Any home based business success stories out there?

[LandGreen]

I thought this would be the perfect place to brainstorm other income producing ideas...internet is full of stuff from stuffing envelopes to filling out surveys etc...but i imagine it is 100% scam, unless someone here has first hand experience.

Just looking for things to do on the days off, because this airline world is not going to provide much of a retirement anymore! sorry if I sound cynical!

 

[Zephyrhills]

rentals, rentals, rentals

 

[LandGreen]

rentals, rentals, rentals

i keep hearing about this..."BUBBLE...the BUBBLE is going to break!" "guys with rentals on interest only are going to get clobbered!"

oh well, probably the tenants are all saying this anyway! LOL

 

[miles otoole]

i keep hearing about this..."BUBBLE...the BUBBLE is going to break!" "guys with rentals on interest only are going to get clobbered!"

oh well, probably the tenants are all saying this anyway! LOL

I hope he meant power tool rental because if it's real estate, you had best not be leveraged to the hilt. UAL anyone?
I'd say the new money will be in foreclosures due to I/O loans blowing up. 40% of the new home loans in San Diego are interest only? Wow!
A mortgage broker showed me the break even annual price appreciation point for the typical interest only loan-15%. Yikes.

 

[Zephyrhills]

At the end of the term, those people will just refi into another I/O loan. If they sell, then what? They have to buy another home, which means another loan. Get an I/O loan. Buy a rental. Write 100% of the I/O payment off each month. Preserve your D/I ratio so you can buy more rentals. As long as there is no depreciation, then sell the home or refi it when the principal is due (5 years typically). Negative-am I/O loans...now that is a different story...unless you bought in central FL over a year ago before the 100% surge in prices. A 30 year fixed loan doesn't work for rentals...unless you plan on keeping the home for more than 5-7 years, at which time you actually begin to pay down some principal.


...or just keep picking up opentime and pray your airline is around when you retire. I'll put my money into rentals, thanks. I love my airline, but who knows if they'll be around when I hit 60/65? I like to have some control over my financial future.

 

[MINIME]

This is really not considered home based, but I own a small trucking company. Business, there's plenty to go around but drivers are very hard to come by. Supply and demand is not on the owners' side at this time. Once you do have drivers and trucks that run good without so many break ups, it can be lucrative.

The wife also ownes some rentals. Personally, I don't think you can go wrong with them. If interest rates go up, people tend to stay away from purchasing homes therefore renting more and more. Currently, I'm about to close on a commercial property myself. We'll see how it goes.

Hell, none of my go to airlines have called yet, I better do something to prepare....the future

 

[MDP727]

I agree on the rentals. I took a voluntary furlough last year to give it a stab at full time. For 05' I bought and sold two forclosures with out doing any work to them. Good luck on the commercial property! I purchased two office buildings a year ago with 22 rental offices. I'm in the process of putting them on the market because they have appreciated for 1 million more than I payed for them. My recent purchase was a 3/8 mile speedway. Due some homework and you can make some money.

 

[Dave Benjamin]

I own a sail import business. You can check it out at www.islandplanetsails.com

Yes we offer good deals to fellow airline employees.

We also own a beach condo that we use as a vacation rental in Neskowin, OR which is north of Lincoln City and south of Pacific City. Ask about our interline rates starting as low as $59/ night for a 2 night midweek stay, $69 for single night.

I think rentals can be a good investment in the right area. I didn't want to buy a regular house and have to put up with full time renters. Prices at the beach are up 400% in 8 years, doubling every 4 years. With the baby boomers retiring and oceanfront real estate still a bargain compared to California I don't see the market bottoming out anytime soon. Nor do I see overinflated San Diego prices dropping out of sight. There may be a small correction or a flattening but the demand is still there. Interest rates could play a large role in how the market goes over time. Vacation property will not suffer as much as primary residences in the event of higher interest rates since a lot of the property is being purchased with cash from the sale of other property. The only real threat to the real estate market is President Bush's plan to greatly reduce or eliminate the mortgage interest deduction and reduce taxes on capital gains and dividends. If that happens the bottom could fall out of the real estate market. I'm counting on a lot of opposition from Congress and the Senate to keep that proposal from becoming reality.

