All Forum Posts by: JD Martin

Tennessee definitely landlord friendly. If you have the tenant waive their right to the whole legislative eviction process, which you can legally do, you can put them out real fast after the legal grace period (5 business days). This is  different in certain counties and cities like Memphis and Nashville, which are covered by a different set of laws.

If they have signed a lease, I fail to see how you can go wrong. Having someone in the house doesn't prevent you from selling it, it just means the new owner will have to honor the lease and you would have to give them whatever payments remained. Imagine not having to collect payments for a year. And if you have a good lease, you can evict for other reasons besides payment - you would just have to give the remainder back.

BTW, this is not uncommon in some areas - student tenants, for example, or military members. I have a unit right now rented until the summer to 2 college students, where the parents are cosigners, that the parents paid for the entire semester.

My preference is steel tub with a tile surround. If you go with a darker grout it lasts near forever, where you only have to redo the caulk every once in a while. And the tub can be resprayed if need be. The acrylic or fiberglass eventually develops hairline cracks. 

Added bonus: tile over a tub looks far more elegant and expensive than the acrylic rub and surrounds.

Better you than me, brother. Sad as it is, Africa is and has been a basket case forever. The idea of property rights is vague at best on most of the continent, which is why there has been such a dearth of investment. There's still so many vestiges of the colonial set up in place, where you have arbitrary countries drawn on maps that split historical tribes into pieces. The entire continent needs a referendum to create new countries, which will never happen because of control of natural resources.

 Uh, what? If you try to check out anything from his web site you are brought to a page where you can either pay by debit card, bank draft, or pay pal, which allows you to use a credit card. 

I agree with @Marcia Maynard wholeheartedly. If you run slums, you shouldn't be surprised that you have an inordinate amount of problem tenants. Some people consider that their business model, wherein they get to maximize profits at the expense of an easy life. I prefer an easy life, such as it can be, and thus prefer easy tenants. So I make the conditions possible to attract such. 

And, as noted above, tenants pay rent with income, not savings. In my experience, people fear being homeless nearly above all else, and if it's a choice between stiffing the credit card company or the landlord and getting a pay or quit, it's going to be the CC, basic hierarchy being food>housing>utilities>vehicle>niceties>other obligations. 

 You may not mean it this way, but your posts are insulting. You have no more information than anyone else, and everything you have posted is anecdotal examples at best. Speaking to people is not evidence, and your opinion that you are looking at the big picture while the rest of us play with our potatoes is demeaning. State your opinions and disagree if you must but leave the factual claims aside. You know nothing of markets beyond your own and cannot possibly prove your claims in any case. 

My take:

1. The federal reserve cannot contract the money supply because housing is a massive share of the economy anymore, along with all the support services that go along with it. The idea that rates are going to rise to some massive level calls for a lot of speculation.

2. Most renters cannot qualify to buy a house, which is why they are renters. This changes at higher priced housing, but most MFH is going to rent on the low end to people who have to rent. 

3. Real estate is local. What may be true but n your market means little in other markets.

Edit: Yup, Dave takes credit cards. Shouldn't he limit purchases to debit cards? I kid on Ramsey, as there are a lot of people that are totally out of control and can use his "folksy" wisdom, but at the same time he makes a killing selling a "system" that isn't really his but is mostly just common sense.

Sigh..I hate to always be the guy taking a dump in the punch bowl. I wonder if Dave Ramsey takes credit cards for all the stuff he sells? I'm guessing yes. I never get the DR mantra of "OK to have a mortgage but nothing else" since I figure that precludes investment property. If anything, one should live as close as for free in the primary home and spend funds on performing assets. Personally, I have found that if you try to always direct money towards more money, its hard to go wrong.