All Forum Posts by: Ken M.

He's talking about EBT (free food for poor people. With EBT they can buy pop, skittles, beer, whatever, with their EBT card - it once was called Food Stamps). With Food Stamps you could not buy junk food and beer.

Before that, poor people could visit a state run facility where they could pick up cheese,  milk, eggs, flour, bread, meat, peanut butter, potatoes, fruit, 

produce etc that the government bought as excess products. This was done to stabilize prices. To keep food prices high for the producers, so they would be consistent in their production. The government gave that actual food away to poor people.

At the time, if too much meat was on the market, farmers would shoot a portion of their cows and bury them to limit supply to keep prices high. Seemed good at the time to just buy up the excess and give it to poor people. 


Now, 

I drive by a "drive in" (think "Fast Food") restaurant that has a "Hiring" sign in one window and an "EBT accepted here" next to it.

If you don't get the irony right away, you've been brain washed. 

What it should say:

"Jobs Available"
"Work First",
"Get Paid",
"Then Eat"

Man needs to work. It's built into us. And it keeps us out of trouble. (Usually) :-)

I made a big mistake when I was first starting out and it bit me badly. Now, I'm sure no other investor has even been sued (smile) but I didn't think it would happen to me. 

I bought a property, it was a "distressed" property actually and I followed the "rules" or so I thought. I made the payments on time, I paid the taxes & bills on time, I even recorded the deed properly. I claimed the tax exemptions on my taxes and changed the insurance  properly. 

I saved $25,000 not using a realtor. The property wasn't on the MLS and no realtor would work with me. They didn't understand the offer. (I never have used a realtor to buy an investment property, because realtors don't generally understand "off market" properties.)

But, 6 years later on, yes it was six, 6, six, let me be clear, 6 years later, I got a notice of lawsuit in the mail. I thought it must be a mistake, or  just your everyday nightmare. Well, the court wanted proof. Wanted proof I didn't "take advantage" of the seller. What?? How do you prove that?? 

The lawsuit took years and ended up costing $125,000. 

Instead of $15,000 for a mentor, money I thought I didn't need to spend. But, I really should have hired the mentor. Hind sight is 20/20.

Now, THAT lawsuit was disruptive. All because I thought I knew one thing, which it turns out, I misinterpreted. I wound up in court and any decent mentor already knew, and kept me from that one ridiculous mistake. There are a lot of ridiculous mistakes in real estate.

So, my attorney got me started, I educated him and I won the lawsuit. But it cost me, when it didn't need to.

So buyer beware, or get a decent mentor. Let's talk.

Your comment "in my state." 

Well, are you in Alaska or Hawaii? 

We don't have a clue how to advise you until you state your state. :-) 

Starting local, where you can drive to the property and return in the same day, is the best when you are first starting out. 

I don't buy multis but I've been to a few courses. Seems, "light" roof inspection, sewer inspection, parking verification and zoning confirmation are all what I would do before making an offer. If they wouldn't allow that, then they are hiding something. Then occupancy and expenses. But, hey, what do I know. 

Thanks for the story. It didn't cost me anything. ;-)

Quote from @Michael Carbonare:

𝐓𝐡𝐞 $𝟏𝟏𝟐,𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: 𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐒𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐀𝐟𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐚 𝐇𝐨𝐦𝐞?

In 2015, you needed about $55K a year to afford a home. Today? $112K.
That’s double in less than a decade while median incomes barely moved.

This isn’t a “high mortgage rate” problem. According to recent Fannie Mae calculations,
it will take one of three things, or a combination of them to get back to affordable housing in America:
Housing prices would need to drop 38%
Median household income would need to rise 60%
Mortgage rates would need to fall to 2.35%

This widening gap is why creative investing strategies are becoming more important than ever. They allow everyday people to participate in real estate without needing six-figure incomes or perfect timing.

The data tells the story. The opportunity lies in how we respond to it.

Your Question "Is There A Solution To Housing Unaffordability?"

No, actually, it's a spiritual problem and can't be solved with natural means. I spent 5 years tutoring in a poor black government housing project. As you can see, the closest I am to being black is several generations ago, if at all. Now, mind you, there are more poor whites than poor blacks. My native Irish come to mind. But, this poor neighborhood happened to be black. 

Some people have chosen to follow bad advice and bad attitudes and bad habits. I was there in the community to help, elementary kids in this case, who always seemed to love me, but I was not welcome by a lot of adults, because I'm "white", actually I'm flesh, but that's a different story. . Poverty is taught, and poor adults know very well how to teach living off of the system.

As an example, I know someone who was often in trouble with the law. He was young, in good health and for years he lived off of social security services "disability" payments. When Reagan cut the program for some people, he was kicked off the "system", got a job and has worked ever since, gainfully employed, paying taxes, now in retirement collecting Social Security from a system he actually paid in to.

There was no physical reason he was collecting social security services "disability" payments, it was a spiritual problem. But it had to be treated with a physical solution, being forced to work or starve. Being hungry focuses the mind. 

When people are raised with a poverty mindset, giving them things and coddling them makes it worse, not better. For most people (not all) but for most, subsidized housing is a big mistake.

Nashville has always been regarded as the country's music capital, but in recent years, it has become a major metropolitan hub with many flocking to the Southern city.

Developers rushed to meet the demands, and luxury buildings rose in residential areas outside of downtown Nashville.

However, many of those units are now sitting empty, and housing managers are offering incentives to lure renters.

Tennessee-based realtor with Compass, Sam Gray, told Daily Mail that vacancy rates in Nashville have risen to around 10.6 percent, which is the highest they've been in over a decade.

Gray noted that even though rent growth has cooled, the market has yet to collapse. 'What we are currently observing in Nashville is not a rental collapse; rather, it is a market reset,' he explained.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/real-estate/article-15178363/nas...