read up on this month's Fortune Magazine cover story "Gold Rush" and you'll think twice before plucking down that dough on a sinking real estate.

I'm selling mine as soon as my 2 years come up

 

Never again. I spent the past three weeks gutting a place that was S8 for 5 years. Everything ... everything had to be replaced. They didn't have money for toilet paper so newspaper was often used -- which resulted in frequent plumber calls, they never used soap, never cleaned anything -- and had crack pipes and knives hidden all over the place. I don't know how you do it with 10 ...

To the first question -- if I was looking to get into real estate today I might think twice. I've always had a fascination with owning do it yourself car washes and laundromats. Probably a safer bet at this point.

In 7-10 years when all of the new interest only loans which are so popular in places like California kick over to interest and principle payments you are going to see a lot of places for sale cheap. I bought my first house at 23 and made a killing -- because of appreciation it earned more than my wife for many years. Those days are over.

 

what about getting homes from foreclosures, doing short sales and that those types of transactions?

 

with foreclosures you need cash-in-hand right up front.

 

JoeKing & one other guyon this board......can't think of his name (from washington state).......seems to know a fair amount about those. It is hard for a private person to get the interest of someone who is about to lose their house. I have sent letters and left a few messages, but have not really gotten anywhere.

i think you either need to have your mortgage ready within a week or so, or have some cash to buy the houses.....

it sounds great on paper, but not that easy.

I have had some luck buying from estates after the houses sit there unsold for 6+ months.... then I can offer a lower semi reasonable amount. I have not really had any HUGE winner.... i did buy a $40k house for $16,500 after it sat vacant for 2+ years.... that was nice.

 

what the heck does a $40K house look like??

 

not good. and very small. in gangland.

 

ahahah... here in harrisburg, pa..... for reasonable amounts of $ you can buy nice houses in "okay" parts of town..... they are "city" houses, but not too deep in the "gangland".

most "city" houses don't have much of a yard and are mostly either semidetached (duplex) or row homes (attached on both sides).

anyway...... I bought the house for $16,500 and did about 4k of work.... the house should be able to be sold for $50-$55k now (i said $40k before, because that was before the work was done to it).

so I have $22k in a $50k house.... not bad.... small stuff, but it works...... i rent it for $625 a month which is a reasonable amount...i could rent it through section 8 for $700 a month.

 

We have 1 family who are pigs and will definatly need to completely repaint and recarpet (and a few other fixes) the house when they move out.

We also have some section 8 people who really take care of the houses. They mostly let their dickhole boyfriends move in for free, but as long as the house is taken care of and the water bill isn't high, i don't fight it.

I had a couple of idiots who turned the heat up to 80F and walk around in a bikini when it is 5F outside.... then they ask me to sign the "heating assistence" forms (which I throw away). the couple of idiots and me usually don't get a long well and they move quickly.

Overall, section 8 mostly pays most of the tenants rent, so I don't have to collect much from each tennant....that is nice...and section 8 pays by the 3rd of every month.... plus if you wanted, they will actually pay probably $50-$100 more than "market rent". Mine are reasonable. Some people get $700+ for crapholes.

 

that one house was actually a pretty big 3 bedroom house with 2 more bedrooms on the 3rd floor....they were small....plus a full basement..... but it is near gangland..... just 2 blocks away are some $140k houses.....it was right on the edge between the nicer houses and crackhouses.