All Forum Posts by: Frank Adams

Mitch Daniels? Really? The Bush OMB (office of management and budget) guy. It kind of looks like Bush never had a budget, everything like the wars was done off budget.

This is the guy who sold the IN toll road, sold the state social services contract to IBM (for a fixed price, then threw another $200MM to them when they WERE NOT PERFORMING) despite knowing (or maybe because they knew) that the plan had been a failure in TX.

Sorry, everything I've seen or read about this guy is the same old R talking points; cut taxes, give everything to my friends in big business and everything will be milk and honey. Especially for me and my friends.

Of course his arrest in College for DEALING DRUGS should really outrage everyone who ever criticized Clinton for smoking pot.

Frank

"This November let's elect fiscally responsible people with an actual track record."

Can you name one? I know a lot of people CLAIM that title but I look around at the congress and see people who voted for TWO UNFUNDED WARS, for an UNFUNDED MEDICARE EXPANSION/BIG PHARMA SUBSIDY, for two UNFUNDED TAX CUTS.

At the local level I see pols who claim the title but then vote for giveaways for SPORTS STADIUMS, privatizing government functions (trash collection, parking meters, road building) and then allow the monopolies that buy those functions UNLIMITED AUTHORITY TO RAISE RATES.

If you know of ONE give me their name.

Frank

Terry; I've never bought a CFD although I've sold two places that way. The reason is that a long time ago someone gave me the following advice; He told me to ask my attorney the following question:

"How much will you charge me to protect my interest if the IRS files a lien on everything the seller owns?" IOW, "how much to get me moved up in front of the IRS?

The answer to that question should settle it for you.

Frank

What is the biggers rehab you've done on a property in terms of cost and extent of repairs?

A couple of burn outs, and fires that took off the roof supports.

What the single biggest repair expense you've seen on a rehab? Is this particular expense a recurring theme in your rehab purchases?

What is the largest expense you've incurred on a roofing job?

Less than $2K, I've hired braceros and college students a couple of times, generally I prefer to do ALL repairs myself, except A/C and electrical.

What was the largest expense you've incurred on an electrical job?

About $3,500 for a new service panel and some extensive rewiring on a fire damaged place

What is the largest expense you've incurred on a plumbing job?

About $1,000 because plumbing is one of the easiest jobs.

If you have done a total rehab i.e. floors, roof, electric, plumbing, structure, masonary, appliance etc. how much did it run you.

I've done a couple of "burn outs" that ran me $20-$30K, this was in the '80s and early '90s so the dollars would have to be adjusted for inflation.

Frank

I once helped a buddy do something like this, he left the water shut offs inside the house and built a "closet" outside that was big enough for the W/D and even put a small shelf for detergents etc and a hanger pole for convenience.

It made the house much more saleable.

Frank

You don't say what the "mistake" was, but I've gotten pretty good at previewing my HUD-1s and generally find errors prior to closing. In the rare cases that I've found them after closing I've simply shown them to the closing agent, they've rechecked their math and paid me any monies owed.

Some pretty tough federal rules on closing so if there's a mistake it's usually pretty easy to rectify.

Suing is ALWAYS a last resort, especially at that amount because you're going in "naked" (no attorney) and a local JP can always claim no jurisdiction on Federal laws and kick you to the US Disctrict Court.

OTOH, I've found moral suasion to be a very effective tool when dealing with companies that rely on their public image. I'm not saying YOU should do the following but I've done it a couple of times to good effect. Merely tell the party that hosed you (if they really did) that;

"If this is not rectified within 5 business days I will make it a point to tell EVERYONE how you failed to handle the situation; this includes people I meet; at church, at Little League, at PTA, at Lodge, in line at Starbucks or the grocery, at the bus stop, on forums at our local community bulletin board. If you have any concept of the effectiveness of word of mouth advertising you'll see the value of NOT having this happening".

frank

Like others I've encountered this more times than I can count, including on "trash outs" and "burn outs" that have sat so long the agent has forgotten they have the listing.

I always use one of the two following answers; "OK, withdraw my offer then", or "if I lose it, I lose it".

I've NEVER bid against myself and NEVER lost a deal when told that line of carp.

frank

You don't say what was there before so I'll guess that it was some kind of "divider" or 1/2 wall, right. If that is ceramic don't plan on replacing it EVER.

Assuming that those are about 10"-12" tiles I'd probably find or build a bookshelf/cabinet, about 3' high, with the base, if not the entire thing, the exact dimensions of the gap. Paint it white and affix it to the floor, even with liquid nails. This shouldn't cost more than $30 and probably a lot less. Make it 6' tall if you want to spend a tiny bit more.

I'd also pull enough tile out of the closet, or from where the fridge goes and put it in that spot, the stuff under the fridge doesn't need to match perfectly.

frank

As Tim said the homestead exemption is a local/state issue and varies in value from state to state. As far as 1031s go, I doubt you'll see any change there as it's way too valuable for larger businesses than for RE investors.

The first time I ever heard of a 1031 was back in the '60s (I didn't buy my first house until '71) and it involved the owners of the (IIRC) then Baltimore Colts and Los Angeles Rams trading NFL teams. I don't think you'll see the day soon where we start taxing unrealized gain.

As far as where we could raise some tax revenue, I put out the following without comment as to their political ramifications;

1. States/municipalities begin to crack down in "sales" (although they use a different name for it) tax collections on sales over the internet. Big gaping hole there.

2. Raise the top rates, even back to what they were under Reagan or Clinton.

3. A SIGNIFICANT tax on gasoline. Other than the big producing nations of the middle east we probably have the world's lowest tax on gasoline, forcing us to spend TRILLIONS per year maintaining the world's only (in the true sense of it) "Blue Water Navy, the most powerful air force and one of the most expensive armies.

In order to lessen the tax hit on lower wage workers it should be phased in and accompanied by a decrease in the personal income tax on lower wage earners. I'd personally like to see a ONE DOLLAR per gallon (to start) phased in twenty five cents per calendar quarter. As long as housewives are driving one kid 1/4 mile to school in a Suburban or Expedition, or one commuter is doing 15 MPH in bumer-to-bumper rush hour traffic in the same, GAS IS TOO CHEAP.

Frank

IMO you don't have enough informtion (maybe you do, but not in your post) to make a decision. In my experience "we've been told" is a terrible source of information, almost as bad as "everyone knows".

Do you have a breakdown of those costs? Legal, plumbing, permits, code compliance? I was once told that something I wanted to do to increase the value of a property, in my case doubling the value, was going to cost me $8K-$12K and couldn't be done anyway! It ended up costing me less than $1K plus about 8 trips to the city permit office, but the main thing that got it done was studying carefully what OTHERS HAD DONE, and CREATIVE THINKING.

Do you have some specifics?

Frank