account Closed:
And lets not even start the topic about the insane gun culture.
Yeah, please don't...If you word it like that I'm guessing you have zero clue about it.
- Investor · Akron, OH · Member since 2016 · 2k+ posts · 4k+ votes3y
I sold my class D properties last year.
Poverty grinds people down and even working with people enduring poverty grinds people down (landlords, social workers, teachers, ministers, whomever...).In class D neighborhoods, it is possible (though sometimes difficult) to find and retain tenants of good character AND for tenants, finding landlords that do a great job maintaining decent housing and that treat tenants fairly are rare. The housing stock and city infrastructure are old and crumbling. Cities dealing with intractable social problems allow the poor (class D) neighborhoods to bear the brunt of broad social problems. For example: The city let a homeless tent city stay up for over two years a couple blocks from my class D investment properties. That would have **never, ever** been allowed in the area near my personal residence. The homeless drug addicts would dig through our dumpsters and throw the trash on the ground for us to clean up. This kind of entitled behavior is prevalent in many, many mental illnesses.
I know there are plenty of relatively rich entitled *ssholes but money protects you from them and protects them from themselves to some degree. The rich have way more treatment options, rich neighborhoods have more *SPACE* to insulate from noise and disturbances. Non-poor people have more childcare and eldercare services and more opportunities for people to relieve stress with breaks and vacations.
I was surprised at how optimistic and resilient some poor people were able to remain in truly difficult circumstances.
In my 6 years as a class D investor, I had one overdose death, kicked out two drug dealers, and dealt with a number of domestic violence incidents. I repaired a roof leak and several walls from stray bullet holes. I think our country needs better access to health care including mental health care for everyone and better support for the working poor (transportation, sick childcare, financial assistance during temporary illness, etc)
- Investor · Laurel, MD · Member since 2014 · 23 posts · 7 votes3y
I remember hearing the story about the young investor from Bmore. May God rest his soul.
These stories are sad but reality. We as investors must make safety a high priority on our checklist.I recently had an early jump on a few vacant multi-family homes before they hit the market. I know there was contaminated land right next to it. I was concerned with my health, the crews that would work on the property as well as the tenants. I quickly decided to move on as I could not bare the thought of 1 person getting some type of illness from those properties when I KNEW the risk.
- Investor · Provo, UT · Member since 2016 · 759 posts · 626 votes3y
In 2019 we had a local Realtor/Landlord murdered when he was attempting to talk to the tenant about getting caught up on rent or being evicted. He was shot three times in the back and once in the groin.
https://www.ksl.com/article/50...
What is unfortunate is how light the sentencing was which makes me worried about the future of Landlord-Tenant relations because a good landlord should be able to talk to his tenants and work through issues.
I own and operate Mobile Home Parks so I will share my quick safety tips.
1. Never collect rent in person.
2. Keep positive communication with tenants and work with them.
3. Always pay a constable to deliver notices like eviction notices.
4. Have a gatekeeper at your office.
5. Keep the relationship professional No insults, No demeaning language, and treat them like humans.
6. Don't announce regular visits, when you are going to your properties show up unannounced.
Obviously, if you are going into the property you need to give notice but remember I own Mobile Home Parks mainly.
7. Don't eat anything from your tenants. I also discourage taking anything besides money from your tenants.
8. Understand as a Landlord that even though you own the house, it is their home.
This is where they sleep, spend time with their family and it is their space even if they are behind on rent.
9. Never use your home address for anything business related, you may want to put your primary residence in a name that can't be searched the same as your personal name.
10. Don't be social media friends with any of your tenants.
You need to create separation between your tenants and your personal life.
Feel free to add to this list but the more I do this the more protections I put in place, it is just good business.
- Investor · Fresno, CA · Member since 2016 · 222 posts · 237 votes3y
This is a major reason why I have avoided working in those class D areas in my market! No % return on investment is worth your life. It has also been exceedingly difficult to find reliable contractors and other vendors to work on your home in those places. And insurance tends to run pretty high in high crime areas.
Funny story, when I was first getting into investing in Kansas City I took a trip out there to meet some boots on the ground, fellow investors, contractors, wholesalers, etc. One of the wholesalers picked me up in his car and we drove around neighborhoods to get a feel for where to invest. I remember that after I had gotten in his car he asked me, "Tim, do you know where you're staying?" I said "yes, right there." and pointed to my AirBnb where I had rented a room. He said, "you are right in the heart of the hood hood of KC. There's the hood, and then there's the hood-hood. You'll be alright, just stay inside at night." He was right and all was fine, but I'll never forget the terror when I realized what he was saying and where I was.
