I copped a Duke Ellington at Newport 1956 vinyl and have it playing in the background now. The jazz fest was great, as always. I managed to eat some paella (skipped the evil sausages and chicken) and swig down a few cups of Sam Adams swill. The weather was ideal, high 70s, very little humidity. The crowd, genteel, as should be expected.
As soon as I sat down to peruse the news, all I could find was how dreadful Jennifer Lawrence’s new film was and how people now hate her for making it. I don’t get the anger people display for entertainers. Futures are mildly higher, commodities are flat and bitcoins aren’t crashing. This is a meaningless set of metrics, since you and I both know volatility will crash tomorrow, stocks will race to fresh record highs, and we’re all going to feel good about our prospects.
Bull markets make geniuses out of us all, the evergreen feeling of success that always has a unique feeling to it. I perused some investment properties today, and have been considering getting into the flipping business. My experiences during the housing crash keep these impulses at bay, more or less. Some of the homes in Trenton, NJ are selling for a song, less than $40 per sq ft, and could easily be fixed and rented out for a decent profit. The very best investments I’ve made have been in real estate, aside from the dot com and 2003, 2009 revival days.
How many of you invest in real estate? Just curious.
I’ll be checking the headlines and futures throughout the night and will be posting something later on. If you have any requests, tell me now. It’s a slow night so far.
If you enjoy the content at iBankCoin, please follow us on Twitter
“More than any other sector, retail is ripe for stock picking.”
Discuss.
Let me guess, GOOS?
Is this the Fly writing? Flipping real estate is only worth it if you are in the business and can get goods/services at wholesale prices.
Not always true. You should get your head out of the codein bottles every so often.
The real racket is building your own home living in it for two years and dumping it. Provided market is stable you pay no capital gains tax on gains. A lot of people in home building area have been doing it in my area.
Why no tax? Because you built it?
It is a tax loophole (says my accountant/father in law) but it must be your primary residence for at least two years. A lot of builder will build their own home with all the ‘extra’ labor and supplies in a development for pennies on the dollar then sell it once the next phase is started. That works until the market crashes and your paycheck shrinks are you are stuck holding a million dollar home that you can’t pay taxes on.
An interesting investment given the ‘vinyl resurrection’ would be looking into who possesses the ability to produce vinyl records for small labels. The answer is very very few individuals.
Most of the vinyl manufacturers run at capacity and I don’t think any are public so investing may not be an option. If you can find some old pressing equipment and start up a vinyl manufacturing company, it could do very well with the resurgence in vinyl over the recent past. Its not a fad so I don’t think it’s going anywhere any time soon.
It’s taken me until now just to have enough money for one house (stupid millennials). My friend who works at microsoft bought a house in Seattle for $500K and sold it three years later for $1M and moved into a stupid apartment.
As an aside, was out at comedy club in Saratoga last evening with the wife and friends and thought the headliner had a familiar voice but could not put my finger on it. Turns out Mr.Panos himself was delivering a great set. Did not recognize him as he lost about 50 pounds of fat and replaced it with muscle. Also missing was Greek porn stache.
How is Saratoga? I haven’t been there since I was a younger man. I’ve been meaning to head up there.
Maria is coming to help the Caribbean wash the laundry. Cue Nacho next.
Building new home on lot purchased down the street for $12K. Construction loan will fund 90% so relatively low barrier to entry if you have sufficient income and low debt service.
Senior Tropicana,
Nice work trading the hurricane. That was impressive.
I own the place I live in as well as a rental property in Northern Jersey. There are a lot of ways to make money in real estate, especially in an urban area. The Homesteps and Homepaths program offer foreclosed properties for cheap if you can offer cash. If you are willing to move into one and live there for at least a year you get an additional bidding preference. Foreclosed properties owned by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, who run the Homesteps and Homepath programs, are often not lendable due to the short time frame that they are placed on the market. As soon as you buy one of these properties it appreciates in value by 20% or more because as long as the property is in good condition it automatically becomes eligible for debt financing. You can fix the property up and as long as you hold it for a least a year I believe (not 100% sure) it’s legal to flip it. Its a great way to get money out of the stock market when you want to take profits. I prefer to buy and hold properties vs. flipping when there is plenty of consistent rent coming in and the property is cash flow positive.
if you count running a REIT for clients. I’ve been looking at waterfront property in Camden. At some point it will be like Jersey City.
I’ve been in Camden about 4 times this year. Near the stadium is nice, but the other parts dreadful. A bet on Camden is a bet on Philly. Being that Philly is cheaper and the main hub, why not buy there? Prices are +25% this year in Philly.
Most of my assets are in real estate. I don’t do much flipping, pretty much only rentals. More stable, less risk and really good returns. I can get more leverage than most hedge funds at lower interest rates and it’s a much more stable market. To make money with them you need to either be at the high end or low end, tough to do anything in the middle.
Fly, for a gentleman of your stature I would suggest finding a reputable commercial real estate broker. Commercial properties with a good tenant offer superior appreciation with lower turnover and upkeep.
For any young ball busters reading my shit reply half blood up top is right. Buy a house in a decent area that needs some tlc, live in it a few years, diy fix up, sell it in a few years with the capital gains entirely tax exempt, rinse and repeat. You can realistically generate low to mid six figure gains by the time you are 30. Stick it in a brokerage account with diversified etfs, and you’ll be a very wealthy person by the time you’re 50.
I can’t live in it, since I have a big family. They’d kill me if I did that.
Just don’t sell it for a year.
Something may be happening. Crude is selling for 2 1/2 packs of cigs in any Libtard city. 50 dollars. Think about that.
Re: Vinyl.
I get how original pressings of a vinyl record can be amazing and worth owning.
The rest of the vinyl renaissance, I don’t get.
Sound magic is not the storage medium or analog vs digital (the current state of digital, not the early sound of it). On the tech side, real aural magic and experience is a result of what people did with the gear at their disposal rather than the the technology available.
If the sound of a vinyl record from the past 40 years is amazingly better than from other sources of the recording, it’s probably not because it is vinyl. It’s because many digital versions have been re-mastered by a jackass. You don’t get paid unless you do something, and much of what is done is rubbish.
I’m an old guy from the analog era. On the pro side I would choose the latest digital over old analog gear any day. On the home listening side, here’s a suggestion… pay more attention to listening room acoustics.
I have my last rental property of the 7units I owned up for sale now. All were purchased pre 2008. Beyond my home, I never want to own, flip, or rent to, again. Tenants are the scumbaggery of the earth, and the maintenance, particularly as you get older and busier, is crazy making. Unless you are in the business full time, which I was not, avoid.