All Forum Posts by: Mike Denham

For most people..."YES" is the answer. It's the motivating factor for video being so popular. Video are, according to some data, 12 times more likely to be clicked on than photos, which are 8 times more likely to be clicked than links. People are lazy.

I call marketing today "microwave media." They want it spoon fed and instant. Of course you still have the engineer and accountant types that actually like to read and research, but it's not the norm.

It doesn't seem to me that many people use mobile real estate apps on the road, but that seems to be changing more and more every day. the numbers from Google suggest that the number of mobile searches increases DRAMATICALLY every. Single. Month.

There is a company called Control4 (I think) that has a system that allows you to control your entire home from practically any device with an internet connection. You can also set up groups for certain times of the day, occasions, etc. A local rep for a networking company getting into this technology walked me through a new home they used for "show and sell." One of his presets, as a joke, was called "Get Busy." From his phone, he selected it. The lights went down, the cieling fans kicked onto high and the AC thermostadt went down to 68 and the surround sound came on and started playing "I wanna sex you up," by Color Me Bad! LOL! I fell out laughing!

It's incredible and is really just basic networking and electrical components with WiFi connectivity. If it is connected to a switch, an outlet, or your electrical panel, you can control it, along with anything else that has a remote already.

http://www.control4.com/residential/products/

There are more than a few videos on YouTube as well.

In an industry where the average agent just imitates what the other guys did, it's refreshing to me to see innovation like this. Sawbuck.com is a web-based brokerage in the Northeast. Inman has recognized them more than once for innovation in the industry. The app they developed is pure genius, different, and, IMHO shows the kind of thinking that got them where they are and proves again that out of the box thinking is possible, even in real estate.

http://www.inman.com/news/2012/03/9/sawbuck-app-serves-real-estate-data-snapshots

That is a great idea for an app.
Add Social Media integration and information for new tenants or links to utility and service providers.

I just realized I started to correct myself and ended up sounding like an idiot. What I was trying to say is that, since last summer, 5 of our properties had accepted contracts at or near full price in under a week. Those are the ones I can recall at the moment. 3 SFRs, a condo and a multi-family.

Anyway, what's your interest in Nola & BR?

Turn time is about location and condition, of course, but a remodeled property or one in great condition will still sell quickly if the price isn't absurd. In the last year, I've gotten list price or close to it on 5 different properties in the past 6 month in a week or less!

I'm trying to find more investors to work with. We only work with a couple now and they just like to have a project every now and then. I'd love to find a few full-timers.

If it was here, I would say to price it where you think you will get interest. Ultimately, the market will tell you if it's overpriced. The buyer pool is like and inverse pyramid. Below market, everyone wants to buy it. The higher the price, the fewer people there are that will pay it. At some point you move so far out of the market that your odds of getting an acceptable offer are near zero until it sits, which is when the low offers come in.

I would also say where you price it is about how fast you want to sell also. In the last year I've sold several properties (5 SFRs, a condo and a 15-unit multifamily) in a week or less by pricing them just under the market and got asking price on all but one of them. Of course your property has to be pristine, but you get my point. It's about your motivation. How long are you willing to wait for that extra $$$?

NIck, I've had my eye on a property here in BR for about a week. A SFR with an attached apartment. It's in great condition, has been remodeled, and it's collectively rented for $2350 per month for years. It's in the hottest zipcode in the city, near the LSU Lakes and campus- an area that doesn't see vacancies because of demand and short supply. It just hit the market for $250K and will cash flow over $1000 a month with 20% down. This isn't the norm, in any market, but it shows that there's money to be made.

Well, since the topic of the post had to do with the IRS, I assumed you were referring to federal taxes.