All Forum Posts by: Mindy Jensen
Mindy Jensen has started 475 posts and replied 6436 times.
Post: I am a tenant and lost my keys
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@Peter Cooke, the reason they are charging you to re-key and provide keys to all tenants is that they don't know where that key actually is.
Losing a key means it could be anywhere, and could end up in the hands of someone who uses it to gain access to the property, and then break into the units.
Management feels responsible for providing a safe environment, and therefore must change the outside locks and provide a key to each resident. Since you are the one who caused this to happen by losing your copy of the key, you are the one being asked to foot the bill.
Are you certain you cannot locate your key?
Post: Known Sex Offender Liability - Are Landlords Responsible?
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I've seen a couple of sex offender threads recently, and saw several people mention that a landlord can be responsible if they knowingly rent to someone and they re-offend.
Attorneys of BiggerPockets, is this true?
Post: Newbie, asking for advice
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Hi @Melinda Daye.
How to get your spouse on board is a tough one. You may not be able to get him totally onboard.
You don't share your rate of savings, your amount of savings, or what you want to increase to, so this is just general advice.
I think you should know these things before approaching him again. "I think we should save more" could sound like a veiled accusation that we (or specifically he) is spending too much.
"We're saving $300 a month. I'd like to bump that up to $1,000. I think we can do this easily be eating at restaurants 1 less time per week. Ideally, I'd like our savings account to have $50,000 in it by the end of the year."
This gives him something specific to respond to, rather than ideas and theories.
He's told you that he thinks you're doing great compared to others and that he feels like you're discrediting him. Make sure to address these arguments when you bring this up with him.
Another approach I've heard is to ask him what his ideal life looks like. Scott Reickens from the Playing with Fire movie asked his wife to list the Top 10 things that are most important to her. They lived by the beach - and paid a HEFTY premium to do so - but that didn't even make her top 10 list.
Regarding the "safe car" argument, I have a 2003 and a 2010 and drive my kids literally all over the country in them. They are safe. However, having an older car for everyday travels, and renting a car for a longer trip is still more cost-effective than buying a new car every 4-5 years. (We've done that, too.)
Post: At what point in time does a college education not make sense?
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Originally posted by @Andrey Y.:
Originally posted by @Shiloh Lundahl:
There is an economic term called diminishing marginal rate of return. Meaning for every one more unit sold the benefit becomes less and less. With the rise in college tuition costs and the strong emergence of availability of online education and trade schools, at what point does a college education stop making sense?
I went to college and I got my undergraduate degree in social work (although I started out in business). Then I went on to get a master's degree in social work. I believe my whole education cost about 40k (if you count up all of the associated costs relating to my degrees) and it took me 6 years. My first year out of college I made 40k which is high for a social worker, especially right out of school. After a few years I became a supervisor making 55k a year. A few years later I started and built a private therapy practice where my income is now well over 100k. So my return if it were calculated on a cash on cash basis would be 100% my first year and 250% now, however, I was making little to nothing during the 6 years while I was going to school. So if you divide it by the length of time it took me to get my education (I believe that would be the IRR) then after the first year my return over the 6 years would have been 17% per year. Of course with more time that rate goes up. Now my return from when I started college until now 17 years later (let's say for simplicity's sake that years 09 and 10 I made 40k, 11 and 12 I made 60k in years 13 - 19 I made 100k for a total of 900k over a 17 year period with an initial investment of 40k). So my new IRR would be 132% per year now. But what about the social workers who never go into private practice but work for local or state agencies and continue to help out the community but their income is averaged out at around 45k per year. Following the same scenario, their IRR would be 73% per year (45k x 11 / 17 / 40k x 100).
Now the expenses come into place such as student loans and interest on those loans along with debt accumulated during the time one is going to college even with the “bare minimum” expenses to live during college and after while one is starting out. So if the 45k a year is living pay check to paycheck and barely coving student loan debt, and after the 11 years since school you are not in much of a better financial place then you were when you started, was it financially worth it to go to college?
Comparing this scenario with maybe someone who goes to a trade school for 20k but afterwards is able to start making 45k a year starting year 2, IRR would be 113% after the second year and 150% after the third year and 169% after the 4 year, etc., with only 20k in debt to pay off. Now imaging professions that have a lot more debt for the required education. Does there become a point where it no longer makes financial sense to get a college education?
What are your thoughts?
College is absolutely worthless for most today in the U.S. (due to government subsidized loans which have skorocketed tuition costs, and quality of education which is getting worse by the year). If you aren't (guaranteed) to become an M.D., lawyer (in a top 25 school), or engineer - DON'T GO. I say this as someone who has had 15 years of 'school' from college to board certification.
I have learned anything I wanted to learn from the internet (languages, personal finance, real estate, how to do medical procedures {youtube} - not kidding). FOR FREE. College is an absolute scam and I would not in good conscience send my kids to it in a Western country.
Please don't self-teach medical procedures!
Post: Holding a meetup/event
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Frequently they are held on off-days at local breweries or restaurants. Tuesdays are slow days for both, typically and you may be able to get their meeting space for free in exchange for the expected "buy a drink or appetizer."
Figure out who you'd need to talk to at the establishment, then go in at a non-busy time and chat them up.
Post: What is the best way to perform a 1031 in this market?
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Thanks @Dave DeMarinis, but this isn't for me personally. I'm just asking for others.
Post: Selling completed fix and flip
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How familiar are you with the area? Ask your agent to send you a list of every house in the area at $125/sq ft and $145/sq ft.
See what is selling and what is sitting.
Post: My biggest barrier is not knowing my market
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Pick a few areas, and have your agent set you up to receive listings in each of those areas. One or two will pop up as most desirable. Continue to get listings for those area(s) and once you know what houses are going for, you'll be able to spot a deal. I just found a smoking hot deal in my area, simply because I've seen every house in that neighborhood for the last year.
Post: Android Bigger Pockets App Seriously Lacking
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@Tristan Colborg, post editing isn't allowed on the desktop site either. (I think you have something like 10 minutes to edit - but only if no one else has posted after you.)
I will share these comments with our mobile development team, thanks for the feed back.
Post: Where are the private equity lenders?
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Originally posted by @Jennifer Ryan:
The biggest thing I've learned on Bigger Pockets is
Don't listen to nay sayers!
Don't tell me why I can't
Tell me how I can.
Our forum posting rules prohibit looking for funding in the regular forums. Posts looking for funding will be removed.
Private lenders are people you know in your every day life.
Hard Money lenders are similar-but-different in that they do this as a profession. You can find a list at www.biggerpockets.com/hml