Today I wanted to offer a play-by-play on just one of our investment clients: 2013: Purchased a 3 bed condo in South Coast Metro for $128,000. There were 27 cats that lived in this property, all without litter boxes, the smell from the nitrogen in the urine permeated everything, along the top of all the walls had 8 inches of mold, floors were all warped. Funny thing was, they had a $2,000 Viking stainless steel range stove, nearly brand new. 2013: Spend $23,000 to fix it up, including new everything. Little to no repair work for 7 years afterwards because we did it right to begin with. Instant equity as price was $175,000. 2013: Rented for $1,700 2014: Rent increase to $1,750 2015: Rent increase to $1,800 2016: Rent increase to $1,850 2017: Rent increase to $1,950 2018: New tenant, rented for $2,000 2019: New tenant, rent for $2,300 2020: SOLD during the Coronavirus for $360,000, under contract with the proceeds for most of the downpayment for a $1.367M 4plex purchase in...

Things are getting expensive. I was thinking, I just paid $9,000 for 1 set of kitchen cabinets/counters and one bathroom set of cabinets and counters. This would have cost me closer to $6,000 just 4 years ago, less than $4,000 10 years ago. There are three possible reasons for this: 1. US Dollar is worth less 2. Trade War/Tariffs are making manufactured imports more expensive 3. Labor is more expensive I wonder how this will extrapolate out. In theory, when times are tough the US dollar goes up, it and gold are the "last man standing" in a downturn, anything denominated in dollars will do better. Source: Bullionstar.com Essentially, non-US friendly countries have been moving their reserves of gold up recently. Personally, I believe it is possible that we are seeing a country such as China making a move against the US dollar for world reserve currency status. This is based on the fact that the 1944 Bretton Woods Agreement which established th...

I want to speak briefly to the masses today. Normally our audience is the Buyer and Seller, and yet it is easy enough for anyone to become both. It could even happen that you are a Buyer, Seller, and Investor at the same time! How can this be? Me, a normal person can be a Investor? Yes. Even more than that, as soon as you start your journey you start doing something greater than yourself, building generational wealth. Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start. This beginning looks like a house purchase. That would be because it is a house purchase. Assuming you are buying this house to rent out, you are now a Landlord and Investor. The first house is going to be the scariest, it gets easier from there. Let's assume you have rented out the house for a couple of years and you are looking to upgrade from a Single Family Residence to a Duplex. You would sell your Single Family Residence and 1031 the proceeds of the sale into the purchase of the duplex. Yo...

In this modern day and age, companies like Yelp have made a business out of Reviews. As a consumer, reviews are often used to feel out a company you are considering using and are looking to do some research on. As a business, we love good reviews. But to have such a thing as a good review, means we have to have such a thing as a bad review. No one likes bad reviews, except the person who put it there as a tool of negativity for (usually) self gain. If you have been in business for 10+ years, and your business is a sensitive one-as if you provide people a place to live-you are bound to have some reviews. Home is where the heart is, many people say and the heart is the source of emotion. We ourselves have more people that like us than don't like us-but they don't often leave reviews. If you called and spoke to them though, they would be happy to tell you about what it was like to be a tenant with us. But where there is good, there can also be bad. Not many people know ...

Now that we have our priorities in place, and an action plan based on those priorities-time to make the plan a reality. Here is how: 1.       Create your list of action items for the home zones 2.       Organize your project list based on your priorities 3.       Make a realistic, comfortable budget 4.       Determine your time frame and team Now, let’s assume you have completed and you started your journey going green. The journey once started-never really ends. Here is how to continue the journey once your greenovating is completed: 1.       Practice proper maintenance for optimal performance 2.       Keep it clean 3.       Watch for problems 4.       Share the rewards of your green home adventure Sharing is caring-caring about the world and inspiring others to...

Recently one of my associates and their family took to vlogging the once in a lifetime experience, which is living through the lockdown and the coronavirus. And while many of us on the side lines are enjoying the crazy memes that are coming out of this pandemic, they came up with lessons they have learned from COVID-19. I always enjoy a good laugh, but I love me my lessons more. The source of this can be found here . Here are the lessons: 1) Proper hygiene is not being OCD 2) Save money for a rainy day 3) My kids will survive home school 4) Slow down and smell the coffee 5) It's ok to have ups and downs, you are human 6) Go against the grain, Jesus did 7) No more stressing about work, it's a privilege to serve the community 8) Health is Wealth 9) Buy Toilet Paper on sale and hoard it In case you feel like sharing or reposting, it has conveniently been turned into a GIF! The only thing I would add is, be good to your fellow humans-together we can get...

In a recent blog, we discussed more briefly about the Coronavirus (aka COVID-19). In this blog, I would like to provide a more company centric/industry specific update about the Coronavirus. This is the Coronavirus update for The Results Real Estate Group, a Real Estate Team at Realty Pro 100.  On the real estate end, things are going mostly normal. The office is practicing social distancing and open houses are still being attended. In this time, Home is the only for sure thing that can not change-so whether you are leasing or buying, there is very much a lot of enthusiasm for obtaining a safe place to harbor. Loans are very busy with interest rates being dropped again. Most things that can be handled over phone or email are being handled as such-and visitations are safe with distancing.  So, like the meme says, stay calm and keep moving forward. I am available by phone, email, social media and by visitation (as requested). I urge us all to stand together and get thr...

Let’s delve into Part 2 of Green Your Home. We are now ready to have a green home. But the question now is where to begin? Step by step of course: 1.       Clarify Your Green Priorities 2.       Create Your Green Team 3.       Build Your Green Project List 4.       Turn Your Project List into a Plan of Action Let’s start by ranking the three priorities in order from highest to lowest: Healthy, Money Smart, Sustainable. Let’s say Healthy is your highest priority, here are some suggestions for you: Hardwood floors, low-VOC paints, exhaust fans in bathroom and kitchen, plants in the home, carbon monoxide sensors, and air filters. Let’s say Money Smart is your highest priority, here are some suggestions: energy efficient appliances, optimally designed HVAC system, passive heating and cooling features, a tight building envelope, and a right size home with a smaller footprint. ...

Is it just me or have you also noticed how ransacked most stores look-if they are even open? Or how we are creating Toilet Paper Millionaires and a generation of Coronial Babies? By the time you are reading this, it is very likely that everyone in the world knows (or thinks they know) about the Coronavirus (aka COVID-19). It has impacted lives around the world in Personal, Professional, and in some cases Tragic ways. I would like to take a moment to talk about what the Coronavirus is, the impact it is having, and what you can/should be doing about it. The best way to combat a virus, or anything for that matter, is to: 1. Inform yourself 2. Make a plan 3. Make that plan happen-the rest is out of your hands. Let’s start by getting to know the enemy a little bit. What is the Coronavirus? “It is a respiratory illness that can spread from person to person. The virus that causes the virus is a novel coronavirus that was first identified during an investigation into an outbreak in Wuhan,...