All Forum Posts by: Stephen Masek

We had two on Point Place and one in Zip Code 43613.

We started buying houses in others state in 2004/5 and in most areas did quite well with appreciation and found good property managers.  Some areas such as Toledo did not work.  

We sold everything except two houses in Las Vegas (the south end of the strip and Southern Highlands), one in the Cordova area of Memphis and one in Lawrenceville, a nice suburb of Atlanta.   

You-all know that I like to point out that the lever in the word "leverage" pries in both directions - for you or against you.  I doubt many people come here to post about losing money or going broke.  It is not "dead money," especially on appreciating properties.  

Do you use any project management software (not just PERT and GANTT charts, but critical path analysis and so forth)?     

We all need to be watching the vote in 2020 to kill Proposition 13 protection for commercial & industrial real estate.  The challenge will be educating the vast number of ignorant voters on how money really flows (e.g. if the property taxes on the grocery store go way up, the prices of groceries will go up, if the property taxes on the apartment building go up, rents will go up, if property taxes on you employer go way up, they may have to fire you).  Millions of dollars will surely be spent arguing about it.   I can find this same climate in several parts of Europe and might enjoy having several residences in different nations when I decide to stop working.  

Do you cover dealing with asbestos and lead, including finding a good environmental consultant and good remediation contractors?  Some flippers just were hit with almost $800,000 in fines for improper removal of asbestos cement siding on one house:

https://ohsonline.com/articles/2019/01/25/asbestos-violations.aspx?admgarea=news&m=1

Ben is correct!  We did buy three "pigs" in Toledo.  We lost over $10,000 each on two of them, now sold, and will make $15,000 on the third one when it sells in a few days.  Bad tenants, bad management, bad area.  With unemployment hitting lows last seen in the 1960s, and a huge investment in the Jeep factory, this indicates that Toledo is a place for investors to avoid.  I do not know if it is illegal drugs or other factors.  Thankfully, we will have realized Approx. $800,000 of appreciation when we are finished selling all 15 of our rental houses (10 sold, one in escrow, one listed, three leased).   We are reinvesting in DSTs, preferred stock funds, bonds, and stock funds.         

Are they separate legal parcels?  If not, the land needs to be subdivided. 

You would be wise to obtain a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment to learn if there are any problems which will need to be addressed.  The cost should only be $1,000 to $2,500. 

What recent sales have occurred in the area?

What does the Assessor think each parcel is worth?

One problem with leverage is that the lever can pry against the borrower.  The other is that the lender is not on the hook for more than the remaining loan balance, but the entire net worth of the owner / ownership entity could be lost due to a lawsuit or regulatory enforcement action.  If you have little equity, you are simply a rent collector for the lender, but unlike an employee, you also have all of the liabilities.      

Facts.  How about what my wife's sister saw when her husband died of colon cancer at age 40 - people howling with pain in the colon cancer ward because their relatives did not pay for the expensive pain killer drugs?   Real enough for you?  I've also discussed the need for the white envelope of bribes with relatives in Europe many times.  My wife's father was laying in the hospital a few years ago with a bad gall bladder and nothing happening until my wife's mother produced an envelope full of cash.  That is the reality you want to not see.  The stories regarding England have been on major TV shows and in print.        

You need to find a good environmental consultant.   They will know the regulations and be able to perform testing.