All Forum Posts by: Brian Campbell

well then, isn't this a great time to be investing? My thought was that because houses were cheap people would be buying and charging less for rent to keep them occupied. Many people would be willing to take less than they should not knowing the proper way to manage rentals.

will the addition of more foreclosures and homes on the market decrease rents in all areas, some or none? How soon and how drastic. I am not in the business yet, but was looking to buy a couple homes this year. Are my rent comps in jeapardy?

ok, so you can't say you didn't earn the money your saving for future maintenance, such as a roof you know will need replacing? Since I've learned you need to figure half your rent for maintenance I was wondering if you guys are paying taxes on that if its not spent. Or are you using some creative way to get around that?

After setting up an S corp, can you leave money allotted to maintenance in the comapany and not take them as profits at the end of the year even if you never spent it? How much can you get away with averting for taxes if you can?

will no bailout help me out. I am looking for homes that are 70k max for rent comps and I need another 20% drop to get there with the 3bd/2bths.....I can get there now with the 2bdr/1bth, but I want to rent. No bailouts mean more homes on the market right, and lower prices?

I don't know whether to be for or against this bailout, but I was a good boy and have some cash to invest with excellent credit.

thanks, i was in the bank today looking at HELOC options and this makes more sense now. I guess it made sense to you then right?

BTW they were willing to do 60% LtoV at 9.99% on a HELOC.

If I could refinance my home and pull out 40K cash and save 450 dollars a month in mortgage, would that be worth it to take advantage of lower home prices.

The flip side is I'm 5 years from paying off my home, my wife and I were really looking foward to saving the 1200 we pay now 5 years from now, but I was just going to invest that in mutual funds. Now I am sour on the market and am starting to think drywall is where my money is safer.

I floated the idea to her today and laid out the arguement that it was better to never own a home as we can't spend the equity. And that we will probably rent the home were in anyway. I am looking at buying 2 rentals with the equity and renting this one for a total of 3. Is this a valid course of action? Will a bank even do an equity loan where you could use it for investment homes?

I am trying to understand line by line the property summary line of the Rental Property Analysis Tools. Why is the before tax cash flow less than the after tax cash flow? I would think it would be less, so I am missing something as far as taxes are concerned.

thanks, I will use the gallery next time. Your advice is appreciated.

Michael, you say to buy at a significant discount to market value. What percentage below market value should I be trying to get any property for? Does it vary?

Of course the numbers must make sense and the cheaper the better, but I'm wondering at what percentage would you pass up a deal where the numbers make sense. I understand the answer isn't probably standard, but do you have any rules you go by?

thanks michael, 60 is exactly what number I came up with . I need to make a distinction though. This is not a mobile home. This home looks just like a house, in fact its stucco and you can't tell the difference looking at it. When you say double wide your are talking about a mobile home right?

I just got done looking at comps for this "manufactured home" and I seel that all 57 are rectangular mobile homes listed in the "manufactured" section of MLS. This house I'm looking at is listed in the residential section of MLS, but says manufactured in the description. could anyone tell by just looking at a picture. I'll see if I can put a pic on here or somewhere if you would look at it to see what I mean.

here is a link to a photobucked pic of the house;

http://s3.photobucket.com/albums/y83/masterpeg/?action=view¤t=home.jpg