All Forum Posts by: James De Stefano

Any updates for the Seattle area?  My sister is planning to move out there close to Thanksgiving.  Will be interesting  w/ election + inventory levels.

^^^  THIS.    

OP,  you sound like you've done a lot of thinking and you're on the right path to challenge yourself.

Just know, the benefits and salary given by a "boring" job ,  allow for your thoughts to start running about what else can I do?   You  will need to be able to push through the multiple barriers, like getting NO's regularly,  having clients make insane decisions, dealing with poor quality RE agents on the other side of the transactions,  possible legal battles,  sleepless nights, etc. 

 But R.E.  will always be in my life , 5 , 10 , 20+ years into the future because it's such an incredibly flexible segment.   There are many paths to success, either investing, representing, or just helping to educate friends and family to benefit their future. 

OP, I also recommend watching at least 10 Y Tube videos on RE agents who made it through their 1st year.  Get a good sample size. 

Best of luck!

My sister is currently in San Fran and they will be moving near Bellevue or Everett.   From an outside view, I'm seeing the same high demand as many parts of the country, any Turn Key ready property with good photos,  seems to be getting multi-offers. 

The politics does seem worrisome, but honestly things are always more dramatic on CNN, Fox, etc.  So as long as there is demand to live there,  I would feel positive about getting some RE, especially a good sized lot of land for the future. 

Helpful thread.  I live near a flood plain in Houston and several homes have french drains.  I did some basic excavating to get water away from our back patio, worked pretty well.  

Dry creeks and water-retention/rain gardens are unique and add some beauty as well

This is such a strange moment in history.  Surely, at SOME point, the musical chairs game will stop.  Maybe it's early 2021,  when forbearance hits hard, or jobs never comeback.  But you have to think the $hit will hit the fan eventually.   

There's still a lot of Americans with solid jobs, working from home, and many of them owner their homes.   RE will be just fine long term, but I wold think luxury will be hurting badly over the next 1 to 4 years.   

Or this is the Matrix and nothing is as it seems... actually that's probably it.

As several ppl have mentioned, full cash deals are totally different, and they BETTER cash flow like crazy since you are putting 1/2 a Million dollars into something, and getting $1,000 profit a month?   No thanks....

1% rule is very challenging with MLS deals, but creativity can go a longggg way is what i've learned the past few years.

Great point.  Real Estate is hyper-local, and it sounds like parts of Tenn. have the same stigma as Houston.  

Houston gets a crap-ton of rain.  It's in the Coastal Plains and has the threat of Hurricane's during the busy season.  But the Fall/ Winter months are incredible, and as long as you pay the $400-600 a year for Flood Insurance, much of the stress is alleviated. 

I'm not able to help with this, but since this is your 5th property, you should have a CPA and I would direct it to him/her. 

And i'm impressed if you bought a new construction AND it will cash flow! I've never seen those number, I must be missing the magic. 

Solid thread, and I'll agree with many posts that there will be some MILD changes, but it's not the time to panic and sell. Especially 3Bed 2 Bath affordable SFH. that demand will ALWAYS be there.

I love the quote I heard a few years ago:

"Presidents always get too much blame when things are bad, and get too much credit during prosperous times"

From a public school teacher's POV:

1.  The mentions of education being key are accurate, but with an emphasis on how budgeting, finance, compound interest, etc.  works.   I taught Math for years, and did a 2 days lesson at the end of the year about $ and how credit cards work ( to 7th graders)   Some tuned out, but most stayed focused, and that's RARE during May w/ students!

2.  Maybe it's just Houston, because we are so diverse,  money talks more than skin color.  Lenders, contracts, tenant - it's not a big deal if you can PROVE you have income and past performance to prove you're good for it.  I'm sure much of he country is more polarized.