patrick.net

I pay more in taxes every year than the entire pittance you've made over the last decade.

However, it's because of people like you who think they're Warren Buffett Jr, and Chinese sweatshop owners bringing their cash overseas while fleeing from government firing squads that cause a piece of shit 1000 square foot hovel in E.P.A. to sell for $700,000.

I'm not an elitist or an asshole by nature but Bay Area real estate brings it out in me and I don't apoligize for it.

I believe Facebooksux's claim about his income. Would take a crapload of money to make someone that arrogant and shallow. I don't want to be rich if it turns me into an asshole like that.

Roberto, thanks for the post. My wife and I talked about this the other day too. But my wife being severely risk averse, she is content to just stay locked in on the investment properties as long as they are making over 10%. The trouble is once you get out of real estate, where do you park your winnings? If you can only make 2% on the cash while it sits there, you are effectively losing 8+% a year compared to leaving it as a rental.

wall of text :)
He will lose everything in a casino.

Was reading Dr. Housing Bubble and he had some interesting statistics in this blog post about forign buyers. Apparantely 55% of them buy in FL and next is AZ at 17%. Which could explain the sudden burst higher in prices. But also , I wonder how these foriegners will enjoy being landlords and also tolerate currency swings? I did hear from someone in Australia that they were running late night commercials about buying real estate in the USA, because it was so cheap and AUD is so strong? It does remind one of the bubble here.

http://www.doctorhousingbubble.com/california-housing-market-california-households-formation-foreign-real-estate-buyers-california/

Then why you here, yeah you!

And, while I have often been very happy to smugly pat myself on the back for taking the money, and avoiding the housing collapse, recently a nagging voice has been telling me that I could have done even better.

I have a few simple questions for you: 1) As a landlord/property manager/educated investor....how do you calculate the rent that you charge tenants? 2) How do you calculate your vacancy rate? 3) If you evaluate EACH of your rentals, where is the rental price in that particular market expressed as a percentage? Example top ten percent of RENTED comparable units or bottom ten percent of comparable units?

Your responses will inform my opinion about your enterprise.

Thanks for the post. The point about pricing below Comps is an important one, you might even price 10% below recent comps to generate more offers. Sometimes you can generate a sma;; bidding war that way, and if you have misjudged the speed of the downward trend you might still sell.

gbenson says

I believe Facebooksux's claim about his income. Would take a crapload of money to make someone that arrogant and shallow. I don't want to be rich if it turns me into an asshole like that.

Roberto, thanks for the post. My wife and I talked about this the other day too. But my wife being severely risk averse, she is content to just stay locked in on the investment properties as long as they are making over 10%. The trouble is once you get out of real estate, where do you park your winnings? If you can only make 2% on the cash while it sits there, you are effectively losing 8+% a year compared to leaving it as a rental.

I'm not rich. If I were I wouldn't be following this awesome website.

What I would like to do is parlay my hard earned money into a nice house for myself and my parents but the market here is full on batshit crazy.

Investor, each rental is unique for all of us I would think. In my case I have mostly condos cause I can have a bunch of them and my maintenance is low. I don't have to clean gutters, trim trees, or paint exterior, etc. Let's me keep my full time office job and still handle the rentals with ease.

I set rent usually based on comps in craigslist, however the individual property determines where I place it relative to that. Most of my condos are in pretty good shape, granite counters, vaulted ceilings, etc, so I am near the upper-middle of the price point on craigslist. Have one or two that are in not the best area of town, but are 'the right distance' from the light rail station. (Right distance being close enough to walk in 5 minutes or less, but far enough so criminals to hop station to station won't go out that far so crime is relatively lower). Usually get a lot of applicants who I wouldn't want to rent to in those properties, so sometimes I lower my price a bit ($15 - $25/mo relative to comps) so that I increase my pool of applicants and can be more selective and get someone in there who is going to pay on time and not trash the property. But in the more desirable locations I don't even have to do that because the demand is so high that I can charge top dollar and still get suitable applicants cause mine is the only listing. (Most of mine are in the more desirable neighborhoods, but got really good deals on the other 3, which is why I bought them).