Know your market, and if you don't, ask for some help! Also, stay away from class D. There are easier ways to make a buck.
- 3yBruce WoodruffPro MemberContractor/Investor/Consultant · San Diego / Phoenix · Member since 2021 · 12k+ posts · 15k+ votes
Quote from @Kay Faith:
We are about to get our feet wet in rental properties and looking at the Detroit area. Hearing these stories is really scary. Never held a gun in my life and it seems it a requirement for an investor.
No it's not. A smart investor (particularly a women) would be wise to learn their use, but you can have someone accompany you on showings and just stay away from confrontations. And never go into bad areas, ever....
- 3yHenry ClarkPro MemberDeveloper · Member since 2020 · 4k+ posts · 4k+ votes
On the societal side of things will leave that for a different post. It’s really easy with a lot of determination.
We don’t do housing so if you want you can discount anything I say. Have done a mobile home park.
I always like Nasty properties. More profit.
.
1. Appreciation- gentrification.
2. Increased rental rates.Think strategically by block and not by house. When you pick a block do it strategically.
Yes Gentrification is bad for the current tenants. But that is another post.
- 3yWilburt KingPro MemberInvestor · Detroit, MI · Member since 2015 · 36 posts · 14 votes
Quote from @Logan M.:
In 2019 we had a local Realtor/Landlord murdered when he was attempting to talk to the tenant about getting caught up on rent or being evicted. He was shot three times in the back and once in the groin.
https://www.ksl.com/article/50...
What is unfortunate is how light the sentencing was which makes me worried about the future of Landlord-Tenant relations because a good landlord should be able to talk to his tenants and work through issues.
I own and operate Mobile Home Parks so I will share my quick safety tips.
1. Never collect rent in person.
2. Keep positive communication with tenants and work with them.
3. Always pay a constable to deliver notices like eviction notices.
4. Have a gatekeeper at your office.
5. Keep the relationship professional No insults, No demeaning language, and treat them like humans.
6. Don't announce regular visits, when you are going to your properties show up unannounced.
Obviously, if you are going into the property you need to give notice but remember I own Mobile Home Parks mainly.
7. Don't eat anything from your tenants. I also discourage taking anything besides money from your tenants.
8. Understand as a Landlord that even though you own the house, it is their home.
This is where they sleep, spend time with their family and it is their space even if they are behind on rent.
9. Never use your home address for anything business related, you may want to put your primary residence in a name that can't be searched the same as your personal name.
10. Don't be social media friends with any of your tenants.
You need to create separation between your tenants and your personal life.
Feel free to add to this list but the more I do this the more protections I put in place, it is just good business.
- 3yWilburt KingPro MemberInvestor · Detroit, MI · Member since 2015 · 36 posts · 14 votes
This is Business 101, thank you.
- 3yBruce WoodruffPro MemberContractor/Investor/Consultant · San Diego / Phoenix · Member since 2021 · 12k+ posts · 15k+ votes
Quote from @Henry Clark:
I always like Nasty properties. More profit.
.
1. Appreciation- gentrification.
2. Increased rental rates.Think strategically by block and not by house. When you pick a block do it strategically.
Yes Gentrification is bad for the current tenants. But that is another post.
You and I generally agree, but especially on this. If you have the talent and the nerve :-), you get extra returns by buying and fixing in a rough, yet gentrifying neighborhood. I used to pick a block by zip code even, knowing that some certain zip codes had appeal...
But it's not for the faint of heart, that is for sure......!
- Member since 2020 · 4 posts · 0 votes3y
Quote from @James Hamling:
Quote from @Mark Cruse:
Quote from @James Hamling:
Quote from @Joe S.:
Your post was very thought-provoking. You mention culture. There are cultures that will dismiss your logic simply because it was ingrained in their culture to do so. Basically it is their culture to blame everyone else.Quote from @James Hamling:
Quote from @Account Closed:
@Bruce Woodruff Blaming and truth is two different things. Again WHY are people in poverty? Is it because they don’t care about themselves or is it because they have been trained by a system that made them depend on the system, stole their freedom and lied to them for years. Sure they should care about a community they don’t own and have no equity in. The people investing in the neighborhoods have the resources.
Maria, why does money exist? Yes, a means to exchange goods and services, I get that BUT why does the very item of a currency, OF money itself exist? This is VERY important because your entire foundation of belief is wrong.
