All Forum Posts by: Ali Samana

Rich,

to answer the original question, Government is inefficient by nature. To expect anything different would be unrealistic. Since most government officials are not charged with (or incentivized for) being efficient with money they deem it little priority.

As for education, when we have business teachers that have never started a business, math & Science teachers that don't understand much more than the level they teach and PE teachers that are overweight how could things be different.

At the end of the day it is about economics, in order to attract the best in the business, you have to pay the best in business. From my little conversations with private school teachers (Tim you might correct me on this), they are paid less than public school teachers.

How do we change it?

On this I would have to agree with J Scott that we would have to shift our philosophies from employees to entrepreneurs. More success stories have to be shared (many on this site) and people have to understand that there can be substantial reward for substantial work/risk involved in being a business owner.

I am also currently in the process of getting a 30 year fixed loan. I have not had any problems, although it is more challenging than it used to be.

Today is June 30th, officially the midway point for 2010. I know most of us set goals at the beginning of the year, where are you today? Are you where you thought you would be 6 months ago? what are your plans/goals for the next 6 months?

For me, I have completed 4 deals, although I haven't made as much as I wanted this year, I know that will change. I am currently working on at least 2 possibly 3 more deals. I am also planning on expanding my marketing, we will do yellow letters (400/month) starting in August and many more things in the works.

How about everyone else??

Mitch,

I agree with you in either the home prices would fall or being a home owner (or Investor) would become extremely expensive. In either case, I would think current investors (with cash reserves) would win big.

Bill,

If they do away with the 30 year mortgage, what impact would it have on REI?

I would imagine less people would be able to buy homes thus putting more renters in the market. I would also think it would raise rents to cover the additional cost of financing thus creating more cashflow for people with 30 year financing on their properties.

Any thoughts?

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Fixing-Housing-Crisis-Time-To-cnbc-1256002211.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=8&asset=&ccode=

An interesting article. Would it help or hurt the investment world if the government completely walked away from the housing industry?

[URL]http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2010/06/30/house_votes_to_extend_tax_credit_on_new_home_purchases_3_months/[/URL]

Did the time to close get extended? I would appreciate any update.

Tom, There are multiple ways to "invest" in your business. Money is the easiest of those, time is overlooked by many. The point is not about 1k here, the point is that the information available for 1k is also available on websites like this one for free. All one would have to do is invest time.

There are many people that become professional students, they invest thousands and thousands of dollars in "education" and never buy a property. One of the gurus came to town and was marketing his stuff for 4k, I left the seminar and went to ebay, bought it for less than 400 from his own son (his son was also at the seminar).

There were several people who signed up for the next course (4k) and of those there were several more that signed up for the next one (15-26k), at least 2 ladies that bought the top course have not done anything in REI over the last year.

Bob,

I am also fairly new to REI and I do spend alot of time reading and learning. I would not spend the $1k to do this course yet. I am not sure what part of REI you would like to focus on, but I would research that here on BP first.

I am not saying that Phil Grove is not the real deal, I am saying that you might be able to find the same information here for free. After that you could ask some of the members for their recommendations on books and start reading those.

Generally speaking the sentiment on these sites seems to be against buying expensive courses online. One of the main reasons is because these courses typically come with a sales pitch for the next course (with a higher price tag) and on and on.

Just my .02, let us know what you decide.

Cornelius,

if your numbers are correct, I would think this is a good deal. Typically I try to stay at ARV*65%-Rehab. This would fit the numbers.

How did you reach the ARV? Also, have you have the repairs bid out or do you plan to do that yourself? And more importantly, what is your exit strategy?

Just a few questions.