All Forum Posts by: Scott Nachatilo

Just out of curiosity, why did you decide to paint instead of sanding and refinishing? Was it the cost?

Yes, some neighborhoods are filled with properties where retail buyers aren't buying. They aren't war zones, but an investor will beat their head against the wall trying to get any type of buyer other than a landlord.

Why not show some grit and put together a business to buy, hold, and manage these types of properties. It's not for everyone, but it IS right for some.

You have to admire their ability to sell - one local couple in my community dropped $40K recently on one of their packages. Ouch!

Daniel - You need to work out the cash flow for this property. As Jon said, work out the repair costs.

Keep it simple - figure out your operating income less operating expenses...see how much you have for debt service.

It would really make more sense to compare a real estate "business", such as a buy and hold operation, to another business that produces cash flow. The only difference is that the real estate is a more tangible asset than the book of business that, for example, a plumbing company might have.

To me it would make more sense to compare a stock market investment to the purchase of art, jewelry, or a collectible with the expectation that it is going to go increase in value.

How long are going to cling this story you are telling yourself about embarrassment? Can you see that it has control over you?

Let me tell you a quick story about myself. One of my mentors had me do an exercise about coming to grips with one of my biggest fears, which at the time was fear of embarrassment. So he asked me name the top three things that would be the most embarrassing things I could possibly do. I named three for him...He told me he was going to pick one for me do, and challenge me to do it. He told me after that I could pick between handing onto that fear and freedom.

Guess what he picked? Going up to men and hitting on them.

Guess what I picked? Well, as uncomfortable as it was, I took him up on the challenge. We went to a nearby shopping mall and I went to work hitting on men. Wow, it was uncomfortable. But I lived to tell the tale.

Also, I never yielded to the fear of embarrassment like that did prior to that exercise.

What I'm trying to say is that you need to make this work for you IF FOR NO OTHER REASON THAN TO LEAVE THIS NON-SENSE FEAR OF EMBARRASSMENT BEHIND ONCE AND FOR ALL.

Will you accept this challenge?

You seem to focusing on the resource you don't have - financing from this one particular lender - instead of focusing on all the resources you do have.

Also, the question of "what deals can I do?" is probably not the most relevant for your situation.

I think you ought to focus and get really clear on your outcome. What is the result you want? Is it passive income from rentals, a few good paychecks from flips?

Starting in real estate is like planting a crop. You need to plant the right seeds and focus on growing that crop. Focus on what you want, and don't allow yourself to get distracted by every new cool sounding technique that comes along.

If you don't focus all your energy on taking care of the crops you put in, you are totally wasting the resources you do have. You've got to focus on that crop until you harvest time.

You asked about how to deal with squatters...I assume you have a property in which you've got some unwelcome people hanging around.

1) Post No Trespassing sign on your property
2) Make sure all windows and doors are secure
3) If you catch them in the property, call the police right away. Also, throw a fit and let this other person know you mean business.

The basis for the comparison seems a little silly...It's a bit like making the claim that overall athletes who compete in the summer Olympics are better athletes who compete in the winter Olympics. When you don't have head-to-head competition in the same sport, it's just really hard to make that type of comparison.

The article seems aimed more at reassuring the long-term buy and hold stock investor that they are indeed making a good decision with their resources. It's a little like watching a presidential debate. There is little attempt at an actual debate...mostly, they speak to their base trying a to paint a pretty picture for their side appearing all the while to unbiased.

However, I have serious misgivings about the relevance of this type of approach (i.e., if one were to focus on the stock market) for the average person. The average person doesn't have the discipline to just leave their money in an index fund and forget about it.

When I was investing in stock, I picked individual stock - and got absolutely slaughtered. My problem is that I didn't really understand what was going on for these companies.

I defy any average investor to claim they have a true understanding of the companies in which they invest their money. Even the employees of these companies have a hard time figuring out what's going on.

It's totally different when you are at the helm of your own company. Most people are not cut out to take that on...but I've gone from loosing money in just about very investment (stock market guessing) to understand how to put together a money making machine (real estate).

I'll never go back to stock guessing...thank you, real estate.

Some of the nicer comprehensive databases systems allow you to upload documents and autopopulate them. The one I use is buildium. The advantage is that all the tenant/whatever data is already in the database.