All Forum Posts by: Andrew S.

I would cut that realtor off immediately. She is not representing you in an acceptable manner in my opinion. Keep her as a friend but fire her as realtor.

@Trevor Lohman - there is a very interesting discussion on crowd funding going on right now (http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/520/topics/105106-comparing-crowdfunding-sites-for-re?page=3) that is quite relevant to what you are after.

@Suzie Remilien

Well, it's probably not possible for anyone to have actual hands-on experience in every nook and cranny of real estate investing (although I do think that would be a superb preparation for note investing!). I was mostly responding to the implication that "listening to all podcasts and reading the general beginner's guides on REI is basically a waste of time, if all you are interested in is notes". Nothing could be further from the truth, in my opinion.

@Suzie Remilien

PPR (@Dave Van Horn ) focuses on non-performing seconds, so if you have already settled on performing firsts, it might not be the right place to go. That said, Dave has some good training material on performing notes too.

@Phillip Cailey Whilst I think I understand where you are coming from with your comment, I WILL say that doing notes without any knowledge of real estate in general (yes, that includes buying, renting, flipping, valuing, etc, etc) seems like a dangerous proposition to me. Yes, it takes time and effort to accumulate that knowledge, but how are you going to truly evaluate your note deals, if you don't understand the underlying principles, markets, drivers, strategies? I suppose its a matter of individual taste, but personally, I have a need to understand the bigger picture before I put my hard-earned cash at risk (goes for the stock or bond markets too).

Thanks @Cathy Svercl and @Mike Reynolds for the info. I'll certainly check whether they are filled or not. Any idea what a Dryvit siding would cost for a house of that size? 2K, 5K, more?

It'll be a rental. It actually doesn't look terrible with just painted cinderblock, but this is an up-and-coming neighborhood and everything is getting nicer and nicer around it, so excellent curb appeal will command strong rents.

I'm considering a property that is built with painted cinderblock. It was built in the 50-ies and there is little insulation (I doubt the blocks are filled with foam, etc). Some of the interior is drywalled but doesn't look like they put in a lot of insulation between the blocks and the sheetrock either. Other parts of the interior are just basically the (painted) cinderblock.

So, I'm thinking of adding a siding such as Dryvit in order to a.) improve insulation and b.) enhance the curb appeal.

Does anyone have advice as far as potential pitfalls and approximate cost of such a retrofit? This is a small 2/1 800-900 sqft one-story building.

You say you only have one rental property but do you also own your own home? If so, you could get a HELOC on your residence (hard to get HELOCs on rental properties) and only tap into whatever you need for acquiring your next property. You won't have a locked-in interest rate, but much more flexibility.

I'm with others on this: I see no conceivable way that this would lead to a jail term for the landlord unless there is a lot more to the story. As in: we haven't even heard the top of the tip of the iceberg yet.

I won't say our legal system isn't producing some pretty amazing outcomes at times, but this one is over the top.

@John Crandell Sounds moe like a guru club to me. Certainly very different form how our local REIA runs!