All Forum Posts by: Cameron Skinner

@Dan Perrott good point, providing a good product and good service does not mean letting a tenant walk all over you or take advantage of you.  Reminds me of a business professor I had that said the saying the customer is always right is a stupid saying.  Some times a customer is wrong, and those kind of customers you want to gladly give to your competition. 

Colonel Sanders was well over 60 when he made it big with Kentucky Fried Chicken. Before that, he simply sold chicken and other food at a service station in Corbin, Kentucky.

@Roderick Carabott thanks for your comment, I will defiantly read the book you suggested. And I think you make a great point as I have always looked as my business as a separate entity used to fund my bigger purpose. But you are what you do. This is tough area of discussion because if you run your REI as a charity you will soon fail and can't help anyone, and if you only do it only for the money you will tire and lose your motivation and also fail. Trying to find balance between the two is easy to talk about but hard to do.

@Nicholas Armstrong thanks for kind words. You should read "thou shall prosper" or get it on audio book.  It talks about how the creation of wealth is a noble pursuit, if for no other reason you and your family will never have any need for charity, and gives you the resources to help others, I attached a picture me and my daughter in a free Christian Preschool that also provides two heathy meals in the slums in Mumbai India we helped start and fund.  Message me when you find your first property or need any help, I'm confident you can meet my challenge off having it before June of next year.  Good Luck!

@Nicholas Armstrong thanks for the nice comment, I see you are still young, close your first property by June of next year.  Those most successful in real estate realize it's a long game and the earlier you start the quicker you will pay down any mortgage and the further it will appreciate and value.  Good luck!

When I'm selling homes I sometimes give them a credit to keep prices up if I'm building other homes in the community.  Realtors will sometimes encourage this to get more commission since thier commission is based on % of sales price. I always put closing cost to be calculated on net sales price. As a buyer this is minor but as seller your cost could be as high as 7 or 8% due to sales commission and title insurance and doc stamps are all calculated on % of sales price. In your example your seller may be paying as much as $1,200 to structure this way.

@AUDREY DESOUZA just put a @ symbol in front of their name, and by the way this is a nice problem to have!  But the good news is capital gains is usally only 15% as long as your not in the highest tax bracket usally about 450k.  Note that 1031s are expensive usally 800-1500 but they will add another 200 or 300 for each additional replacement property.  Also remember you are not avoiding tax only deferring it, unless you die then your kids get stepped up bases and tax disappears, but by then you won't care because your dead! Hope this helps Good Luck!

@Ernie Neve I'm a recovering Tax Accountant.  I tell people the only thing worst than Cost Accounting in College was actually working as an Accountant.   Glad to have you I hover around the legal and tax forums and we can use all the help we can get. 

@Bill Thompson thanks for the nice comment have a good Thanks Giving!

@Bill Gulley thanks for commenting, I think it's just one of those principals you have to learn for yourself, even Solomon the wisest man in history had to learn this one the hard way.