All Forum Posts by: Carlton Ellis

I agree with the points you made in regards to real estate being more stable in terms of pricing. But what you gain in price stability you lose in terms of liquidity. As many sellers are finding out in todays real estate market.

The reason you didn't get an answer to your question Micheal is probably due to the fact there is no one "right" way to acquire property. You can go the route of being a rehab property owner then fixing it up and then leasing it out. You can go the "turn-key" method of buying a property that already has a tenant and therefore is already providing rental income. And the financing options vary based on what you need, what kind of credit your have and how much of a down payment you are willing to invest. You have to make a decision which route is the right one for YOU based on your own skills, talents, abilities and financial circumstances.
Fortunately BiggerPockets is a great place to learn. I’ve found that I’ve gotten the best feedback from other members of this site when I’ve taken the time to research a particular subject and come to the forum and asked an “informed question†as opposed to asking a question that may have been answered in a previous thread in one of the forums or one that can be answered with just a little effort and time.

Just curious does "Driving For Dollars" in terms of looking in mobile home parks for homes for sale work?

Actually Rich, America is not running out of rich people. The rich are getting richer. Why? The rich are much more dependent on the rise of valuations of their investments. The middle class and poor depend on wages. The current economic system does NOT promote wage growth. The current middle class is saddled with debt in the form of college loans, home loans, car loans and credit card debt. Being in the middle class is the equivalent to be a worker bee for financial institutions. It's the middle class that we are running out of. If the current income disparities continue America will be more like Brazil or Argentina in the comming years.

I agree with your the rich cannot continue to be taxed excessively but in many cases the rich often have the resources to legally avoid paying many of the taxes that they have levied against them.

You ask a very intersting question. I happen to live in Lansing, Michigan which is literally a stone's throw away Michigan State University in East Lansing. I've talked to several property owners that basically service the student market. I can't really speak to the growth potential but the university has about 40,000 students. I know of some property owners that rent rooms to individual students or entiire houses to groups of students.

If I was doing your research I'd look for universities with large student populations i.e. over 15,000 and start from there. I'd also look for other factors like town or city the university is located in. Students will have to "compete" with other residents on larger towns and cities for housing. This will probably either stabilize or increase rents in a given area.

I got news for you. You can landscape, paint and add a room to your heart's content. If you can't find a buyer for your house and the overall market for housing is declining the market is still dictating to a great extent what your property is worth.

I"d have to fundamentally disagree with this statment. You CAN buy stocks at discount. The question is WHEN you buy the stock. In 2002 I was working for a telecom equipment company whose stock was about $1 a share. The share price had nothing to do with growth prospects or financial condition of the company and everything to do with the state of the economy and market sentiment. About a year and half later the same stock sold for $18. The same thing happened in the stock market from late 2008 until March 2009. The stock market decline based on negative economic conditions and market sentiment. Since then it's been the general market has been up about 60% and many stocks have done much better than that.
Changes in market conditions and the economic climate affect stock valuations just like real estate valuations. In my experience stocks tend to appreciate much faster and give you a bigger bang for the buck than real estate in terms of investment returns. The issue is the risk. Stocks can also decline faster than real estate. In order to be a good stock trader or investor you have to be very active and aware as to what is going on with the economy in general and in particular industries. With real estate the focus tends to in the general economic climate and regional market conditions which affect real estate.

I think real estate is the ideal investment vehicle for people who may be less risk adverse as opposed to stocks.

If you are a rehabber or simply an investor that is willing to buy and hold real estate until prices rebound then this is probably the best market for buying real estate I've seen in my lifetime.