All Forum Posts by: Alvin Sylvain

@Ethan Mastrodonato The whole point behind having the security deposit is to protect the landlord against excess cleaning, breakage, or theft upon move-out. You're renting by the month -- if you collect the "security deposit" by the month, it's really only "rent". You might as well just forget about the deposit and raise the rent. Substantially.

Originally posted by @Matt H.:

Seems like 95% of you are against this. I think you're all nuts.

...

Lastly I definitely don't set aside the pre paid rent, I invest it and make more money with their money.

I agree with you in principle, but I'd caution to make sure some of those investments have some liquidity. I'm envisioning some sort of emergency where the tenant NEEDS to break the lease for any number of reasons, wants the balance remaining returned, and you're in the embarrassing situation of not having it. Make sure wording in the lease covers any and all such contingencies.

And there's nothing wrong with nuts! :-)

@Carson Kesner The only thing I can add is that I was in that situation from the other side. We had just sold our house, and I had been unemployed for a bit. I'd found a new job, but clearly I didn't pass the "Continuously Employed for N years" criteria. But we still had the money from selling the house, so we tried offering to pay the whole year. No takers. We did finally find someone willing to risk us based just on my being currently employed, and having a (mostly) stable history, and we paid monthly like normal. So I'd have to say, "Go for it" if everything else checks out, but probably put the money into a special account in case things do go south and a balance return is required.

@Ryan Nguyen All the other great advice here aside, I wanted to point out that Trulia.com and Realtor.com, among others, have a nice little "crime in the area" map for almost any US address. While it won't replace a reliable "eyes on the ground" from someone local that you trust, it's at least a quick and dirty spot-check before deciding whether to investigate further.

@Jason DiClemente everybody knows it should be RED!

@James Wise Unfortunately, as I understand the law (which could easily be wrong) your job is more than just collect rent. If there is illegal activity in your rental, especially drugs, being forced to evict tenants could be the least of your worries. The govt may actually confiscate the dwelling from you under Civil Forfeiture and RICO laws, and not pay you a nickel for your trouble. You can sue to get it back, but who knows how long that will take or how much it will cost.

I think it has to depend on the market. For example, here in Southern California, it's almost impossible to find a cash-flowing SFH. Yah, it'll appreciate like crazy, but expect it to be a tax deduction against other income for a bunch of years.

And it's only gotten worse since they started building the new Rams stadium in Inglewood. A couple of years ago you could get a 2 bedroom dump for 2 to $300K, fix it up, and maybe flip it for 20 to $50K profit or maybe hold it for modest cash-flow. Now, you can hardly find one for under 5 or 600K or more, and it's still a dump. You maybe can fix and flip it, but nobody is going to pay $3.5 to $4K monthly rent needed to cash-flow.

Originally posted by @Account Closed:

Originally posted by @Shahriar Khan:

@Tyler Labrador assuming that 21 is about to wrap up college. 

1)  Finish College and get a good job. Right kind of Corporate job will teach your structure and process and all those good stuff.

2) Take earning and learning from #1 and invest is RE.  Use RE to increase Balance sheet and W2 for Revenue. 

3) Think scale and volume and keep circulating 1& 2 till you feel comfortable  and then make a choice which ship to jump on 100%

4) Wealth happens by focusing on Revenue not cutting cost ... So grow revenue and be cost efficient. 

5) Prepare to be disappointed a lot :) 

Wish you the best ...

 I have an advanced degree and college did nothing for me to advance my real estate investing. It held me back. I could have used the money and time to get farther faster without going to college. Don't go into debt for college. Make your money and then study anything you want. Focus, focus, focus on real estate and the area you want to specialize in. It will pay lifelong dividends.

 I will agree, don't go into debt for a college education. I mean, if you mortgage your future in order to have one, what's the point? But if your grades are good, there are colleges out there that will happily educate you free of charge.

It is an unfortunate fact that many who attend college are wasting time and money. However, it is also a fact that, statistically speaking, college graduates will earn more income. Play the odds.

Originally posted by @Aaron K.:

@Thomas S. I disagree with essentially cutting off friendships because someone doesn't have money, to me that seems like an incredibly cold thing to do.  Money is not the only thing that matters in life

 I wouldn't say you necessarily need to "cut off" a friendship, but if the "friend" keeps trying to drag you down into the gutter where he is just because "misery loves company", then he's no "friend." I would say, any friend you have who wants to keep a negative mindset is someone good to exchange Christmas cards with, but not necessarily one to spend a great deal of time with.

The fundamental issue is, if you spend a lot of time with people with negative vibes, those vibes may rub off on you. Now maybe your positive vibes will rub off on them, and that would be good. Are your vibes that powerful? Can you take the risk?

My favorite motivational poster (so far):