All Forum Posts by: Jason Barnett

Today I finally hit the quarter century mark (25). Did anyone here do anything special for their 25th birthday?

dfw, I read your post. Great tips! Thanks for your input, I will start marketing to these folks and see what I can drum up. And of course I am willing to respond here again once I know what my response rate is...

WWII the US had "concentration camps" for Japanese Americans. I am too young to have witnessed it, but I read history. Go google "Japanese Americans WWII San Francisco".

All this was less than 100 years ago... many people from that generation are in power in the government today. Food for thought.

The most that you can buy through FHA is a 4 unit building. The key thing to remember is that lenders will compare debt to income along with credit score. Lenders should give you credit for 75% of your rental income so you will want your monthly PITI for an investment to be 75% of gross rent (or less).

I found myself nodding my head for all of these items... until I saw Cell Phone on the list. I am totally with you on the fancy ring tones and all of that CRAP, but I think a cell phone is needed in order to manage properties. So much of real estate is communication and being available to talk to someone immediately can be the difference between landing a tenant / buyer or not.

John, I am a landlord in the Dayton, OH area. Read through some of my other forum messages and PM me if you think you would like me to bird dog some deals for you.

Well, here are some ideas to get you thinking:

- Buy a multi unit and rent it out. If you go this route then try to get 5+ units because you will be able to spread out your management costs. Long term cash flow here.

- Buy a single family home and sell it on a "lease option" or "rent to own" contract. This will give you a little cash up front from the option payment as well as monthly income and a big payday 2-3 years from now.

- Flip a single family house with NO MAJOR REPAIRS. It's short term deal, but these can net you some quick cash.

- Commercial properties. These tend to provide better cash flow than residential properties.

- Rehabs. These are probably not a good idea for someone just starting out since it requires you to accurately estimate the cost of repairing a building. That said, these deals can provide good returns.

More than anything you just need to have an eye for value and be able to interperet the numbers. With $85K you can do any of the types of deals that I mentioned above, but you would probably be best off trying to flip a house for your first time out.

I don't think you're getting the answer you need because we don't have a lot of people here that know MI laws. Here is something that I found on the web, but I don't have any idea how accurate it is.

Foreclosure rules vary from state to state and I don't think anyone wants to give you bad information. Some states require you to pay back any remaining balance owed after a house has been foreclosed ("Deficiency Judgment"), but I have no idea if that is going to happen to you.

What does "CFD" stand for? Can you explain it?

Another member of the Ohio gang. Welcome!