How is the R/E market doing by you?

[Angry Inch]

It's not a "bad" market, yet. Long term, you'll be fine. Where you buy will also play a part in it as well. People trying to time the market, are the ones with the most to worry about. As it's been said before, I know people who jumped 3 years ago, certain the sky was falling and they were at the top. They missed out big time on additional apprec. Not to say that will continue in the short term, but again some areas will continue to appreciate.
Good luck.
Yup, it's impossible to time the market

[beaverretriever]

Can I ask what mortgage plan you have this triplex on in order to get that positive cash flow? Did you just purchase it or is this a long term that has recently been good? Is it a stable program?
I was listening to a radio program this past weekend and they were telling people about a single family residence had positive cash flow if purchased with no money down. Can I buy five then? The kicker which they don't tell you is that IT ONLY HAS POSITIVE CASH FLOW ON A NEG AM PAYMENT!!!! and only for the first year until it adjusts. Come on!!!! Do the agents and mortgage brokers feel good about saying this stuff? If it's such a great deal, buy it yourself, don't take somebody else down in the fire.
Some ignorant person is going to hear this BS, buy the property and lose it within a year. I just get angry listening to this stuff.
I have to admit, not all my investments have been so good . We purchased a house at the end of last yr in Cedar City thinking we were going to make a killing. It took a dive here in the last 8 months and we barely broke even. I got scared and wanted to get out from under it. Unfortunately I purchased this property to turn and burn. Due to the ASSoc we couldnt rent it out. I basically sold it for the price I purchased for after all said and done (capital gains, realtor etc).
The triplex that we own was a great deal when we purchased it, I mean a GREAT deal. We lucked out getting this place. We have a 30yr fixed at 5.798 %. The renters that are in there, were there when we puchased, so we had guaranteed income right off the bat. We couldnt lose.

[Chipster27]

Third, since I'm not a slum lord, I may be off base, but an hour a week or a half a day a month doesn't seem reasonable. Dealing with maintenence and vacancies, it probably will be much more than that. Otherwise you hire a property management company and that eats into your profit (what do they get,10%?).
Honestly it's not that bad. You have to do your homework up front. Keep your rent reasonable and you can be very selective on who you chose, don't panic and take the first applicant. I'll never use a management company simply because I don't trust them. Not that they will take the money and run, but that they won't put a quality renter in my property.
Honestly it takes me about 20 minutes a month to maintain the homes, and that is basically the time in line at the bank to cash the check. Sure when a renter moves out I may have 4-6 hours in to screening applicants, but it's no big deal.

[totenhosen]

Where do you get this interest only idea from? 1mil loan at 8% is roughly 8k a month. The tenants pay prop tax.
Just nit picking
A fully amortizing loan (P&I) over 20 years (which majority of commercial lenders will do) at 8% would be monthly payments of $8364.40.

[totenhosen]

If you look at my original post, it states that the problem with the current market/situation is the fact that one needs such a large down payment to make it work.
Thats what makes the market from a standpoint of R/e investing not so attractive. ROE blows.

[totenhosen]

example:
2 million sale, 180k a year income, 30k expenses, 7.5% cap rate.
Now, correct me if I'm wrong here, but I think rates are ~7%. So, let's say it's 8% on 2 million, with 50% down. That's 8g a month in loan payments. Your net income is 12.5g. You pocket 4.5g a month for an hours worth of work a week. That is not a bad invesment.
That is a return on equity of less than 6% when you break it down. I can almost get that on a MMA with no risk.

[Angry Inch]

Look. All I’m saying is, look at commercial; you might find something. It seems to me that so many people are concentrated on buying real estate, and the majority skip commercial all together.
We can debate investments all day. I’d rather build wealth. I’ve made a lot through real estate. Land is one of the primary human needs. We start wars over land and pussy.

[locogringo]

And people said I was crazy to fix both my houses for 30 years at 5% a couple years ago...
The market is going to get worse according to all the experts. I have to laugh at all the people that told me it was going to last forever. I have lived through two crashes before, and this market is on the same course. The difference now though is a lot of people don't have any real money (other than payments) in these homes. A lot easier to walk away when you don't put 10-20% down.
One of the experts that I get a letter from said there are 12k condos waiting to come into the market in San Diego. He said that in a normal market 1k a year come in and that the added inventory is going to cause some serious problems. For those looking to pick up deals he advises not to buy for at least 6 month to a year because prices will continue to fall. He said that the amatuers that have been in the market the past few years are the ones that are now going to suffer, and the experts will then step in and clean up. Should get interesting.
I remember the same thing Cig. People saying no way in hell. I should pull up some of those threads... lol

[locogringo]

Yup, it's impossible to time the market
not really if u understand the market conditions, trends and such.