 

[miles otoole]

Housing subsidies

http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2005/11/crush_that_mort.html

 

[Dave Benjamin]

http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2005/11/crush_that_mort.html

The only people that would benefit if the so called "subsidy" were eliminated would be the very wealthist people in the USA. We're probably talking the top 1 percent or less. Think about it. How many of us make six figures off our investments every year. Sure if you make a high six figure income off dividends and stock deals you'd be better off. At my airline the CEO and perhaps 2 or 3 other people would come out ahead if the mortgage deduction was eliminated. Thousands of other people would lose in a big way.

There are many subsidies that Washington could eliminate to save money. We could start by ending corporate welfare. Just look at the handouts to oil companies that were in that Energy Plan.

The only economists likely to support removing the deduction are political appointees or members of conservative think tanks. Enactment of that inane proposal would cause the largest reduction in individual net worth since the Great Depression.

The mortgage tax deduction has social benefits as well as financial ones. Home ownership is a good thing for America and Americans. Delong claims "The money put into building those huge villas on the hillside could have been put into factories, office buildings and schools...." I submit that most of us are more comfortable living in a house than in a factory. The middle class of this country consists mostly of workers. Workers work in those factories and office buildings. The average citizen is not in a position to engage in massive commercial development.

 

[WhiteCloud]

Real estate is great if you don't fall for the late night tv way of doing things. Buying a house with no money down and getting $20K (or whatever) at closing just means you took out a loan for 20K. House of cards waiting to come crashing down if you're not careful. That $20K at closing doesn't go far if you need a new roof and the place is empty for a couple months after you got burned by a tenant you had to evict. Rentals are a great thing to do, just don't fall in to that country club lifestyle silliness they try to portray it as. It's definitely work if you want to make money on it.

 

[Dave Benjamin]

I met a guy that makes a pretty good living with real estate investments. He buys and sells foreclosed properties and owns rentals as well. It's a lot of work. He said he might look at 50 or 100 properties before finding one that pencils out. He's been doing it for years and has many contacts at banks and construction companies. It's a full time job and then some. He get a laugh out of people that try those get rich quick programs advertised on TV. People underestimate the amount of work.

 

[WhiteCloud]

The only real threat to the real estate market is President Bush's plan to greatly reduce or eliminate the mortgage interest deduction and reduce taxes on capital gains and dividends. If that happens the bottom could fall out of the real estate market. I'm counting on a lot of opposition from Congress and the Senate to keep that proposal from becoming reality.

Certainly reduction/elimination of mortgage interest deduction would hurt home sales but I'm not sure how a reduction in taxes on capital gains and dividends would. One of the things fueling this real estate recovery/boom the last few years has been the ability to sell without getting reamed on the first $250K of capital gain. Lots of properties becoming available that otherwise would not have been sold.

 

[MINIME]

Very true,

I can honestly say that I've researched at least 80 properties since last year to come to the conclusion that the one I'm about get into is hopefully the right one. We'll see.... It's a little risky. But nothing compares to the risk we take by leaving our families' future in the hands of these airline management teams of now at days! Of course there are a few exceptions out there still.

 

[GVEtrucker]

LandGreen,

First, let me congratulate you for realizing the basic truth of an Airline Pilot Career. IT”S THE BEST TEMPORY JOB YOU’LL EVER HAVE!

Understanding this is the first step towards your financial freedom. The next is using your time off and the above average income, (well, it used to be above average) to get yourself in a position that you can walk away from your airline career on your own terms.

Real estate has been good to me too. I’ve parlayed a small nest egg by selling my primary residence twice now. It is tough of the wife. “Honey, don’t get too attached to the house, we’ll be moving again in two years.”

