All Forum Posts by: Alvin Sylvain

 It's a judgement call. A new roof should last 15 to 20 years. A 20 year old roof -- less. When is the last time the HVAC system was serviced? Are those pipes PVC, copper -- or rust? There is no one answer that will fit every situation, altho if you talk to enough experienced property owners, you can get an idea of what you can use for comparison purposes.

It also depends on your plans. Are you keeping the place as an heirloom for your as yet unborn grandkids? Or are you selling as soon as enough appreciation kicks in? If you plan to sell in 5 years, who cares about a roof good for another 15?

I usually like 3 to 5% of rent altho you didn't hear that from me!

Capital Expenditures (CapEx) is money set aside for future major expenses. E.g. you put $50/month into the bank hoping you won't need to spend $10,000 on a new roof until after 16 or 17 years.

Real estate professionals usually ignore Zestimates due to ridiculous lack of reliability, and I doubt Redfin is any better, and particularly given the wide disparity between one and the other, you might want to do your own comparables.

It's not that hard. Find all the nearby similar properties that sold in the last few months, throw out the cheapest sale price and the most expensive sale price, and average the rest. Although I'm sure other people have other methods.

Don't worry if the previous owner doesn't want to deal with a management company. He/she is going to deal with you and/or your agent. You can always get a management company later, long after the sale has concluded.

Visit www.dealcheck.io and load the numbers in. See what kind of results you get for things like cashflow, cash on cash return, internal rate of return. Take a look at how insurance, maintenance, Capital Expenditures and other expenses may ruin all of those. Or, you can use the BP calculator, altho I haven't tried that one yet.

We've gone back and forth on BP over ESA animals. Everyone agrees it's a phenomenal scam, but not everybody agrees on the best course of action.

I think the long and the short of it is, you'd better get some good legal advice, depending on how badly you want to keep that money.

 Always good to hear a strong, convincing argument. I'm buying some Bitcoin right now ...

... not ...

Well there's always the FDIC insurance ... no, wait a minute ...

 1. money in bank is vulnerable to hacking.

Yes, but is any cryptocurrency guaranteed by the FDIC?

2. the USD fluctuates

Yes, but not as much as cryptocurrency, and, so far at least, it remains the currency of choice of most of the world when dealing in international relations.

Now, when 2/3rd of companies in the EU measure their profit and loss in Bitcoin, maybe I'll take notice. Today, a considerably larger fraction world-wide, even in the EU, measure it in USD.

3. paranoia over hacking

Yes. I get a weekly newsletter about the latest hacking exploits. I know what I'm talking about. A little paranoia goes a long way. If a man can make a lock, another man can break it. And how are you going to prove that you used to own $50K worth of Bitcoin?

And even notice how we talk about it -- we don't say "I was robbed, I used to have 5 Bitcoin!" What we say is, "I used to have 50 thousand dollars worth of Bitcoin."

Maybe when we start looking at USD as a commodity we can buy with Bitcoin, versus the reverse, maybe I'll take notice.

 ... and, what if we didn't?

 What's that they call it? The "Bigger Fool" theory of investment?

As in, you'd be a FOOL to buy into it, but you're hoping later to find an even Bigger Fool to sell it to?

 Imagine a high school drop-out hacks into the software and suddenly there's 10 times the quantity ...

Imagine a political operative hacks into the software and installs key-logging and tracking ... suddenly your "anonymous transactions" are trending topics on Facebook ...

Imagine nothing so improbable occurs (but definitely not impossible), but you bought it at $20K but when you need the money it's $2K ...

Am I scared? Excited? No, I don't own any now nor do I have any plans in the future.

Am I breathlessly waiting to see if one of my possible nightmare scenarios comes true? Not really, but it wouldn't surprise me.