All Forum Posts by: John Matthews

@Jeremy Tillotson Thanks for the response. I agree completely.

That said, I'm struggling with this dilemma:

I could give $50 this year, but if I do that, I can only give $50 next year, where as if I put the $50 into the business, maybe I could give $150 next year. So I decide to forego giving this year so I can give $150 next year. Next year comes and I'm in the same situation: $150 this year and only $150 the following year, or give nothing this year, and give $450 the following year...repeat. Obviously the numbers are made up, but the philosophy is the same. When do I decide to give what percentage. I'd like to have a philanthropic plan (as well as a business plan) but I haven't decided on the best strategy that balances the two.

Thinking about it, if my goal is to maximize my philanthropy over my lifetime, I could write a matlab program to determine the best rate - but my gut tells me it looks like this: don't donate  a thing until the very last year, then donate EVERYTHING - but is that so bad?

Awesome, I had considered electric baseboard, but didn't think about a ductless head pumps - good call. I wonder how easy it would be to route the refrigerant from the outdoor unit to the indoor unit(s) though.

Similarly, @Aaron Montague and @Roy N. do you really think it'd be that cheap to separate the hot water heat for each unit? The hot water heaters is one thing, but I can't imagine it's too easy to split the plumbing...but I guess it is. 

Either way, the whole thing is moot since the house that I'm talking about has potentially expensive foundation issues so if the seller can't decrease the price I'm going to have to back out.

Thanks for the advice!

So I met with the engineer today, he wasn't as concerned with that crack (as the house is probably 100+ years old) as he was with the back corner of the house sinking a bit. He basically said without taking a backhoe to the under the footing of the house in that area, it could be a "simple" 5k solution, or as expensive as 20+...so unless the seller can come down 15 or so (unlikely) I'm onto the next one.

@Nancy L. agreed! I spent a few bucks on appraisal / inspection / engineer for this one, but I learned a lot. Honestly, I'd like to become proficient with foundation issues / mold remediation since most people seem to be afraid of these problems, long term I think it'll give me a leg up - but probably not for my first deal, as you said!

Thanks for the advice everyone.

I was having this conversation with my fiancee last night. We've both grown up of the mindset that it's important to help others, whether through financial means / volunteering time / etc. That said, I am significantly more business minded than she, and one of the concepts that was under fire last night, was the idea that you need money to make money, so in the beginning you need to put all of your money into your business, but her concern is many "rich" people never flip the switch and talk the talk, they're always concerned about building their estate larger and larger.

So I understand this is a very personal question, but I wanted to get some thoughts as far as how most of you reconcile the two. For example, do you plan to donate some fixed percentage of your assets / income every year? Did you do this from day one, or did you start after you were making some amount of income? Do you volunteer some fixed percentage of your free time? Do you give back in some other way that you're now free to do with the added financial freedom you've earned?

Ok, so any suggestions on how best to solve these issues:

This property is a triplex (maybe quad with an efficiency), converted from a SFR, so it's got one hot water heater for the whole building, and one temperature control (hot water / steam radiant heating) for the whole building located in the second unit.

I'm thinking the cheapest way to provide enough hot water to the whole building is to replace the hot water heater with a 200 first hour rating hot water heater so I don't have to mess with the plumbing too much.

For the heat, I don't know if it's easy enough to separate the heat out to each unit, if not, my thought was to just leave the temp at say 62, and not give them access to the temp control, and let them get space heaters to make up the difference. The other thought is I could give them all control of the thermostat, leave it in the common area, and let them all collectively set the temp, but that seems like a recipe for war. A third thought is to just put in electric baseboard heaters in each unit, and either let it work in tandem with the existing radiant heating, or just shut that off entirely.

Anyone have any suggestions?

@Kenneth Bradford I had the same question as well. Basically what I understand is that the assessed value (for tax purposes) is 100% unrelated to the actual FMV of the property. Maybe someone else can chime in on the why and how of it, but I wouldn't worry about that number at all for any reason other than to determine what you'll be paying in taxes.

Welcome @Vallory Clardy . Best of luck in the beginnings of your REI journey!

@Christopher Noto Welcome. Why wait so long to buy your first property? (Says the guy who still doesn't have one yet...)

Let me know if you need any help with anything from the philly area.

@Kimberly T. Interesting. That makes perfect sense, but I hadn't thought about it that way.

I will post back the results, hopefully Monday.

@Kimberly T. It's a concrete retaining wall - there is soil about half way up the other side and there's two stories above it.

Thanks for all the responses - I'm scheduled to have an engineer come out to look at the place on Saturday, so we'll see what they say.