All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

If you are rehabbing, not a rental, you can make killer oak butcher block counter tops out of raw oak flooring.

The big box stores rarely have the best prices or the best quality.

There is a lumber yard that most of the contractors use for their lumber. They deliver and it is all good and I don't have to waste my time picking through it, trying to find straight boards that aren't split or damaged.

Plywood comes from a different lumber yard.

Roofing comes from the roofing supply store where the roofing contractors by their roofing. I get better stuff, more selection, fast roof top delivery, and the material isn't damaged. Plus they hae all the niggledy little parts and trims that are needed. The big stores don't even carry ice shield.

Lowe's has the best prices on carpet, vinyl, and appliances in my area.

For kitchen cabuinets, I would ask a local cabinet builder to give me an estimate for "landlord" cabinets. I'd rather pay him to make me cabinets out of pine plywood than to pay just as much for the pressed sawdust junk from the big box stores, with some asembly required. (and I can repair and re-paint almost any cabinet, so I don't buy new very often)

Countertops, a local business can usually give you a much better price on corian.

I get better tile at the tile store. Color Tile is often good, but some of the other guys will have super deals on their small lots remainders. I only use porcelain, but the big box stores run good sprecials on cheap ceramic, if it happens to be the look and durability you want.

There's a local discount wood flloor place that sells prefinished hard wood flooring with good selection and good prices, but raw hardwoods, I go direct to the mill (which would only be for top of the line, to pay for all the finishing when pre-finished is so easy.)

Some of these guys, I can call and order and I'll get just whay I want delevered. That makes up for some of the time of driving around to shop.

A for driving around: just the right material can make a world of difference over one that is "almost as good, but not quite"

Do it once, do it right.

As long as it is in decent shape, I usually leave wood paneling alone if it is in a lower rent place.

As soon as you paint it, you spend the rest of your time fighting all the nicks and scraps. Paint comes off wood paneling really easily.

You can repair small scratches in wood paneling by rubbing some Min Wax "fruitwood" over them and then wipping it off with a cotton cloth. That will leave just the bottom of the scratch covered and make it a lot less obvious.

I tell them that I don't expect perfect credit, but I do want to see a credit report that assures me that I will get my rent every month without having to chase it down.

Before we get any further, I also tell tem that I won't accept anyone with an eviction or a recent bankruptcy.

There is no point in giving them false hope, because it just wastes my time to do showing and process applications for people who are going to be rejected.

On the other hand, many applicants really have no idea at all what is on their credit report, and I've run into people who thought their credit was ruined because they paid the Sears card a month late 6 years ago. They come back with 789 credit score and they think their credit is awful.

I've also had an applicant with 38 judgements tell me that their credit is pretty good, just one credit card that they are paying off.

So you simply can not judge a credit report by anything that the applicant says.

Puzzled here.

Apparently, you haven't actually asked any one. Foreign nationals can have all sorts of bank accounts in the USA using a federal tax number that they can get at any bank.

And no, there is no way for your overseas clients to get a social seciurity number without first becoming a legal resident.

If you are finding really good deals and the local buyers are too lazy to buy them, then pick out the best deals and buy them yourself.

If they are as good as you think they are, you will make plenty of money.

You keep saying the gurus have lied. So why don't you actually believe what you say? Most of them try to sell ther packages by making people believe that they can become multi-millionaires in a very short time period without doing any work at all.

So now that you've figured out that it is a lie and that actually there is a great deal of time and work involved in real estate, stop trying to get your millions without working and get to work and put some time and effort in.

I don't think real estate is hard. There isn't anything complicated or difficult to understand. But it is work, and you do have to put the time and effort into it.

Some of you guys want to see how you can make money on negative property?

How about bare land? There is no income at all. You can't get too much more negative than that.

Yet, you buy a parcel for $1 million at the edge of town, 2 years later, a super Wal-mart goes in next door, and you sell for $3 million to Lowes.

I know it isn't 2% cash flow, but it is enough for me, and it's been negative cash flow every month for 2 solid years.

The investors who absolutely must have the 2% rule wouldn't have touched that. For all I know, you couldn't invest like that in OH. But that's how you invest on the west coast.

I keep thinking about this and I see a sticking point. In order to get a lot of grants-- which you need-- you will need to file for non-profit status.

If you are non-profit, you are going to have a serious problem finding investors.

Hard money will not work. That is short term money. You are going to need money for more than 6 months.

If I were going to do it, I would get non-profit status. Then I would apply for all sorts of grants, and I would also organize the do-gooders of the state into a fund raising machine.

The director and staff can be on salary and it will still be a non-profit. So it can still pay you.

There are philanthropists put there that would fund something like this. But not investors.

To get investors you need to be for profit, and there goes any hope of grant money (although there are still government contracts).

You should be able to get a government contract before you start bulilding. That will help imensely.

I would probably go for a leased building, at least in the beginning.

I wish you the best of luck with this. I think it will be hard, but I also think there is a need, and you can do it if you really want it.

Americans do invest internationally.

They invest heavily in Canada, Mexico, and several Cental American countries.

I know a couple of Americans with investmentsin the far east.

There are a couple of problems for Americans with Eastern Europe. It is a very long distance and flights are long and expensive.

There is a language barrier.

Foreign monetary exchange to Europe is difficult and expensive. Not at all like Canada and Mexico where the dollar is accepted and exchange is easy and reasonable.

Nothing up front. They get paid for the work after the work is done.

For smaller contractors, I buy materials and have them delivered to the job site.

For larger jobs, (like building a house) the contractor gets draws, but even then, I always worry that as soon as they get paid for the third they just finished, I will never see them again.