All Forum Posts by: Jason Shaffner

K,

Welcome to BP.

Glad to have you here.

Good Luck,

Jason

David,

Welcome to BP.

Glad to have you here and look forward to any knowledge you have to share.

Good Luck,

Jason

Hey Sam,

Welcome to BP from a fellow Pennsylvanian.

How long have you been rehabbing? There is a lot to learn and a lot of people to share knowledge with on this site.

Good Luck,

Jason

Keith,

Admirable goals, however they're akin to saying you want to be a doctor. Just like there are innumerable types of doctors there are a lot of ways to invest in real estate. You touched on rentals, rehabbing and an investment company. Spend some time reading about the various ways to do it and then start learning about the one or two that grab your interest. I like rehabbing. I'm good at it and it usually doesn't feel like work so that's what I started with and stick with. Find what you like to do and go with that.

Also, go over to the New Members section and post a bio about yourself and where you are in Mass. There are a lot of people on this board and no doubt many around you who you could network with, learn from and teach.

Good Luck,

Jason

I can't imagine that the 1/2 point reduction yesterday can have much if any effect on the mortgage market.

The primary issue is 'teaser' rate resets from the 3% - 5% range to the 8% - 9% range usually resulting in foreclosure. Mortgage companies, using cheap money, initiated this. During the dot.com era Alan Greenspan called it 'irrational exuberance'. The same term applies now. People bought into the idea of eternal appreciation and no money down. The costs of those bad decisions and 'irrational exuberance' are now coming due.

The people who are losing their homes were duped and/or they didn't do their due diligance. Doesn't matter. They bought into a game they could not afford to play in the first place and a 1/2 point off the Fed Fund Rate is not going to help them.

Good Luck,

Jason

Reality: Foreclosures will increase through first three quarters of 2008. The excess inventory that has built up in some of the larger markets will be absorbed over those quarters, particularly in Florida and Las Vegas as their population growth rates are very high. The people who should not have been in the market are now out ... making it easier on the rest of us.

Perception: The media will tell you that everything is too expensive and foreclosures are everywhere and you are about to lose your job and blah blah blah and doom and gloom and darkness.

Every other investor that I know simply changes strategies to match the market. Listen to what's going on and use that information, don't let it drive you.

Good Luck,

NavyDoc

pfinder,

Good job on your first rental. However, you said "my current financial situation finds me without any cash". Did your income situation change since you bought your rental? If so, I would work on rectifying that before I committed to any additional projects.

As to the equity in your current rental ... I have to assume that it is cash flow positive ... if you drew the equity out of it to get you into your next project, would the current rental still cash flow? If not, without any cash reserves, how would you handle any issues that arise with either of your projects?

As cash said you need to determine where your cash is going and plug some holes.

Not using your own money is one thing ... not having any money and trying to do this is something else.

Good Luck,

NavyDoc

John,

In reference to your tangent ... I would be interested in how to mitigate or manage the PA transfer tax.

Outside of a buyer / seller split ... which can become a seller concession for the whole 2% ... I don't have any ideas.

Thanks,

NavyDoc

Jorge,

Welcome to BP.

You are in a great position to learn how the business runs from end to end.

Good Luck,

NavyDoc

Gita,

Welcome to BP.

You mentioned DIG. Is that the REI group in Plymouth Meeting?

Glad to have your expertise on the site.

Good Luck,

NavyDoc