On vacancy rate, condos tend to flip tenants faster than 3br SFH, but out of 9 properties I have had only about 1 vacancy that lasted about one month (waited for a really good tenant who was relocating to the area). More often than not, I am able to overlap if someone leaves and have a day or two to clean and the new tenant moves right in.

Interesting gbenson, do you have to pay HOA fees too and does it eat up a substantial portion of the income. Though, I would think since it is a rental, it would be deductible?

Facebooksux says

I'm not rich. If I were I wouldn't be following this awesome website.

What I would like to do is parlay my hard earned money into a nice house for myself and my parents but the market here is full on batshit crazy.

You're not rich and yet you claim to pay more in taxes in a year than Robert says he's made in all his real estate transactions. Isn't he claiming to have made well over $500,000 in his dealings? I'd say that makes you rich.

My definition of rich is not having to work for a living.

Mitt Romney

Buffett

Zuckfuck

Soros, etc etc.

I have a job that I put a lot of hours into but I need to keep working.

I am very fortunate that I have a great income, but I'm not "rich."

Facebooksux says

My definition of rich is not having to work for a living.

Mitt Romney

Buffett

Zuckfuck

Soros, etc etc.

I have a job that I put a lot of hours into but I need to keep working.

I am very fortunate that I have a great income, but I'm not "rich."

Then you need a more realistic outlook on things. Anybody who pays 500k in taxes a year is rich and isn't fretting about the price of their first home purchase.

robertoaribas says

Darrel the dumba$$, anyone with half a brain could look up my name on the county records and verify everything I post. Guess that counts you out. Sorry you missed your chance to buy here in Phoenix, maybe I'll buy a trailer next and rent it to you! would you prefer Florence, or Casa Grande?

Make sure you put him on speed dial Darrel and don't hesitate to call him in the midnight hours to complain about the clogged toilet, the noisy rain gutters, and the leaky roof. Don't do them all at once, trickle them out over time for their best effect.

robertoaribas says

Darrel the dumba$$, anyone with half a brain could look up my name on the county records and verify everything I post. Guess that counts you out. Sorry you missed your chance to buy here in Phoenix, maybe I'll buy a trailer next and rent it to you! would you prefer Florence, or Casa Grande?

Very becoming, very professional ProfessorialSpeak.

B.A.C.A.H. says

Darrell,

Do you pay taxes in Arizona? How about in that community college district over there? Are you getting your fare value for what you pay, for that person who boasted about the high pay and low work hours?

Maybe he's such an awesome Professor and he's got the job down so well that he has time for the blog and the real estate. Certainly did boast about the pay on a different thread. Maybe ratemyprofessors.com will give you some insight about your taxpayer value.

Don't bother asking Darrell. His supposed current place of residence is just a ruse to wind up Roberto. He'll move on to somewhere else when he gets bored. How about Monterey? It's very nice here.

Facebooksux says

My definition of rich is not having to work for a living.

Mitt Romney

Buffett

Zuckfuck

Soros, etc etc.

I have a job that I put a lot of hours into but I need to keep working.

I am very fortunate that I have a great income, but I'm not "rich."

With that amount of money you should be able to at least semi retire and not have to work again, but on a slimmed down lifestyle. Also, if you have family, wife and kid(s) will prevent you from doing so, in the never ending competition on who has the nicer house, cars, kids toys, electronic gimmick gadget. You'd have to train em well and put them in their place, willing to sever ties if necessary, then retiring within 10-15 years should be fairly easy with that income. It all depends on whether you decide to participate in the rat race or not. I'd say accumulated liquid funds north of 2 million $$ should allow you to semi-retire, esp. if yo don't blow it on a "nice" house (cardboard box). The things you own end up owning you.

KILLERJANE says

This whole site has become a bitchfest. Where is the gained insight from all this?

Just keep your blinders on! Common sense is a myth.

YAMS AND AMMUNITION

Facebooksux says

KILLERJANE says

This whole site has become a bitchfest. Where is the gained insight from all this?

Just keep your blinders on! Common sense is a myth.

YAMS AND AMMUNITION

And Phoenix sucks big time.

KILLERJANE says

I think if you are buying dirt cheap in Phoenix and getting good rent ROI. why even think of selling at all? I bought a cheap place and get almst 2% of the purchase in monthly rent. Yields 15% after expenses annually per Patricks calc. I never want to sell. It is my retirement supplement. Why do you want to sell?

