All Forum Posts by: Thierry Van Roy

Cool, are those Dutch or international cases? And are they all about multi-million dollar/euro commercial real estate examples or also a bit more down to earth?

The biggest problem with every college curriculum ever: for some reason they all assume you're going to manage a 50mio portofolio.

Go with "Onroerend Goed als Belegging" from the Amsterdam School of Real Estate, that's the most up to date out there for the moment. Unless @Erik_Noordam wants to correct me on that part? How is "Praktijkaspecten Vastgoed"?

If you do intend to invest in the Netherlands, check out Vastgoed Belang, they'll give you a lot of the legal and procedural information.

Hi Thayson! I'm investing in The Netherlands, so I don't know if that helps in your plans to invest overseas. If you plan on doing that from a distance, you should keep that in mind at all times since it really limits your options. The Dutch market isn't bad, though you may run into some trouble if you're not Dutch yourself.

Do you speak Dutch?

Have fun in the forums!

Actually, if you rent to smokers, then smokers won't mind renting. Dead simple logic, I know, but there is a demographic ;-)

The bigger problem is if the wallpaint starts to color from the smoke. I was viewing an old house two weeks ago, you could see the halo from where a cross and several paintings were before. The previous owner was a pipe smoker.

You shouldn't have to worry about the odor in my experience, there are tons of ways to get rid of anything lingering. If you go down this road, after all, what's stopping you from not allowing dogs either? Have you ever noticed how long that stench stays if the owners aren't the most hygienic type?

The ones I listen to are all mentioned in the above, except for J. Massey on his site http://cashflowdiary.com/ - It's about 50/50 real estate and motivational Rich Dad-ish plugs, but the podcast is short and pleasant. He also doesn't sell anything, seems to me like a very honest guy despite appearances (as in guru-ish style).

There's also Rich Dad Radio at http://richdad.com (free to subscribe and listen to, smartphone app costs a few bucks). Ken McElroy alone makes this worth checking in to. Downside: no itunes, you have to login and seemingly no download.

On that part, here's a tip: I have Downloadhelper installed on my firefox browser and I use it a lot to rip audio from sites like richdad.com. That's the only way to get the file on your MP3-player. (You may need a converter for some exotic filetypes to work.)

There's also ytdownloader which can instantly transform youtube videos into mp3's. You could use it to steal music, but I have never had any music on my mp3 player.

Hattip for lovers of indie economics with Brooklyn-style humor: Gerald Celente.

Another aspect is REI being considered more recession proof than paper assets. Stocks have gotten discredited after two wipeouts in one decade (a lot changed as well, but that's a different story) and low interests mean low yield on funds, the safest being with negative real interest rates even. Some markets have in fact never gone down from 2009 onwards because of the crisis, paradoxally.

Then again, one thing will never change and that's the average investor's amateurism.

I'm noticing a lot of hidden gems in upper-market locations. Try looking for large mansions that have fallen into disrepair or where elderly people are living. There is more opportunity that way than going by official listings with agents.

The Paris government has recently started mapping these kinds of buildings. There's a wopping 40,000 of them! They even found one in a prime location which was abandoned by the owner at the dawn of World War II. He never returned and forgot he had it.

Lol! Corporate ganging up, fun stuff ^^ I also believe in franchises (even MLM is not on my ethical blacklist), but if you have the spunk to do it yourself, then all the better. Of course, we don't have this Homevestors thing here in Europe, but we do have McDonalds, as well as mom & pop fastfood restaurants. Some of which became franchises later on. Nuff said. Looking at the business model, I feel like starting a European version of this.

You also hear The E-Myth book mentioned on BiggerPockets podcasts, nothing surprising to this approach. So perhaps one of these gentlemen should be taken on as a guest to explain more about the model?

Mike & Tim, should Homevestors decide to expand to Europe, give me a call.

The Netherlands ;) I try both because you never know what you come across. But the good investor agents are usually also developers overhere, so they tend to mostly give you deals on new construction or gobble up the distressed properties themselves.

So I've had this experience three times already. I meet with an agent, I introduce myself and I almost get a tirade on how investors need to play by the rules, how everything needs to go through agents and foreclosure auctions, how it's not that simple (well, duh) etc. Then they reminisce on their +2 decade something experience blahblah.

I kept my zen and simply broke the ice with social talk, but every time I nearly lost it. I understand many agents are frustrated nowadays, but good grief. NO wonder they're going under if this is their way of doing business.

Is there anyone else who has had such experiences? Or do I just have bad karma? I understand not all agents deal with investors, but you don't have to make it almost a political thing.