Money exists because humans require BRIBERY to act.
That is the truth and fact of it. Humans are NOT altruistic.
We produce enough food in the world to feed every human 3 times over, so why do some starve? We have the capacity to build a shelter for every human on earth in the next 12 months, but we don't. Unknown people kill other unknown people to help advance the victory of some other unknown persons wants and wills and it's ok because we call it war.
Humans are NOT altruistic. We are petty, lazy, selfish, self-serving, manipulative, destructive little hairless ape's who require EXPANSIVE systems of control to FORCE us to act civil, to participate in act's of social construct.
Your premise Maria, is flawed, because the foundation is flawed, by a notion that all people want to be good, do good, give freely. Fact and reality is the total opposite and it's been proven time and time again. WELFARE is the US is a prime example. As more and more is given more and more persons DISENGAGED vs engaged. Persons take the hand-out and DO LESS. That is the facts and reality.
And color has ZERO to do with it, but CULTURE has EVERYTHING to do with it. My culture was of such that the humiliation is too great a pain to endure to take such. I had many asian immigrant friends growing up who experienced very similar cultures. We did not have the option to sit on our duff and just enjoy existing, we would suffer berating daily for such. It was not the government nor any politics who drove us, it was our culture, our expectations of self, what our culture would and would not accept.
Why does poverty exist? Because a person has accepted poverty as an acceptable condition of existing FULL-STOP.
Poverty is a CHOICE for 99.8% of persons. And that Maria IS FREEDOM!
Freedom is by it's very definition the opportunity to have however much good OR BAD a person will strive for. A system that removes a persons opportunity of poor choices is NOT FREEDOM.
If you want freedom, there will be sinners, it will not be an existence of only saints, because persons are free to choose either.
Fact is today most in poverty live BETTER than any member of Royalty lived 300yrs ago. A "poverty" persons lives BETTER than a King or Queen had lived, think on that for a moment.
The problem is peoples CULTURE, there CHOICES, there accountability of self, family, community.
We could house every human on earth, feed every human on earth, eliminate half the diseases on earth but, we won't, because PEOPLE choose to live by the metric of "me and you", and not "WE". It is why they define separators of persons at every chance; color, locality, education, etc etc..
It is not society's fault, responsibility or accountability for how one engages or does not engage in their own life. Society is not a thing of itself, it's a MIRROR. Society is a REFLECTION of the peoples choices, a mirror does not make one move in any 1 way or the other, does it.
Poverty will not end until people DECIDE to hold themselves to a higher standard, when they choose a culture, a self-accountability that is different. Opportunity has been given on a level and degree beyond any in human history and yet still, persons CHOOSE to not walk the "better" path.
Your argument is with human nature.
And now were getting to the heart of things arn't we, that there is some toxic cultures.
All my Tech Engineers should be able to 2nd that GIGO (Garbage In - Garbage Out); it's a fundamental knowledge point of computer programing that to get good results one must start with good inputs. And if they ignore that, trying to fix, fix, fix out-put's, patch and patch away, it leads to a cascade of failures. To correct, one must go back and change the core inputs.
Could you provide examples of the toxic culture or garbage input?
I grew up in the projects. Either a person knows, or they don't know, and nothing I can say will change what people think about what they do or don't know.
I was all of about 10 the first time I was shot at, for the "crime" of walking through parking lot while some person was getting all twacked out on ice and just, who knows, seeing things or just felt like shooting at someone. I wasn't even a teenager yet as I watched the millitary coming into my neighborhood, with machine guns and APC's.
There was/is a culture that revels in these things, takes pride in what most would call horrors.
What poverty does, is lends a convenient excuse, an excuse to accept the unacceptable. To excuse oneself from being a decent human being. To excuse oneself from having compassion, empathy, integrity, honor, VIRTUE.
From all you've ever shared, I know you know exactly what I am talking about in this culture. It's a culture of death, it consumes human soul's and cares not for color race or religion, it is an equal opportunity destroyer. It breeds actions that breed poverty.
- Real Estate Broker · Minneapolis, MN · Member since 2011 · 5k+ posts · 6k+ votes3y
Quote from @Bruce Woodruff:
Quote from @Account Closed:
And lets not even start the topic about the insane gun culture.
Yeah, please don't...If you word it like that I'm guessing you have zero clue about it.
With more than 20,000 gun control laws on the books now, I gotta wonder if it isn't more a gun control culture, but yeah, let's not slide down the pointless poop-shoot of that conversation.
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