All Forum Posts by: Eric Foster

Zach,

Well hello there... Welcome to the group!

As with any investments... one should only "invest" as much "Personal" cash as one is willing to lose. Hey things happen sometimes...

It always gets me when people say stuff like "my home has 100k in equity and I am going to refi it out and invest it" in “X”.

Don’t get me wrong… Zach, I am not saying that this is what you are saying in your post… I just thought I would say this for the benefit of others.

Never, never, never, use personal assets and risk them for investments.
Rule #1 of investing is... "Don’t lose principal".

If someone needs to take out say 10k for a down payment from their homes equity, that’s ok if you are willing to risk that 10k... but don’t take out 100k in equity and put it all at risk. I would rather put 10k down and borrow the other 90k.

Sorry for the tangent... and for giving an opinion on something that wasn’t even asked of me.... but a lot of people miss this and too often put all their eggs in one basket.... bet it all on one shot.... roll the dice and take too much of a risk. Real Estate is risky enough without stacking the odds against yourself…

Anyway... Welcome! I will shut up now. (Man I'm long winded)

Thanks for the reply.

Yea there are a buch on them out there now..
I will get some free trials and take a look.

Welcome to the group...

I was in North Carolina for the first time about a year and a half ago.

It was nice to visit... but the first 30 minutes of being in town was the hotel van driver telling me how worried he was about the storm they were expecting that was on its way.

It all made me a bit nervous... but the storm just passed on by.

Welcome to the group. You are right... there is a lot of good stuff here. And congrats on the almost completed project.

What kind of price range will the house be in?

The areas and the markets I am in, a house selling and closing in 30 days would only happen if the house was the nicest house around for about 10% under actual market value.

Go get em!

Welcome to the group! Yes there is a lot of good info laying around... Just go dig in.

Thanks Gabe for your input. Maybe when I run accross another opportunity I will give another one a shot.

I am a car fanatic... I have had quite a variety of cars over the years. Well hey, I spend so much time behind the wheel, why not go in a little style?

Currently I drive…
BMW 750IL
Mercedes E320
Jaguar XJ6
Durango Sport

I have read the book recently myself. As with most books and educational materials, there is always a bit of fluff.

But what I can say is that this is the only book I have ever read in just a few sittings. I was intrigued with the "dream" of working less and enjoying life more.

It also talks a lot about what he has dubbed "mini retirements" which is basically a long several week if not several month vacation, several times a year.

It also speaks about getting help to get things done instead of you always being the one to do the tasks personally.

It is worth the read! I am and will be implementing several ideas from the book.

I just got done reading the book "The 4hour Work Week". Great Book! It talks a ton about virtual assistants etc.

Yours is a good question... it makes me think…

With just some quick thought on it...

I would say things that may cause a deal to be good or bad, should be eliminated from the list. i.e. comps, etc. Personally I would not want someone else telling me the value of a property that I was going to spend “my” investment money on... that’s my job.

I would think if you could do things that many do not like to do, or never seem to find the time to do... i.e. phone calls to find out basic information from lenders and title companies etc. Marketing tasks, accounting and bookkeeping etc.

I think if the items were more the day to day operations stuff rather than “deal making” stuff.

Just my quick thoughts…

All businesses are “work”. Period! An established business will have both pros and cons...

A few that come to mind are...

Pros... Established with all the "start up" stuff already done and all the bugs worked out, existing customers and operating money... etc.

Cons... How has the business been ran i.e. reputation in the area? Do the locals and customers like the business? Employee loyalty with the existing owner, not the new owner... etc.

I would say if you review financials and tax returns of the seller, work in or have someone you know work in the business for a few weeks prior to buying it, have the seller stay with you for a period of time to “show you the ropes” and make the transition etc., and have the seller carry some financing so they also have a reason to see you succeed.

Just my 2 cents.