All Forum Posts by: Dave Versch

Originally posted by RAY BROGDEN:

Its in Philly where the taxes are nice and low.

what was your rate on the 21.2K?

30 yr fixed 6 7/8% with 3 points

I've got a 26.5K house under contract right now with a mortgage from B of A for 80%, so you can try there.

One question. If you're paying 35K for the house and getting $650 rent, how is there any room to resell? Sounds like it could be a decent buy and hold though. Can you find more of them? Is this in NJ?

I've had a couple of banks turn me down for no reason other than the loans were for less than 40K. Bank of America will do them. (Are they still there? I haven't checked today... :D )

If we consider "youth" high school and younger, my favorites were probably The Sting, Casablanca (no, I'm not really THAT old, but I liked the movie), Blazing Saddles, American Graffiti, The Exorcist, and probably a bunch of others I can't think of. I saw them all a bunch of times, although they're probably not really as good as I remember.

Now as far as TV shows, I can still sit through a Honeymooners marathon and wish for more when it's over. There's still nothing funnier to me than Norton holding a lighter up right next to Ralph's thermometer to get a better look, and crying when he thinks Ralph's temperature is 111, or when Ralph hurts his back bowling and they hatch a scheme where Norton comes downstairs "sleep walking" on Ralph's signal ("Whoa, It certainly looks like rain tonight!"), and then proceeds to sleep-walk past Ralph's ice box, grabs a chicken leg, and sits down at the table to eat with one hand while the other arm is still sticking straight out in front of him because he's sleep-walking.

OK, maybe you had to be there...

Originally posted by NC Mark:

...peddling old truths wrapped in new words surrounded by breathless enthusiasm.

Hey NC Mark, I like that one. Did you make that up?

Originally posted by Dave Kennedy:

When you think about it quickly you see that you purchased a house for 250k and solid it for 550k. In your mind you are happy because you made 300k appreciation over 30 years. But it really isn't the case.

Even thinking about it that way is misleading. Even if you were to pay cash, and you buy a house for 250K, live in it without making any essential improvements, and sell it 10 years later for $1,000,000, you've more than likely gained nothing. If the market price for that type of house in that area is now $1,000,000, then you're only going to be able to buy the same type of house you just sold. On the other hand, if you move to another area, you may be able to buy a better house for a million, but you would have been able to buy that same house 10 years ago for 250K. Obviously this is overly simplistic since there are other things to consider, but it's essentially true.

The only way you gain with a principal residence is if you look at it vs. paying rent for your residence, since part of the money you pay each month goes towards principal. Growing equity in your principal residence however, is a myth.

Originally posted by Norm Chrostowski:

(pardon me if I sound like an idiot)

Norm, Don't worry about it at all. For every "dumb" question asked by someone in a public forum, there are probably at least 20 people learning from reading the answers, who didn't have the guts to ask the question themselves.

Let me know if you find Marcia Brady in there somewhere...

Originally posted by Harrison Painter:

I do feel that way sometimes when I am out an about, especially when I am walking into a vacant house right at sundown.

I always make it a point to be "out of town by sundown". Not much scares me during the day, but night time is a whole lot different. I'm no stranger to those areas of the city (Harlem, Lower East Side, Paterson, Newark) from my misspent youth. But it's a lot different when you're 19 and look a little scraggly yourself than it is when you're 50 and don't look as comfortable in your surroundings (or run as fast) as you used to. (Of course, now I'd be trying to run TO the cops instead of FROM them, but those stories are way too far off-topic for such a public forum... :cool: )

Originally posted by nationwidepi:

Why in the world would you want an LLC for each property? Talk about an unnecessary expense not to mention an accounting nightmare. Different checking accounts for each, different tax filings for each LLC, etc.
The only reason to brake up properties into another LLC or multiple is if you have enough equity at risk and want to difersify that equity exposure over more entities, thus reducing exposure.

Suppose you own 10 properties under the same LLC. A tenant in property number 4 decides to sue the owner of the property (your LLC) for a million bucks. You have liability coverage of 300K on that property. If the same LLC owns 9 other properties, there's nothing stopping the tenant in property 4 (and his ambulance chasers) from going after the other 9 properties. Doing one property per LLC limits your liability significantly, although it will obviously increase your costs. I think holding 2 or 3 properties per LLC is a happy medium. You limit your liabillity (as opposed to holding it all in one entity), and your costs aren't too bad that way either (as opposed to one per LLC).