All Forum Posts by: Mike McKinzie

Wow, a lot to read here, and I haven't gotten to all of it yet. I had better keep it brief. I am a Christian but have changed many of my beliefs as I have grown. (I was raised that With all due respect to Rich, my two biggest "rip offs", "cons" and outright liars were Mormons. They remind me of the Denzel Washington character in the movie "American Gangster", who attended church every Sunday. I know not all Mormons are like this, it is just my personal experience, which is that Mormon's love money.

My father, who is actually a licensed minister and devout Christian said the three WORST clients were Preachers, Teachers and Lawyers. And if anyone said, "I hear you are a Christian, so am I, let's do business", he would say NO THANKS! The Bible states that a workman is worthy of his wages and any Christian who tries to rip off their customers is a sinner and any Christian Customer who tries to take advantage of a business owner is a sinner.

"Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1

Since it is not seen, it has to be an internal issue for each individual. Each person has to come to their own conclusion regarding the Spiritual aspect of life, even if that conclusion is that there is no Spiritual aspect.

Over the centuries, a few people have used the facade of religion to gratify their greed for wealth, power and control. It is my belief that God will sort that out. But the vast majority of people practice their religion within the confines of their own mind with their outward actions being the evidence of their inward faith.

Here is another, similar question. Where do morals come from? Who is to decide what is moral and what is immoral? For instance, today's debate is whether Health Care is a moral right or a pay for service. Who is to decide? A question with no definite answer, just like the original question of this thread.

Yes Rich, I got your PM.

The current layout is for a Head Start Preschool. Before that, my father and I ran a 40 Agent Century 21 Real Estate Company, Escrow Company and Construction Company in the building. When my father purchased it, the upstairs tenant was "Equifax."

It is a two story building, 4,000+ down and 4,000+ up. Stairs in front on the outside, stairs in back on the inside, next to the elevator. The building can be configured any way that a tenant or buyer would like. It would not be a good retail spot, but it is an excellent office spot. Next door is a Goodyear Tire Store and next to that is a Marie Callendar's Restaurant. On the other side is a Preschool and then a Veternarian. Across the street is a shopping center anchored by Food For Less and includes about 15 different stores. The nearest cross street is 17th street, this building is on Grand Avenue, about 300 yards north of 17th. We were getting $7,500 a month for it from Head Start, for the entire building. They were there for 13 years. I told dad, back then, he was way undercharging, but he wanted to help Head Start.

Rich, you were right, about 30 of the 40 were "seat warmers", 95% of our sales were done by 10 agents. I will NEVER run a Real Estate Company again.

Sorry, didn't know how much I could put in here. We were under contract to sell it for $1,085,000 but the buyer could not get financing. Any offer over $0.90 per square foot, per month, will be seriously considered for lease. Single, double or triple net is negotiable. It does have an elevator.

The property is currently vacant.

Our family trust has a two story office building for sale or lease in Orange County, California. It is in Santa Ana, very close to the border of Orange and Tustin. It is on Grand Avenue. We had our Real Estate Company in there for many years and the last tenant was a Head Start ESL school. It is listed but we are trying to get as much exposure as possible. Very high traffic area. If interested, make me a colleague and PM me.

If stealing fixtures is your worst problem, consider yourself lucky. I have heard of folks losing their home ordering a concrete truck to their house, putting the concrete chute through the front door and pouring the entire truck load into the house. Or leaving dead animals in the basement. Or painting graffiti in a black paint that takes 10 coats to cover. People can get really upset at losing their house.

J Scott, It is too bad that you think a majority of religious people are whacked. But I guess it depends on how you define "religious" and "whacked." Most of the religious people I know go to church on Sunday (or) Saturday, go to work Monday through Friday, raise their family as best as they know how, and don't make much noise in society. Therefore, you do not read about them in the NY or LA Times, or see them on CNN or MSNBC, or read about them in Time Magazine.

If someone believes that they will make it to heaven by doing good deeds, you might call them "whacked" but I don't. If someone believes the Bible with their whole heart, you might call them whacked, but I don't. If someone believes that the entire universe just "appeared out of no where", I might call them whacked and you may not.

