All Forum Posts by: Karyn T.

Lol, I should have thought of pools, but I stuck with trying to keep it all to myself with 100 tickets. ;)

I never, ever play the lottery, but this was too fun to pass up!

When I win the Powerball tonight, I'll be sure to post my real estate success story here!  Other than paying off some pesky student loans, taking a trip to Fiji with 50 of my closest friends, and buying an Aston Martin, I would plan on dumping the other $550M into real estate!

Who wants to be my business partner?!?!

:D ;)

@Jay Hinrichs  Exactly.  I've yet to take any of my exams (due to traveling for my "day-job") but I've taken the course in 3 states.  Even learning the subtle differences between different states and regions is a huge learning advantage.  It's not to say I'm an "expert" now, but I definitely feel like I have a strong foundation.  Under the guidance of a good mentor, when the time is right, I'm quite confident one could be QUITE profitable with a much less expensive "education".

Total investment: <$1200

Yeah, I just looked up the top 20 and I'm VERY surprised to NOT see Seattle....

For $40K, I'd go get a business degree at a state university or online...and take a real estate exam course.  Would have a MUCH broader financial education, and prospects in AND outside of real estate.  Hell, some MBAs don't cost that much...

Steve Vaughan No need to be snarky to me...I was just pointing out the "reasonable" need for moving. Maybe they plan on having two more after this one? The bottom line is that it's nunya WHY she's moving & your opinion on what size house she "needs" is irrelevant. ;)

I didn't read ALL the responses, but the OP also needs to know that in general real estate "law", the SELLER has NO obligation to even acknowledge your offer. They don't have to respond to your agent/offer in ANY way. Not verbally, not in writing, and certainly not with a counter offer. Ie: your agent probably IS submitting the offers and the sellers aren't wasting time, energy, money, or breath responding to your lowball (as they perceive it) offer. Just FYI

Steve Vaughan She's not moving to have a fancier house...they need more room, for baby.

Well @James Lindsey you may want to ask your parents about it, or do some serious reading on the internet.  I wasn't an investor at the time, but I had bought enough personal homes to at least go with the rule of "buy the worst house, in the best neighborhood you can afford!".  So we did...in May of 2006.  By our 1-year anniversary, our house was upside down by $135,000....and we were MUCH better off than most of our neighbors.  We ended up having to take out a personal loan of $60,000 to pay off the difference in what we ultimately sold it for (at the time, keeping it was not an option, due to job situations/cross country move).  Approximately 4.5 years after selling the house to someone else, I am down to my last $10K in repayment...at $1000/month.

You do NOT know what the market will do.  Only a few very savvy people saw that housing bubble coming...some think another is coming.  Many really smart investors and homeowners lost their shirts between 2007 - 2011, especially.  Do not buy anything that you can't get out of reasonably easily.  If it weren't for our excellent credit and jobs, that house would have bankrupted us.

Depending on the neighborhood, they may REQUIRE wood windows (or at least windows that mimic wood in appearance) due to the historic nature of the house.   We have a 1924 "Sears" (knockoff) home outside of Seattle and the historicl society mandates that changes to the external features must mimic original styles as close as possible.  Can make permitting and remodeling a pain...but sure helps to keep our property values some of the highest in the country....