All Forum Posts by: Ned J.

I have always viewed the 50% rule as a very quick screening tool to narrow down a huge list of properties. Say you have 100 to analyze...doing a full complete analysis on all 100 would take quite a bit of time....use the 50% rule to narrow it down to 10-15 that get close to the 50% rule and then spend the time to do a full analysis for each one with real more accurate numbers

Did think people used this as the true target and "make or break rule" on what constitutes a good deal etc...

I have been in a similar situation....we are both conservative but my wife way more so....she would prefer us to have all our cash sitting in a saving account earning 0.5% :)

My suggestions..... run the numbers and stick to them...no emotion....be conservative and run "worst case scenario" numbers...start small....get a deal or two and let them play out awhile before you start the next one. You are going to have to "earn" his trust that this will work...prove that it can work.... and learn along the way without putting your family's livelihood in jeopardy...... because that's what he is afraid of...... don't try an overextend yourself...start small

Life insurance has one purpose....to make sure your family is ok if you die and they no longer have your income to support them....that's it. Once my kids are old enough and financially independent, they don't need my insurance to support themselves...they inherit what I left them, and that's it. The don't win the lottery when I die.... sorry.

To even suggest that a 90 year old man should have life insurance is insane..... disability and long term care, sure....but that is a whole different animal compared to whole and term life insurance.

If I'm 40 and have 3 young kids I should have way more than 100k term....you can easily and cheaply increase it every time your financial commitments go up......and if I get MS, they aren't going to get paid until I die with whole or term....with whole, most of what they get back is what I paid into it already....on a 250k whole life they get 250k......and I may have put in 100k over the years....so they get my 100k back of my own $$ and then an additional 150k......

At 40 and in good health I can get 500k term life for a couple hundred bucks A YEAR..... I'm 48 and just added another 250k to mine and it cost me $258 a year

Absolutely on disability and long term care.... without that, those issues can suck you dry while you are still alive....

I recently researched this quite a bit.... I had both whole and life at the time. After really looking into it, I couldn't find a single entity that recommended whole life....except people and companies that sell whole life. Bottom line was that its a horrible investment compared to the stock market, mutual funds, and real estate....its loaded with fees that eat the returns etc etc...... so if you are looking to protect your family in the event that you die etc, term life is far superior and WAY cheaper. If you want to grow your $$, whole life is not the way to do it.... its a bad investment strategy..... and a marginal life insurance strategy....so why do it?

I cashed out my whole life and used it for real estate investing....and upped my term life. So my $$ is growing in much better ways and my family is covered in the event of my/my wife's death etc and I'm saving more $$ at the same time

@Andrew Johnson.... thank you for the reply....I haven't sat down and run a full analysis yet, but if you do the 50% rule, the numbers don't look anywhere near good, do they?

Just started exploring the MFR market, so don't have any experience on running numbers on MFR and how to negotiate with the current owner that claims certain income and expenses and how to verify if they are FOS...

Considering exploring my first offer on a 9 plex MFR deal..... haven't contacting the owner yet....just trying to be prepared when I do.....its a Craigslist, no agent ad- older couple retiring and cashing out their real estate owned since 1972...looking for cash and will carry some of the note if needed.

The asking price is 625k.....9 plex....different rents depending on 1 bed vs 2 etc but ad states total rent $5700..of course they state there is room to increase rent....sure...

If I do a quick calculation on rough payment for 625k, that puts me around $3200/month ( P&I, insurance, tax etc), then I will need to add vacancy, CapEx, PM etc etc....haven't done that calculation yet...

But my question is..... are there documents I need to ask for in order to prove rent, leases, historical vacancy, previous Capex expenses, landscaping maintenance costs etc etc? Something that proves previous revenue and expenses?

I'm trying to make sure I get ALL the numbers I need to run a good analysis, in some verifiable form from the owner....I don't want to just take his word for it and not find out the real numbers until after I make an offer or close the deal.

So what do I ask for to prove previous incomes vs expenses?

For the people that use a PM to handle the tenant screen....and think that solves the problem of not getting a good A+ tenant... don't they use all the same screening and then contact you to approve of the tenant or not? Isn't the final choice of accepting the tenant still up to the landlord and not the PM?...so its still on the landlord to pick..... the PM just handles the initial screening and may have some tips or gut feeling to share, but the "buck stops" with the landlord making the final decision

Looking into doing more online stuff too...... payments, tenant applications, maintenance requests etc...... interested to see peoples opinion on TenantCloud vs Cozy or other services.

Sorry for the hassle..... its going to happen sometimes....best you can do is learn from it and try and make some changes in screening and other things that may help avoid issues n the future.

I try to tell myself....this is business....its going to have its up and downs....easy times and hard times.... some failures but much more success in the long run if you stick with it and learn from mistakes we all make

Anyone that goes into this thinking its a piece of cake and easy $$ is a fool.....its hard work but well worth it in the long run

Have an eviction lawyer handle everything.... don't speak or interact with the tenant in any way shape or form...

His lawyer told him to do "this or that".....99% of the time that is complete BS. If they cant pay the rent, they aren't paying a lawyer....its a ******** threat. Ask for the lawyers contact info so your lawyer can contact him/her..... they wont have one.....

Call the "press"..... always love that one....go ahead...here is their phone number.... I can dial it for you..... they aren't going to give a rats arse about some dead beat not paying the rent..... good luck on that one.... another BS threat....