All Forum Posts by: Jason Barnett

Great point. I actually set up a GMail account that is *strictly* for storing my e-faxes that I receive and it forwards faxes to my regular email account. This way I can receive a fax in my "regular" inbox and delete it when I don't need it any more. Yet this setup allows me to store my faxes forever if I want to because there is always a copy at my "fax" GMail account. This would be useful for contract disputes because I always like to have copies stored off-site... just in case.

Thanks for the suggestions! This has been quite a hot topic and I'm glad to have gotten so much feedback on which services work well and which ones don't.

Looking over the options I think that MaxEmail looks like a good choice for me so I'll have to look at it more closely.

A lot of landlords in my area have either kept rent the same or they will raise it by $5 / year. That equates to less than 1% inflation and most tenants don't complain.

thelandlady: what I try to do is tell my tenants up front about rental increases. I also tell them that if they will sign a long term lease with me (2+ years) then I am willing to let them lock in their rental rate. This is a win-win situation because I don't have to worry about vacancy for a long time.

People aren't cold here... I think you'll find that you get more responses when people check to the website on "business days" instead of Saturdays. Such as this one. :lol:

I don't live in Idaho, I don't know anyone in Idaho, unless of course you would like to give me a call. :D In any case welcome to our community and hopefully this forum will give you a chance to share your knowledge while also driving more business to your brokerage.

Simplest definition: cap rates tell you how much INCOME you'll EARN for the PRICE that the seller wants. These often will vary from neighborhood to neighborhood so it is important to know the different rates even within the same city.

All that being said... a 6% rate is significantly different from a 12% rate. Are you comparing war zones with suburbs? If not then your 6% building is simply overpriced and/or the 12% building is underpriced.

The rule of thumb that I use for cap rates is that I want higher than the mortgage rate I pay for the building. Then if my rents increase that is just extra gravy for my bank account.

Hello Jeff and welcome to the site. I see that you are new to the site, but not to real estate investing. That's great! I hope that our site will help you to become even more successful.

Back when I was in undergrad I worked for a Domino's pizza. Obviously the owner saw that I didn't want to be a delivery driver for the rest of my life and so from time to time we talked about money / the business of pizza. During one of these conversations he told me that he had gotten started by reading "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" and he encouraged me to do the same. I read the book (cover to cover) and indeed it was very inspirational and convinced me to jump in to the real estate game.

I think the book is great for inspiring people and helping to change your mindset. Loved his explanation of what an asset is. Also, he says that you are only wealthy when you can live without having to work another day in your life (and he explains the difference between various types of income). All in all a great first book for real estate investors.

Unfortunately the book lacks quite a few details that you need to actually DO real estate investing... but it is very inspirational all the same.

Almost all houses have SOME mold. Especially if it has been sitting vacant. The things that matter to me are:

1. What kind(s) of mold do you have?
2. How much of each mold do you have?
3. What was the source of the water problem?
4. Is the water problem fixed / how costly will it be to repair?

Mold only grows with food (wood, etc.) and standing water. So find out if the problem was caused by a roof leak, or a pipe burst, or a cracked foundation, or...

Also if there is black mold (Strachybotrys) then I would pass NO MATTER HOW MUCH black mold there is. Based on the health reports that I have read I won't touch the stuff (the risk is more than I want to take). Maybe other people will clean up black mold, but I would prefer not to mess with it.

We're trying to help you... really we are.

What do you want to do? Do you want to rehab houses? Become a landlord / property manager? Do you want to be a bird dog? A realtor? A note buyer / trader? A property appraiser? Title research? A mortgage broker? There are a lot of ways that you can get involved in real estate. Think about what you want to do... but a lot of people start out becoming a bird dog (AKA "wholesaling" properties).

Let us know where you want to go and someone will probably help you get there.

Welcome to our community. Where do you invest? What is going on in thereal estate markets in Israel?