All Forum Posts by: David Roberts

Wasn't it the loss of tons of jobs that really caused a panic and collapse in the housing market?  I don't know, I wasn't really paying attention back then.  But, even if home prices fell, but everybody kept their jobs, it seems to me everybody would have continued to be able to make their payments and values may not have plunged like they did.  Sure people might not have liked being trapped in their house, but at least they wouldn't have been forced to foreclose.  

Seems to me that there is nothing that worrisome on the horizon.  Seems to me that, at least officially, the government is still worried about deflation, and thus not likely to raise rates much if at all in the next year.  If they start adjusting rates upward very slightly, maybe that levels off the increase in values but I don't think we are in for any kind of dramatic fall. 

Just my opinion.

And there are those of us who would even be happy to lend out EMD money for a fee :).

If your partner's strength is the books and nothing else, then accept it.  If they aren't interested in finding deals, rehab, analyzing tenants, you're not going to change her.  I don't care if you get married or beat her with a stick.  You aren't changing a woman.  She's going to change you first LMAO.

My girlfriend is similar.  I start talking numbers and she looks at me and nods, then yells at me that my shirt is too baggy or to pull my pants up lol.  She doesn't care about anything other than the people part.  And I know it.  So, her job is to handle getting us good tenants.  It's what she is good at.  That leaves me to do everything else.  But I'm fine with it.  If I need help, I talk to my investor friends. 

What a difference it makes when you can surround yourself with experienced investors.  It gives you a leg-up, a big head start from trying to figure it all out yourself.  The people that I am involved with are very knowledgeable and extremely successful.  Every time I talk with them they say something or tell me about a deal they are doing and some of the terms of the deal are such that you realize just how well they are doing, and how they are clearly NOT in the rat race.

It's where I want to be and what better way than to surround yourself with people that are already there and willing to help you get there.  Just makes them look that much better.

There is way too much money in the oil industry for prices to stay down here very long.  Although, I'd love the 2 dollar gas for the next 3 years.  Just is'nt gonna happen.

Just my opinion.  Don't get married.  F that.  Marriages end badly half or more of the time too lol.  To me it seems like it's increasing your odds of ending badly if you get married.  Instead of just being business partners and being involved, now you're married and business partners.  Better off staying separate, and probably better off keeping your finances separate.  Hopefully you are with someone that even if you cheated on them or they cheated on you, they would still financially honor any commitments.  

I'm super motivated with money burning holes in my pockets right now.  My girlfriend and I are partners, and have 1 rental and we are looking to ramp up quickly.  But, we aren't local to you.  I want to be either lending money out or buying my rentals, just want to be earning big returns either way.  

I wish you luck.  At least you are motivated and want to do better for yourself.  You can't teach that in my opinion.

My girlfriend is very outgoing and I'm not.  I'm the analyzer, she is the 'tenant recruiter'.  lol.

Looking forward to Joe's response on that one. 

 And why Joe?  Because, "equity is where your money goes to die".

This is one of your best Joe'isms.

 Oh I agree, I wouldn't buy in Ecorse or River Rouge either personally, but the man was interested in Detroit and cheap homes so I gave him 2 other non Detroit areas to look at ;).

It seems like there's been a movement by large corporations to start in the heart of downtown, where all of the business is, and sort of migrate outward.  Some are investing in removing the blight.  I suspect the big corporations are buying any property there because it is dirt cheap right now.  But it also makes me wonder why they haven't just decided to buy up whole blocks like was suggested above.  

The troublemakers are in those areas, and they have to go somewhere.  Good luck trying to uproot them.  They have to go somewhere.  A lot of people in those areas are struggling to keep the water on (many have defaulted, and that's been all over the news here becuase the city wants to turn off their water, and people feel they are entitled to have their water on without payment).  

I suppose if you can find decent people that truly want the help, maybe you take over their mortgage, catch them up, give them a new furnace or running water, or a kitchen, and they pay you a rent that they can afford and you can make cash flow on, it will work for you.  But those areas are tough.

A couple individuals that I work with were called for Jury duty, and since we are wayne county, that means Detroit for jury duty.  They were telling me how a simple question of "please tell us your name for the record" to the witness on the witness stand wouldn't get answered becuase they feared the defendant might know somebody, another gang member or what have you, that might hurt a member of their family or figure out where they lived and rob them if they said their name.

One of these individuals got this explanation from a fellow juror in deliberation because one of the jurors lived down there, and my friend was a white dude from suburbia who had no idea what it was like to live there.

Just be careful guys.  There's a reason the houses are 500 bucks.

There are other very close cities like Ecorse and River Rouge that have homes for similar prices. You might want to try checking those out also.