You see J, you think you are right, so much so that you have to become emotional in responding. You can ask anyone that knows me in real life and they will tell you that I am the most unemotional person they know, that I strife to make things as 'black and white' as I can, I don't like gray areas. In doing so, I can be wrong in discounting emotions, but I find emotions distort the ability to see reality.

You bet I am defensive, especially when I am RIGHT. The TRUTH must be defended. :lol:

When I state "my understanding is" and you retort with "I have to assume", who is the fool? In my life, I find I get into a lot of trouble when I start ASSUMING things. You may assume that I am all angry and red-faced when answering you when in reality, I am laughing my head off while watching a comedy on TV and just typing during the commercials. These boards are NOTHING more than a place to either write one's opinions, ask a question or respond to another poster. THERE IS NO FEELING ON AN INTERNET FORUM! Even if I type in all caps, there is still no feeling. All feeling is assumed by the reader and is usually 99% of the time wrong. If people do have feelings while typing on an internet forum, then they need some serious counseling. I don't know a single person on this board from Adam, so why should I waste my feelings on them?

As for your "religious people and liberals" are a lot alike, I have to disagree. Religious people have done very bad things in the name of their god, absolutely. But let's be honest, a very high majority of religious people do not go around killing other people. Should we judge the entire Muslim faith on a few whack jobs? Should we judge all Christianity on a few abortion clinic bombers? Should we judge all Mormons on a few debased pedophiles? Of course not. Look around the United States and see who has opened the most Hospitals, Universities, Soup Kitchens, etc... That's right, religious based groups. St. Judes Children's Hospital for Children with Cancer, the name says it all. It is up to you if you want to look at the good or the bad.

But a majority of liberals are whacked. They want to kill an innocent baby but let a murderer walk, all in the name of choice (the choice happened when conception took place). They want a free lunch. They want to punish rich people. They want free health care. They want, they want, they want. Conservatives want just one thing, TO BE LEFT ALONE.

Again, none of this is typed with any feeling, it is JUST MY OPINION!

Having been a Realtor and been involved with over 5,000 closings, I can tell you that there is a lot more to this than your original question. If it is a short sale, how many short sales are on the market? Maybe the Realtor would prefer to wait for it to become an REO. Also, the potential for litigation over a "double escrow" is very high. Market conditions are everything. I have walked away from many, many potential listings when they were unrealistic.

Where do you buy a house for 24K and rent it for $900 a month? Even at 30K? I just bought a house in Texas for $142,000 and get $1,275 a month rent. Earlier, I bought one for 103K and get 1,050 a month rent. I refuse to buy a house for 20, 30 or 40K where I have to carry self defense to collect rent. Personally, I prefer to buy houses that I have NEVER have to see, NEVER have to talk to a tenant and NEVER have to make a repair.

Other investors like to "get their hands dirty", making repairs, buying cheap and dealing with tenants. There are many ways to make money in rentals, but NONE of it is easy.

It appears J Scott missed that day of English 101. When I state "MY UNDERSTANDING", it means that from everything taught to me, heard by me and read by me, this is THE UNDERSTANDING THAT I CAME TO. Obviously, I have not been taught everything, told everything or read everything. Everyone else had their understanding just as well. I did not state mine was unarguable or undeniable, I JUST SAID IT IS MY UNDERSTANDING.

My statement is NOT ambiguous at all, it is VERY CLEAR. I did not state "The American Ideal is...", I stated "My understanding of the American Ideal is..."

J Scott, you stated "I have to assume.." WHY do you have to assume? Why can't you just read it and say "Now I know what Mike M's understanding is" and respect it, even if you don't agree? My understanding is EXACTLY a personal held belief. Last time I checked, it was a good thing to have personally held belief!

Oh, by the way, "feeling" is an emotion, not a belief. Someone may say "I feel he is guilty" but what they really mean is "I believe he is guilty." I feel love for my wife and children, hatred for liars and thieves, joy for Christmas, etc.....