A good place to begin is reading the “Rich Dad Poor Dad” series by Robert Kiyosaki. Keep in mind; Robert makes a lot of his money off of selling people like us books. If you go into real estate, a must read is, “Real Estate Investing Loopholes” by Diane Kennedy and Dolf De Roos. They used to be part of Kiyosaki’s stable, but appear to have broken out on their own. One book that we all should have is “Making the Most of Your Money” by Jane Bryant Quinn. It’s the ultimate home reference for all things financial.

One captain from my old airline has done well appraising real estate. He started out doing the grunt work for a licensed appraiser making about $100 bucks a house. Now that he is licensed, he makes about $250 of the $350 appraisal fee still working for the original guy. This fellow has a stable of appraisers/appraisers in training working for him. If each appraiser/trainee does 3-4 houses per day times… Well, you do the math. A neighbor makes 600k a year selling real estate, but it’s his passion and it’s 24-7-365.

Mortgage brokering/processing has worked for several friends of mine. But I’d shoot myself if my income depended on filling out forms.

I know two captains at my present gig that have three crash pad for a total of 36 beds times $150-$175 a month. Lot’s of work though getting the money out of deadbeat pilots. The houses are in ATL where housing is cheap and foreclosures sales abound.

A low-tech business that allows you to get you foot in the door of your own business is stump grinding. (Don’t get your foot underneath) Lot’s of write offs on tools and mileage, set you own schedule, lots of cash transactions. Leave the tree climbing to those with few teeth and lots of tattoos.

Like your airline career, read all you can and network with people that have been sucessful.

Best of luck.

GVE

 

[Dave Benjamin]

Certainly reduction/elimination of mortgage interest deduction would hurt home sales but I'm not sure how a reduction in taxes on capital gains and dividends would. One of the things fueling this real estate recovery/boom the last few years has been the ability to sell without getting reamed on the first $250K of capital gain. Lots of properties becoming available that otherwise would not have been sold.

It's not home sales I'm concerned about. It's home values. For the vast majority of Americans the largest asset and core of their net worth is their primary residence. Between both places I own I write off in excess of $20K/ year. Take away that tax writeoff and I can't afford to keep both properties. If the mortgage deduction was eliminated I'd be in deep doo-doo because that tax deduction fuels the real estate market. I would suddenly find my property devalued. For some people the combination of market devaluation and loss of tax deduction would force them to literally walk away from the property and default on their mortgage. Amplify that by hundreds of thousands of people, perhaps millions and you'll see the worst recession ever. However, as in previous recessions, the richest of the rich would not suffer. In fact they would likely prosper by picking up some real bargains. Soon the interest deduction would be reinstated by Democrats that would be elected by a landslide and some of the wealthy upper crust would enjoy huge gains.

For an example of my prediction happening on a smaller level look at what happened when Reagan instituted the luxury tax on aircraft and yachts. Boatbuilders and aircraft manufacturers went bankrupt or out of business practically overnight. Now we have our government fighting to achieve conflicting goals. They want to preserve tax cuts for the rich and fund the war in Iraq as well as continue to subsidize large corporations through their corporate welfare program. So they're doing things like freezing potentially "fraudulent" tax returns submitted by lower income Americans and reducing expenditures on food stamps and other subsistence type programs. Of the frozen tax returns only a very small percentage are actually fraudulent but it's a lot easier attacking poor people who can't afford lawyers than going after the tax cheats that are scamming millions. Of course a lot of those folks donate to the GOP so they'd be the last ones the administration would go after.

 

[4fanman]

Kiyosaki is nothing more than a book seller...

LandGreen,

A good place to begin is reading the “Rich Dad Poor Dad” series by Robert Kiyosaki. Keep in mind; Robert makes a lot of his money off of selling people like us books. GVE

If you do a search on Kiyosaki you will find he is pretty much a fraud. He is nothing more than a guy selling books. He is a good writer and is able to get you really pysched about real estate, but when people started looking at what he really has, his background, his questionable military service, they found a lot of questions that he could not answer.

I'm not knocking real-estate, it's something I'm interested in as well, but I wouldn't waste any money on Kiyosaki's books. Do a search and decide for yourselves.

