All Forum Posts by: Scott Trench

@Ben Leybovich wasn't trying to pick a fight!  You are 100% right about your great interactions being the reason why you have a great brand on our platform.  I perhaps just misread your post a little and thought that you were saying you weren't getting a ton of value out of the Pro membership, when it seems like it really helps you out!

@Ben Leybovich is full of the jokes today :)

We love that you love BiggerPockets and that you support us with your Pro membership, but did you also consider that you have 2,000 forum posts, each with your logo, a link to your website, a video of your profile, a description of what you do in your signature, and a shiny pro sticker next to everything you do?

Maybe you personally don't need those calcs, but how much business does that Pro membership drive for you in terms of marketing?  I think you have perhaps the most decked out profile and signature I've seen on BiggerPockets.  That's an awful lot of impressions that we help you market yourself with..

I'm no millionaire, but I certainly think that if you are an investor, your case makes sense to me.  

As a non-millionaire, I believe that it's far easier to generate incredible returns by engaging in creative investment with smaller amounts of money.  For example, a house hack for me allowed me to put down $12,500 (plus about $7,500 in repairs), live for free, and still get a shot at appreciation, tax breaks, and principal paydown.  If I save $6,000 in rent, cashflow another $1,000, the property appreciates by $5,000, and I pay down $4,000 in principle, I've just realized a return of 80% on my initial investment.  That return can have a massive impact on my net worth over the next couple of years, but would hardly be worthwhile for a millionaire.  

I think I'll miss being able to claim enormous returns on my investments should I ever become a millionaire - probably not too much though ;).  

I think that those types of creative ways to generate outsized returns relative to your total portfolio slowly disappear as you become wealthier, because sacrificing small conveniences and luxuries for small dollar investments becomes less appealing.  At the same time, you are completely correct about new and exciting private investments becoming available as an accredited investor - I've certainly voiced my strong opinion of discontent with not being able to access investments only open to accredited investors before.

Getting to the second million must be easier overall for the reasons you state, but your overall rate of net worth growth may slow.  I think that I'll go from $50,000 to $100,000 much more slowly than I'll go from $1,000,000 to $1,050,000, but going from $50,000 to $100,000 is a 100% increase in net worth, vs a 5% increase in the second case.

The Pro membership has a variety of benefits and powerful networking and analysis tools that come with it.

It has nothing to do with credibility.  As a BiggerPockets staff member, I encourage you to do your own research on anything you read from one of the posters on this forum.  A Pro member can just as easily have false or misleading information as a member with a free account.

Posts and votes certainly can help establish credibility in the sense that it is tough to get to 1,000 posts without providing at least a little bit of value.  

I personally value posts based on their relevancy, logic, and the strength of their argument.  I don't care if the poster has 1 post or 1,000.  A great argument based off of great, verifiable data or experience, is going to have far more impact for me than anything else.

@Josh Anderson

 you can check it out here!

http://www.biggerpockets.com/pages/webinarreplay

BiggerPockets is hosted on a number of different platforms, with a number of softwares running various parts of the site.  I believe that the forums are built on a custom software coded in Ruby. 

I'd imagine that if you are in the legal industry as part of the firms raking in hundreds of millions of dollars suing builders as a result of this law, you'd make sure to have thorough representation in the governing bodies of Colorado.  You'd spend some of your winnings on ensuring the continued existence of future opportunities to sue builders.  I believe there have been many instances of this bill being stalled.  It would be no surprise to see more attempts to stall it or kill it before it gets passed - that's why I have no idea on the timeframe.

Bottom line is that condos aren't being built in Denver.  That is such a net negative for the population here that even the lawyers that lobby against it will be forced to end the lawsuit party sooner or later.  That might be just my misguided faith in good government though..

@Daniel Savage - What you are talking about is possible, though rare to my understanding.  

If they are two entirely separate structures unrelated to each other in any way legally, then I believe that you will experience a lot of trouble and few advantages in attempting to bundle both properties under one mortgage.  You may experience higher interest rates, fewer lenders that are willing to work with you, and you will likely pay higher origination fees upfront to finance the properties in this manner.

I think you may have a much easier time purchasing the properties separately, especially if this is one of your earlier investments.  In most cases that I can imagine, if you have the capability of financing both properties under the same loan, you will have the ability to finance them both separately as well, and likely cheaper.  

If I misunderstood your question, and the properties are being sold as a single entity - for instance, as two parts of the same duplex - you can absolutely finance them both with a single loan.  

Hope that helps!

@Mike H.

 Whoa there ;) - I'm happy for the feedback and certainly appreciate it!  I was not intending a zing with my comment.

We are not a clothing brand, and I am not a teeshirt designer.  With this design, I simply took feedback from the last one and quickly made a simple BP teeshirt and offered it in a way that doesn't cost BiggerPockets any money or time in printing, shipping, labeling, and distributing.

This is just for fun, and a tiny tiny side project to allow people that love BiggerPockets a way to get a teeshirt.

I am happy to take user suggestions, and if there is widespread approval, to offer those shirts as well.  Perhaps next month we can quickly design a shirt with your suggestions.

I ride my bike from Five Points to the BP HQ here by the Cherry Creek shopping center almost every day.  I try to take varying routes to see what's for sale and what't going on.  

A few months ago, these signs and the accompanying "scam" stickers were all over the place.  I still see them occasionally, but they seem to be much less common than they were perhaps in January.

I say good riddance.  The signs are often on public street poles and telephone poles, they are ugly, and they are crude.  

Good for you, Mr. "Scam" sticker guy!  Keep up the good work!