All Forum Posts by: Carlton Ellis

Let's play devils advocate here: What's in it for the banks? Simply put you've got to put a compelling financial package together than is beneficial in some way shape or form for the banks.

Can you take over the notes on these properties?

Can you buy the properties outright or do you have investors that can buy these properties?

If you have buyers or are buying these properties yourself how strong is financiing and how well capitalized are you in terms of swinging a deal.

Again the banks are going to want buyers or investors with enough capital to take over the notes or possibly refinance the properties. If you can't offer the banks that then having the properties under contract just doesn't give you much traction with the banks.

Originally posted by Kevin C.:

An ultralight notebook is far more useful than an iPad in my book. I'll take my X61 over an iPad any day.

iPad = no real keyboard, no usb ports, no multi-tasking, limited apps - how is that a game changer?

My girlfriend also has an X61 Lenovo tablet laptop. It has many of the same features as an iPad and a lot more computing power and functionality.

Again, neither the iPhone or IPad are astonishing technical products. Their success is has more to do with Apple's marketing skills than anything else.

Originally posted by Vincent Martinez:

I don't think it's a matter of specs. Take the iPhone for example; sure there are a handful of "iPhone killers" out there that are studs on paper, but end up being duds in real life. Being a game changer is much more than who has the bigger hard drive or who can tether the best, it also has to do with a products impact on its market and on its competitors.

@Releaf's link, you'll notice that the iPad is listed first and the rest of the products are questionable if they can compete with the iPad.

And I swear I'm not as big of an Apple fanboy as I sound on this thread, just playing the devil's advocate.

It's all about how Apple markets their products and the amount of software applications available for iPhones and iPads. From a purely technical standpoint there is nothing really earth shattering about either the iPhone or the iPad. What Apple has done better than other high tech companies is absolutely brillant marketing particularly to younger people and they got thousands of applications that really enhance the usefulness of the iPhone. Google with its Android operating system has just started being used in smartphones. The Android operating system is a very "open" operating system in terms of software development. I'm curious to see what kind of applications will be developed for Android phones.

Originally posted by Joshua Dorkin:

After talking with quite a few people and after reading some interesting reviews, it seems that the iPad could be a real game changer for the real estate business (and many others). With that in mind, I thought we could talk about some of the ways that you think the iPad could change your business or the real estate business in general.

Thoughts?

I've spent over 20 years in the high technology prior to my interest in real estate and investing and I still do occasional software devellopment work in a contract basis. The IPad in and of itself is NOT going to change the real estate business. Now if somebody comes up with a super useful application then there is the potential for a game changer. But there is nothing right now that an IPad can do that I can't do with my laptop and a my 3G mobile broadband card.

Originally posted by Joshua Dorkin:

One of our Bloggers, Justin Pierce, wrote a fantastic article that took an in depth look at all of the costs associated with a house flip.

This is a MUST read for any newbie rehabber/flipper:



Please leave your thoughts below the article, or here.

This is why I love Bigger Pockets! :D

You share great information from people who are actually working in real estate on a day to day basis. So many people focus on "The Deal" they forget to factor in things like closing cost and any attorney, inspection or other fees involved in buy or selling a piece of propoerty. The portion of the aritcle about buying additional insurance coverage I found especially useful. You usually don't think of something like that when considering a rehab property but the article shows why it should be strongly considered.

Originally posted by Curt Davis:

Judith,

You can not assign REO's. It just will not happen.

For REO's you need to show proof of fund either at the time of your initial offer or when except by the bank, also your Earnest money check will be needed at that time also.

Can we post this somewhere under REO 101? :D

Originally posted by J Scott:

Originally posted by Tim Wieneke:

I just don't see the problem with Arizona deciding this legislation for themselves any more than I have a problem with Illinois being able to put me in prison for what I legally am free to do in Indiana.

I don't carry my birth certificate with me when I travel, and when I travel within the U.S., I don't carry my passport.

If I were to be stopped in AZ, they could throw me in jail because I couldn't produce my birth certificate or passport.

That seems a bit unconstitutional to me...

What is interesting is that people don't see the parallel between the "Show me your papers" pratices by the Nazis and the passbook laws of aparthied South Africa. As Americans do we really want to live society were law enforcement officers have the perogative to stop you and ask you for identification because you "look" like an illegal alien? The law opens the door to discriminatory practices by the police.

Someone tell me what constitutes "looking" like an illegal alien without being discriminatory? I'm all for checking somebody's citizen status if they are attempt to use government funded health, education and social services and apprehended when committing a crime or in the act of illegallly crossing the border. I'm all for criminally prosecuting people who hire illegal aliens. But just stopping people on the street or pulling them over because they "look" like they might illegal is just blatantly wrong.

Again, this law is in response to an inadequate federal response to immigration enforcement. This is a longstanding problem that has to fixed AT THE FEDERAL LEVEL!

Originally posted by Don Hines:

Who is the evil ones here? Those who employ hispanics or those who use them for their political gains??
Don

Both!

Originally posted by Pam Hudson:

Looking forward to seeing if $750 / month can get any decent housing to rent in different parts of the country / world!

What can you rent for $750 in your city?

In Lansing, Michigan $750 will get you a very nice two bedroom apartment and depending on where you look a small two bedroom or three bedroom house as a rental property.

Originally posted by Bryan Alenky:

We all stress when we flip properties to buy as low as possible, do the work right, and then price 10% (or whatever your prefer) under the competition on the market. If investors continue to do this, we will be undercutting the market it seems, right?? We will be selling properties that are rehabbed and in better condition for much less money. What impact does this have on normal sellers who just need to sell? Will this not perpetuate the foreclosure crisis? Maybe I'm missing something, but I would love to hear different opinions.

The number of one thing that is currently keeping prices down is supply of the homes for sale versus the number of buyers in most markets around the country. Simply put if we see the number of buyers increase and the number of availble homes on the market decrease home prices will start to rise. I still don't think we'll see signficant increases in housing until uneimployment falls below 7%.