While looking up Kiyosaki I found this guy's web site. He pretty much discredits RDPD page by page. Again, read and decide for yourself.

http://www.johntreed.com/Kiyosaki.html

 

[psysicx]

How does one find foreclouser lists?

 

[Dave Benjamin]

What does Kiyosaki's "questionable military service" have to do with real estate? I'm not defending the guy but that's irrelevant. Besides the POTUS has questionable military service and that hasn't held him back. I can't imagine what he'd be doing if his Dad wasn't HW Bush. Perhaps he'd be managing a pizza place or 7-11. Or writing real estate books like Kiyosaki.

I think you can find foreclosures through court records.

 

[Floyd R. Turbo]

For an example of my prediction happening on a smaller level look at what happened when Reagan instituted the luxury tax on aircraft and yachts.

Reagan? Big guy, liked horses, First in line for the open spot on Mt. Rushmore, THAT Reagan?

No. The luxury tax was introduced as part of the Omnibus Budget Reconcilation Act of 1990, passed by a Democrat-controlled Congress and signed by Bush I when he reneged on "Read My Lips." It was repealed in 1993, after even most Democrats realized what a bad idea it was--too late for a lot of boatbuilders, but hey, at least we stuck it to those rich guys, right? While I found lots of people willing to take credit for the repeal, I couldn't find any references to who introduced it, and I gave up looking, but I'd bet the farm his or her name was followed by a D.

No disagreement with your larger point, just giving credit where credit is due.

 

[4fanman]

What does Kiyosaki's "questionable military service" have to do with real estate?

Nothing, directly. It just supports the case of his lack of credibility. All I'm saying is check the guy out before spending money on his wares. There are too many other credible sources out there to waste time and money with him.

 

[TV9Driver]

Any homebuilders out there? I'm in the process of starting up a land/property development company and just wanted to get an idea of the cost of homebuilding since Katrina. I had heard a 20% increase in material costs.

 

[dtfl]

TV9Driver - not a builder, but have friends who are building. In Niceville - near Eglin AFB in the panhandle - new homes in nice subdivisions are going for $245 sf. Not kidding. Condos on the water, preconstruction, are $800-1000 sf. Folks in MS are getting custom homes done for $100-150sf.

 

[psysicx]

The builder I talked to in Tx said he could build me a house for $65 sf.

 

[Dangerkitty]

The builder I talked to in Tx said he could build me a house for $65 sf.

For $65 a square foot you are not going to be getting the highest quality building materials. Might be at code but without a doubt not the best.

You get what you pay for when you are building a house. If you buy a house strictly by what the price per square foot is, you are going to be dissapointed in the long run.

I paid $115 a square foot for my house in Dallas back in 2001 and I got a good deal. Not the most expensive house in the neighborhood but not the cheapest either.

 

[Jeepman]

What does Kiyosaki's "questionable military service" have to do with real estate? I'm not defending the guy but that's irrelevant. Besides the POTUS has questionable military service and that hasn't held him back. I can't imagine what he'd be doing if his Dad wasn't HW Bush. Perhaps he'd be managing a pizza place or 7-11. Or writing real estate books like Kiyosaki.

I think you can find foreclosures through court records.

Great Dave, now Bush is going to spend more tax payer dollars monitoring your phone calls!:smash::laugh:

 

[Uppercrust]

There is an Airtran Capt who mows lawns on our street during his extra time. I believe he charges 50 bucks. We considered it but then again...........

 

[Ty Webb]

There is an Airtran Capt who mows lawns on our street during his extra time. I believe he charges 50 bucks. We considered it but then again...........

You mean your parents considered hiring someone to mow the lawn. You do still live in their basement, don't you, Snake?

The real question is why they don't even trust you to operate even a simple lawnmower.

 

[psysicx]

Thats true the average in Socal is between $85-100 sf.

 

[Diesel]

porn, porn, porn...

Videos, toys, and noveltys.

It's a cash cow.