All Forum Posts by: Kevin C.

Eddie, you've come across one of the many reasons I never escrow.

A mortgage in my book consists of P&I, nothing more - ever.

In TX (in and around Dallas anyway), a tax rate around 2 to 2.5% or so is pretty common. On a 300K home you're looking at $6K to $7K in taxes.

$3,453 on a $125K home seems pretty high, even for TX.

One home is rented to a son and his family at a rate that covers the homes expenses - that home was purchased for that reason.

The second home had another of my sons and a couple of his friends in it, they have moved out and that home is now rented at market rate.

Home number one is a wash, I knew that going in (actually, both homes were a wash going in, I knew that on both of them).

The home that is now at market rent will cash flow some, not a lot, but it will cover it's expenses and throw off some cash.

Both homes are in very desirable areas with plenty of upside appreciation potential (comps put them both at 10K+ beyond what I paid for them).

These homes were both purchased with the intent to keep them long term, very long term.

I have funds to acquire additional properties without selling either of these homes - that is not an issue.

The home that is now at market rent is located a few miles from where we live (5 miles or less), ideal situation for me since I'm managing it myself.

The point of the post was to show that after learning about BP I see I could have done much better and still accomplished my goal. That's water under the bridge now.

The homes enabled family to get into nice areas for less than they would have paid otherwise. The homes were also my entry into acquiring and managing rental properties.

I've learned a lot in the few years I've had these homes, I've learned even more since learning of BP.

Future acquisitions will have a different goal than these initial two homes did - future acquisitions will be 100% for investment with no consideration for charity towards family.

Again, I'm OK with what I have, one still serves it's charitable purpose towards a family member, the other makes a little. Long term, they will both do fine.

Financially, I have the funds for additional acquisitions without selling anything.

Selling a home costs money, since my intent was long term anyway, and I don't need the money, there is no reason to sell either.

I understand I could sell and reinvest into better cash-flowing properties with those funds, but I have funds for additional acquisitions and have no desire to sell what I have.

Excellent Jon - Congratulations on the sale, nice profit there.

There was a HUD home out in Celina I was sort of interested in, was sitting on a couple acres - that was the real attraction, that and an asking price in the 50's.

Home was a on a concrete footer and needed a lot of work, a full gut of the interior was in order - had potential though.

Couldn't bring myself to place a bid, it was just too far from where we live to make it worthwhile. I would have wanted to do the majority of the rehab myself and I just couldn't get over the distance.

Nothing outrageous, but outside my comfort zone distance wise for something that needed that much work.

Would have been a sweet little place once rehabbed.

Not really a good candidate for a rental, but I think it could have been rehabbed and flipped for a decent profit.

https://www.bidselect.com/PropertyDetails?p_plum=&p_last_access_time=2010-04-08%2008:01:21.602&p_client_id=0&p_reference_num=492-778267&p_process_page=PSPropertyDetails&p_build_page=PSPropertyDetails&js_changed=&p_form_action=CUSTOM&p_comp_ind=N

I've gotten along without ipods, itouchs, iPhones or any other Apple what nots up to now, so I'm pretty confident an iPad is not something I'll be needing, now or in the foreseeable future.

A BB and an ultraportable Notebook covers all the bases for me.

Not in to the music player scene, and non-tacticle keyboards are far from friendly, so iPods, iPhones, iTouches and iPads are not something I'd have an interest in.

My daughter has an iTouch and I'll admit it was interesting.... for about 5 minutes.

Not a lot of homes on dirt roads in the areas I'll be looking in, but if one came up I'd have to give it a look if the numbers were good enough.

How are the mobiles going, still adding to your collection?

Next purchase will be based on cash-flow - cash flow based on proven formulas!

I expect it to be much better than the first two.

Not in a rush for another place yet, still working through the make-ready and lease to new tenant phase.

New tenant is scheduled to move in May 1st - yah!

@ Mike M - For the home I have that is still rented to family, I do collect the agreed rent.

My son has been in that house with his wife since the house was purchased back in 2007. I may sell it to him one day, but at the moment, he's still renting.

The rent on that one covers the expenses, so it's a wash. I'll agree it's not a good idea to rent to family, but there were certain circumstances that were taken into consideration when I made the decision to purchase that home.

Let's just say I feel fortunate that I was in a position to be able to help my son and his family get into a nice area while starting out.

Even though it's not paying off in dollars today, I still consider it a win-win situation.

It put my son and his family into an area they would not have been able to get into on their own and it got me off the fence with RE investing.

Some things you can't put a dollar figure on, I consider this one of them.

@ Mike M - All I can say is OUCH!

@ Chris - Not looking to sell either, both houses are in excellent shape and in desirable locations. One still has family in it (son and his wife and 4 kids).

I'm OK with both, one eeks out a little profit now, the other one, lets just say it serves the purpose it was bought for.

Long term, and I'm talking real long term here, I'll be fine with both. I still have funds to purchase additional properties and have plenty of reserves to carry me through any rough patches.

These two homes were bought for specific purposes, cash flow not being the top priority. Knowing what I know now, I'm confident I could have accomplished my goals with better deals, but still, I have no plans to sell these.

Future purchases will cash flow better no doubt, they will be bought 100% as investment properties with no other purpose.

Looks like the upcoming HP Slate will have a lot to offer above and beyond what the iPad currently offers - still don't see it as a 'game changer' though.

Neat gadget, yes.
Laptop replacement, only time will tell.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ytech_gadg/20100406/tc_ytech_gadg/ytech_gadg_tc1480