Just keep your blinders on! Common sense is a myth.

That is the situation today, Add in a year of bad tenants that trash the place, followed by a 20-30% drop in equity to the point you have none. Then after you dump 10K into the place to get it rentable again you quickly find the rental market has dried up and it take you 2 years just to recoup your fix-up costs. Lets see what you think about supplement when that happens. This country is living on a borrowed dream. Nothing the GOP or Fed can do will stop this run-away train. Smile now, but remember you smile is being sponsored by the foolish taxpayers blood. Soon the blood will dry up and all that will be left is dying organs packaged in soiled old skin. This pig will come to roast. Wait for it...

Facebooksux says

I'm not rich. If I were I wouldn't be following this awesome website.

What I would like to do is parlay my hard earned money into a nice house for myself and my parents but the market here is full on batshit crazy.

Trust there are plenty of truly rich people following this list, (remember one thing: honestly rich people aren't stupid) only fools rush in.

As for the market being batshite crazy? It is batshite crazy coast to coast. Hang in there slowly but surely what goes around comes around.

Reader says

Trust there are plenty of truly rich people following this list, (remember one thing: honestly rich people aren't stupid) only fools rush in.

As for the market being batshite crazy? It is batshite crazy coast to coast. Hang in there slowly but surely what goes around comes around.

'Batshite crazy from coast to coast.' I don't think so. Most of the US has very affordable housing, and then there are areas that are very expensive. What a shocker.

I live in the Phoenix area and invest in Single Family Homes .Buyer beware Aribas is lying.From everything from the climate to ROI.His juvenile attacks and insults proves he does not want an educated discussion.MLS inventory has been climbing consistently and prices have already spiked.

Darrell In Phoenix says

How many times does this need to be explained to you?
CS excludes REO and defaulted property. Prices are falling when they're included.
Are you that obtuse?

If I'm selling a house--why do I care? Obviously the REOs aren't having a large effect on non-REO prices, so who cares?

Darrell In Phoenix says

Because they're excluded from the indices.

Catching on yet?

Yes, I'm catching on to the fact that you are a troll...

Darrell In Phoenix says

Of course your retort is personal attack. You can't refute the truth so you divert to name calling.

Well done.

Ho, ho, ho. Did you laugh when you typed that?

Darrell In Phoenix says

You can't refute it either.

Refute what? Nearly every single one of your posts, including as all your aliases, involves an insult and here you are posting that nonsense. Give me strength. Why not get a job or just grow up because trolling a real estate forum is about as pointless as you can get.

Here we go again. There's nothing to refute. You should simply be banned as you were before.

Darrell In Phoenix says

Of course you can't refute the truth.

What truth would that be? Explain away. Another long wait will no doubt ensue.

Darrell In Phoenix says

Refute it. Go on now.

Refute what? That you don't actually live in Phoenix? Why would I refute that?

congrats to Roberto.. he had some great luck .. heavy media attention and overbuilding certainly depressed the prices...a bounce back to a norm isnt too bad.. Hopefully we wont be seeing new bubbles form, it will certainly help the AZ economy move forward with job growth and the people learned something about speculating (overpricing) real estate.

I am getting calls from people who want to be notified if the house I currently have under contract falls through for any reason. Crazy. Someone even asked if it was going to be flipped by the new owner. It's not that special. Now I'm sort of questioning whether I should have rented it out again rather than selling when the tenants moved, but it was never meant to be a rental (I used to live in it and overimproved it.)

If we're in the bubble I think we might be in, I'll be glad I sold. The Mom and Pop investors are back in the market and that makes me say sell now. They are all trying to become landlords and that has to drive rents down.

Math Professor is all about facts. Being a Realtor is exactly opposite of that,always falsify the facts. I don't know how you can play that double roll in your life!

Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

The poster should come out pretty good, even with the 50% drop expected.

robertoaribas says

bubblesitter says

Math Professor is all about facts. Being a Realtor is exactly opposite of that,always falsify the facts. I don't know how you can play that double roll in your life!

I'm always honest about facts, which often hurts my job as a realtor...

Something like,"I can't lie?" - Liar Liar.