Renovations, furniture replacement, appliances, etc. Get a pro forma and fill it out.

I mean as in the property is expected to lose value as time passes. Not as a taxable idea, but it is literally expected to be worth a little bit less every year (in terms of real value).

I think you are going to pay a bunch of money for an expense that will cost thousands per year and tens of thousands to get out of.

Appreciate the reply! $1500/year of breakage/furniture replacement is already included and not all breakage will be born by me anyway, depending on the nature of it. That was based off of a real unit with 250 days of usage, and I cherry picked the greater number of the two statements I saw. All of the appliances/equipment (including ac, hot water heater, etc.) in my unit are ~2 years old and not used all that much, so I agree that there will be expenses over time, but I'm not anticipating new stuff needing to be replaced on the level you seem to be implying. The maintenance people will come by and fix all of the usual stuff for a smaller fee than normal (included in the "Other"), and my parents have contacts with reliable, local contractors as a backup.

You will need to fully remodel the unit every 10-15 years. Probably sooner.

Would this be a good candidate for a "motivated seller" opportunity?

http://www.loopnet.com/Listing/20075...ir-Norfolk-VA/

So I'm thinking about opening a self storage. I have my eye on a property for sale for $500k. It's been on the market for almost 2 years. It used to be used for landscape supplies so it's just wide open area and an office. I'm new to this so I'm new to zoning. It's zoned commercial/multi-business. Which when I read in the ordinances, it says special uses for the property can be

warehouses and general storage
antique car storage
boat storage
among many other things

Sooo it sounds like it may be a possibility to get this thing in action. Maybe I'm wrong. But if I want to find out, here's my questions.

What are the chances they say it's ok then I buy the property and then they change their minds?

I've actually looked a little closer and there's actually an X on the property on the zoning map which says "conditional rezoning". Anyone know what that means?

If I was going to try and buy this on land contract, is it possible to do so without the seller knowing what your going to do with it? I just don't want to say, hey this is what I'm going to do, then he thinks.. damn good idea and does it himself.

Any directions anyone can point me in for more info on this type of stuff?

Call the zoning department of the city it is located and ask your questions.

Selling "as is" could be a huge problem.

how much of REI is understanding the entire business/general entrepreneurship as opposed to understanding/valuating a specific city or area? Or a specific country/legislation/taxation? How contextual is it?

Everyone successful starts with something super niche and becomes an expert. This is true in general business as well. I'd just focus on your local area at first, learn about potential opps (IE if you live in the a large urban area, don't focus on trailers.), and then see if you can't make some money. If there are no options, move to something else and learn about something vaguely tangential (Maybe not trailers, but mebbe Section 8).

Most of what you find on loopnet is trash and has been listed after the listing broker has contacted his normal customers (and they have all rejected the deal.) There are exceptions to this but just be careful. In my area you can find a lot of stuff on loopnet that is wholesaled to an "end-investor" which was originally put under contract on MLS or off market.

That's smart and makes a lot of sense.

Would you suggest a first time real estate investor should try to look for something in the city he knows the best? Or are you bound to make a lot of mistakes your first time either way?

Try to find a mentor.

When you hear and read a lot about real estate in your local media ("value of properties on so and so has exploded on neighbourhood X...") and there's a spike in random normies bringing up investing in real estate.. that means there's probably a bubble right?

No

"No" we shouldn't 'Ask him about real estate investing'?

"No" for entrepreneurship in general?

Neo-hipster nihilist "No" then?

That's why you should quote in certain situations when you want to give a real addition to a thread. If you want to troll, however, I wouldn't know the rules better than some.

We are clearly in a bubble but that doesn't mean you shouldn't buy

These 5 Trends Will Shape the Housing Market in 2017 by Chris Matthews

If the U.S. economy is to hit escape velocity in 2017, you can expect the real estate sector to serve as its rocket fuel.

At its most broadly defined, housing can be counted on to compose 15% of GDP. It hasn't done that much heavy lifting lately, however. That's because in the wake of the real estate bubble, lending standards have remained tight, while the cautious builders who survived the crisis have been reluctant to dive headfirst into expanding their operations again.

But there are signs that these trends are about to change. As the new year rolls on, we'll fill you in on the health of builders and other key trends to watch below.
1. Rising Rates
As Redfin Chief Economist Nela Richardson predicts in a recent blog post, "We expect mortgage interest rates to increase, but to no higher than 4.3 percent on the 30-year fixed rate." That's still a great deal compared to historical norms.

2. More Credit
Starting in 2017, government-owned mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will begin backing larger mortgages for the first time in over a decade, making it easier for buyers in expensive markets to finance their purchases.

3. More New Homes
Though the most recent data on new home construction showed that builders pulled back on new projects in November, the overall trend in home construction is clearly positive, with the average annual rate of new groundbreakings reaching a 1.163 million rate so far in 2016, up about 5% from 1.108 million in 2015.
Expect this to continue in 2017, as home builders are encouraged by higher wages, looser credit, and increased demand from buyers.

