I always know when I have one of these when the first question they ask is "how much can I get it appraised for?" ROI is never brought up/

With that said I'm not too eager to see what happens when the RE market soften's. Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac hold over 8 Trillion in notes. Think about what will happen if they collapse! The US treasury will have to take a 100 year note from Saudi Arabia to bail it out.

No doubt you have to be careful.

I know a gent who bought 7 warehouse units for 93k each. He's been sitting on them for almost 1.5 years while they have gone up to about 130k. Problem is, he has never rented them out and has either financed them and payed the note, which will eat away a a large chunk of his profit, or he paid cash and is waiting for a windfall. He hasn't sold one of them yet as several speculators in the develpoment did the same thing.

In Central florida, there are some duplexes that can be had for about 100k. Put 20% down, rent em' both at 500 per and that note plus a the 20% Iused on the line of credit are taken care of.

It takes the right deal of course.

Thanks

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$11K per year in income (with vacancy factor).

$6K per year P&I expense on an $80K note
$1.5K per year in taxes???????????
$1.0K per year in insurance???????
$1.5K per year in maintenance and repairs.

I'd buy one of these every day of the week if I could find it in a "decent" working class neighborhood. They don't exist up here anymore.

In fact, I just recently sold a duplex that generates $19K in income per year for the sum of $222K. The taxes are $3.5K and I pay another $1.5K in utilities (gas and water)! You can't make money with it at that price without a big down payment.

The only caveat: You can't buy one and manage it properly if it is more than 20 miles away. Trust me on this. Don't do it.

The plan I had a few months back was for my Dad to watch over it for me. Now he's here inMiami receovering from his stroke, throwing a kink into those plans.

If the right deal comes along, I'll jump anyway and try to get a real estate company to find me the tenants and pay them 10% to coolect the rents, etc...I'm pretty comfortable with the people who are working on my dad's house to use them for repairs and maintenence.

.02

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While this is tempting, you must be especially careful with the selection of a real estate company. The typical real estate firm couldn't give a $hit about you or your property. They will collect the rents, or not, even if the tenants are pouring cement in the toilet bowls.

See if you can find a proper real estate management company to do the job. The real estate can find you a qualified tenant, hopefully, but the management company has more skill, and will provide better service in terms of keeping a proper eye on the place. It's not easy to find a good management company, but, you have no choice if you are more than 20-30 miles away.

If you have people for small repairs and maintenance, you are half way there already. Those people don't exist here, unless you want to do the repair twice.

I raised honey bees for several years. During lean times, many workers died unless I supplemented their dietary needs with some sugar water. During times of plenty, when lots of sweet wildflowers are in bloom, the bees fill every cell of every super but still go for more. They never stop harvesting, no matter what. But when the hives are full, that's the beekeeper's time to harvest.

You grab a thick wad of pine straw and jam it in your smoker and light it up. You put on your bee hat and gloves and accept that you'll get stung several times.

get the smoker putting-out think, cool, resinous smoke and pump it into the doorway. When stressed, honeybees immediately begin consuming as much honey as they can eat by foraging in the filled cells. Evolution tells them that if the queen leaves the hive due to fire, they'll need the food reserves to start a new hive. The beekeepr takes advantage of that. Bees, like humans, when full of sugars get an immediate bounce followed by a lengthy period of lethargy. That's when the beekeeper robs the hive of the remaining honey.

I saw something in there that made sense but then my dog needed to go out for a walk.

I'll try and figure it out later.

Can't you just come out and say something?

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I think Bot, is saying that in RE it's best to buy when the market is slow. The flaw is unlike Bee's a RE investor does best when the market is hot with motivated sellers (more honey). Bee's are unmotivated sellers.

I figured that much, more or less.

Imagine if he talks in circles or riddles at home? What a mess!

Bot: " Blah,Blah, Blah, AFLAC!"

Mrs Bot: "OK Honey, I'll warm up dinner and find your cordless drill"

.02

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