All Forum Posts by: Justin Hughes

Kevin, you're not alone.

In West Los Angeles, you'd get an average 1 bedroom apartment, nothing fancy or near the beach. You could find apartments for cheaper, but then you're getting into some rough areas or it's a piece of junk.

Same story for downtown Seattle and the majority of the popular spots in the San Francisco Bay area, however I have less experience in those markets.

Awesome story, congrats!

Thanks for sharing

IMO touch-ups like you are talking about are worth it. It is crazy how much good molding/trim can improve the look and feel of a room.

Just be careful with that miter saw! And as a wise man once told me: measure twice, cut once.

Here is a link you may find helpful:
http://www.ehow.com/how_8098506_trim-molding-installation.html

Also, you can go the extra mile by adding corner pieces rather than just joining the two sides:
http://www.wishihadthat.com/crown-molding-corners.aspx

Hope that helps!

I'll second what Scott has said (with major emphasis on lawyer to review docs)

Also, when I saw "craigslist", I cringed a little... I'd say it's well worth the money to run background/criminal/credit checks. I'd hate to hear some "Nigerian prince" ran off with your money. I've heard some pretty bad stories like that before. But that's just the tip of the due diligence iceberg here...

We're all biased towards incredible stories.

We end up thinking that "high school drop-out turned millionaire" is much more common than it actually is, because we hear that story much more often than "high school drop-out turned out exactly as expected".

My rule of thumb: get the best education you can, unless a better opportunity presents itself. Even then, never stop learning!

Wow, good for her! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks guys, wonderful to hear that I'm in the right place.

Luis, I agree on the appreciation side of things. What a great bonus after you've seen some regular income from rents.

Bob, I'm also curious about that as well (assuming you're speaking of LTV). I generally avoid investing in deals with an LTV > 65%. Great question.

I'd love to hear people's thoughts on debt vs equity investing and what they prefer and why.

I personally like the safety of debt, since things tend to be more clearly defined, as opposed to off the cuff estimates on returns. Also, debt investing tends to be shorter term, which is great if you are working with a smaller pool of capital. I'm just turned off by the prospect of having the loan go into default and then moving forward with foreclosure... though, I hear some people get into debt deals hoping for that to happen.

Perhaps you can't really generalize, and must examine deal by deal...

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to give a quick "hello" and introduce myself to the community. I'm excited to connect with and learn from you all.

I've spent a lot of time speaking with intelligent and knowledgeable people as well as reading up a good deal on the subject, and I find interactions with people that have experience to be the best sources of information. That is what I love about a site like this, the opportunity to connect with smart individuals to grow my own investment IQ. For me, real estate investing represents a quicker path to retirement, so I want to learn as much as I can.

Looking forward to being a part of the group!

Thanks,

Justin Hughes