All Forum Posts by: James H.

I see this is in the Mobil Home investing forum. I just wanted to clarify that so you get specific feedback on mobile homes as I would like to know about mobile homes and that specific class of tenants myself, rather than the same old SFH stuff.

I added a carport to mine during the middle of tenancy. I always felt it needed a carport and it did not matter to me if there were tenants or a turnover. The value is great and the money cost the same whether the tenants move now or later. One less thing to deal with during turnover, too.

I think most put off upgrading things because tenants aren't going to move due to outdated light fixtures and such. They may look for those things when they move, but there will be other driving forces behind the decision than light fixtures. A new paining would probably do more to keep them around, but also more expensive. If they are there for 5 years and you updated stuff midway through their tenancy, you are still doing pretty good on expenses. OTOH, I would try to select upgrades that are not trendy so they will not look outdated so soon. Better to have ho-hum fixtures that last a long time and have enduring style than upgrade with latest trends.

A ten year old light fixture doesn't really look outdated IMO.

Technically speaking I agree with you Since you don't know what you will yield, it would only be hindsight. On the other hand, lets say you assume a 5 percent return on a 401K plan. Now also consider what your minimum acceptable return on RE investment is based on the risk and work involved. If it is 17 percent, you need to be okay with the fact that you are taking on more work and potentially more risk for a spread of 12 percent. Just my opinion.

Good news. Upon further inspection, the "knob and tube" I found is some weird old school 12 volt conversion that powers lights in the family room. The house is otherwise two wire romex. I put a tester on the plugs and found that the kitchen and bath plugs are grounded even though they only have two prong plugs. They must have grounded the metal boxes. One of the plugs in the mater bath had a sticker on it saying "GFCI" so there may be GFCI breakers, although I wasn't able to determine that by looking at the breakers. Anyway, shouldn't be any problems with the electric. It does not bother me to not have the dedicated ground.

Thanks for your replies. FWIW, The reason I would have demoed the sheetrock is because the extra cost to pay an electrician the time it takes to fish the wires around existing sheetrock is about how much it costs to just replace it since sheetrock guys are so much cheaper and since sheetrockers would have to come out to repair all the holes left behind anyway. I am not talented at drywall and would hire it out.

Subract what you would have earned by leaving it in the fund.

I am looking at a house that has knob and tube wiring. To replace the wiring it is much cheaper if I demo the sheetrock myself. When you demo sheetrock, do you try to save baseboard, window and door trim, or do you just replace.

Diversification is the only "proof". And even then, it is only "resistant" and not "proof".

I was having a conversation with my dad about inflation, which can be similar in effect to recession, and came to the conclusion that I just don't have enough assets to protect myself against it. Not yet, at least.

There is a time for concentration and a time for diversification. It is really quite silly for someone with limited funds and assets to go out and buy gold, land, water, etc. Until you have some significant wealth, you just hinder your progress by making such investments in most cases.

If I split my extra money off into all the different places my dad does, I'd never live long enough to see any significant gain in any one of the investments. Now, if I play my cards right and work hard and have some preparedness to meet opportunity, then maybe I will be able to "talk" about the luxury of diversification.

Having a marketable education and/or skillset can go a long way to keep you afloat in good and bad times.

I do it.

I did some project work for my employer that will help to free up time during the weekday for RE research. I also spoke with a RE contact that I had met at a local BP meeting for more than an hour.

They won't even remember in 6 months. 30 days notice should be sufficient.