4. The Continued Rise of Medium-sized Cities
One of the dominant stories of the current economic recovery is that top-tier economic cities like New York, Seattle, and San Francisco have seen property values rise as workers flock to these locations to take advantage of high-paying jobs. But this trend has put a strain on those cities' real estate markets , because new construction is often unable to keep pace with demand due to geographic constraints, or restrictions imposed by local government regulations.
That's why more younger folks are finding themselves attracted to medium-sized cities, which may not have the same professional opportunities as their larger counterparts, but provide housing affordability. Cities like Raleigh, N.C., and Fort Collins, Colo., have seen building permit issuance soar over the past six years as they attract younger adults seeking cheap rents and lower asking prices. Expect the trend to continue in 2017.

5. Foreign Buyers
One trend that is helping drive prices beyond the realm of affordability in places like New York and Los Angeles is an influx of foreign buyers of U.S. real estate. This has only increased of late, fueled in particular by buyers from China who are looking for safe places to store their wealth, away from the slowing economy of the homeland, where repressive financial policies make it difficult to earn decent returns on savings. "U.S. and Europe continue to attract growing amounts of foreign capital, especially from Asian investors," writes Scott Brown, global head of real estate at Barings Real Estate Advisers.

You had me at Redfin Chief Economist

Start investing to other markets/countries.
Lets say Estonia, you can buy a 130-170 square feet miniapartment(it has a bathroom and a mini kitchen) in our capital Tallinn for about 20K. And you can easily rent it out for 2oo Euros per month- 2,4K a year, so you can get your money back in 8 years. And sell it after that or keep renting it out.

^ Is the net rental income (i.e. the one with all the expenses subtracted) really €200 a month in Tallinn? I doubt this: there are taxes, the occupancy rate is less than 100% (you have to screen the potential tenants and reject those who you think are likely to damage your property e.g. by smoking or living with a pet, and it might be a long wait before a good candidate appears), some money has to be spent on marketing and insurance.

Alright so I have a Loan Estimate from Citibank on an investment property, 7/1 ARM at 3.875% with 25% down. I've spoken with 3 brokers since then, and all of them told me they couldn't come close to it, and the third guy said they ****ed up my offer and will be losing money on it.

My question is, let's assume they ****ed up, is the loan estimate binding? Do they have to eat the cost? Or will they screw me over in the loan process?

I have a flexible closing date, so I'm not overly concerned about delays.

edit: I've already paid them $679 for the appraisal, credit check, document fee, and flood cert.

You can easily get good tenants withe the help of google and 200€ per month. And no marketing needs to be done, because there are several candidates that will contact you within minutes when you put up the apartment to some of the many facebook groups.
Take a look, this is the main site for real estate in estonia:

http://kinnisvaraportaal-kv-ee.posti..._max=&keyword=

Well, you're lucky because Estonians are usually neat and careful with others' property

Actually, apartments are twice cheaper in Narva (cost €10K-12K for 27 sq.m. ~ 290 sq.ft., rent for €80-100 a month), and over 70% of the population of Ida-Virumaa are ethnic Russians, so, as it turns out, Russians like to buy residences there (or has there been a significant change in the immigration law since 2011?), sometimes just to facilitate getting a Schengen visa - thanks for reminding me about this idea

But is a typical Narva tenant as neat as an Estonian from another county? I doubt this. Russians are Russians no matter where they reside

are there property taxes on owning it? do you have to pay taxes to Estonian gov for rental income? Are non-EU buyers allowed?

Let limonaad correct me wherever I'm wrong...

Curiously, the tax is paid according to the area of the land under a building, not the rooms in the building itself, and distributed among the co-owners. Thus the land tax for an apartment in a high building is negligibly low as there are many owners on a small piece of land; it even doesn't have to be filed if it amounts to less than €5 a year.

Since 2015, the income tax has been 20% flat. It has to be paid on all the profit derived from Estonian property regardless of the tax residency status of the owner.

That said, Russia taxes its non-residents' income from Russian sources at 30% (as opposed to 13% for residents) so Estonia is surely more lucrative for foreigners.

Everyone who's visiting the country legally is allowed to buy there, subject to the permission of the governor of the county where it's located (which is almost always granted). Here's a guide I've come across after a lazy Google search*.

Formally, owning property in Estonia doesn't give automatic residency or even visa privileges. In practice, though, as I've written above, Russians who buy property there are almost never denied entry as long as they don't break the 90/180 rule (which they're usually not tempted to do anyway, as Estonian property normally acts as a 'dacha' / summer country house, Ida-Viru being essentially a St. Petersburg suburb as much as it's a Tallinn suburb). It's rumoured to be an even less time-consuming way to get a multi-entry Schengen visa than the most famous loophole - the Finnish consulate in St. Petersburg.

Of course, the citizens of those countries that have visa-free entry into the Schengen Area have even fewer problems, though the 90/180 rule applies to them too.

* Nationals of 'non-contracting' (non-EU, I assume?) countries are generally not allowed to buy property in some specific areas:

That said, wealthy Russians successfully circumvent this limitation by means of registering an Estonian company and buying property to its name, so Narva-Jõesuu is still essentially a resort for St. Petersburg residents Besides, in Jõhvi (the capital of Ida-Viru) that's not on the list, ethnic Russians are in the majority too.