All Forum Posts by: Albert Hasson

Much better off. four years ago I had 3 upside down rental properties and my stock portfolio was a disaster.
I have added 15 homes to my rental portfolio all of which cash flow like crazy, refinanced all 3 underwater properties via HARP 2 (combined $700/mo interest savings), and the stock market just hit multi year highs.
As a physician my income has gone down a bit due entirely to the economy (fewer elective surgeries) but look forward to more insured patients with the Affordable Health Care Act.

I only list my properties for rent with my realtor on the MLS. Generally another agent will bring their client to the residence to look at it. I find that renters working with agents are overall better qualified than the average renter you find on Craigslist.

I agree with Mike. If the "frequent posters" out there don't want to reply then don't reply.
Gianna, my agent searches the MLS, visits the property, sends me sales and rental comps then based on the results I will decide whether or not to see the property and make an offer. I have made countless offers without physically seeing the property because after 7 years of doing business I trust my realtor's judgement. That being said, once an offer is accepted I will go see the property during the inspection period.
My offer to acceptance ration is probably 20 or 30 to 1 and my agent never whines or complains.

So Rob K can you give examples of some of your deals that you are getting 3% on. I don't think there is a place in the country that you can buy a 100k house and rent it for 3k a month. Now if it's a 20k house I can see getting 600 a month but with all he hassles of being a slumlord.

I am seeing a ton of inside deals here in Phoenix as well. What I am mostly finding are short sales that are on the MLS for 15 minutes before they go under contract to a pre selected buyer which is totally illegal.
My realtor said that in the latest Arizona MLS bulletin/newsletter they fined 500 agents for various offenses so it appears that the AZ board of realtors is cracking down.

You are absolutely right, the 2% rule doesn't work in my area either unless you can find a 30k house in the hood and rent for 600. I buy houses in the 140-200k range in excellent middle class areas and am happy to get .9%. I do put 30-40% down so cash flow is great.

Dow above 13k, Case Shiller up (all 20 cities), Chicago PMI up, consumer confidence up, price of gas down ($3 here). At this point, don't see recession in 2013.

I might be able to make it too.

Not saying there's not going to be a recession in 2013 but I seriously doubt it will be worse than 2008 which was fueled by a bursting of the housing bubble. As we all know, real estate investors nowadays are paying cash or putting up substantial down payments.
While a recession may lead to more foreclosures I suspect they will be rapidly bought up by investors.
Forget politics, if there is a recession next year it will be due to a slowing Chinese economy and chaos in the European Union.

I totally agree that here in Phoenix cash is king. Right now investors with cash are getting all the good deals. Where they are getting the cash I don't know. It might be hard money lenders but the terms suck, not suitable for buy and hold unless you can refi with a bank quickly. BTW, sold price per sq ft has gone down here in Phoenix from June to July so those who bought expecting continued rapid appreciation might be disappointed.