Posted on September 1, 2010 @ 7:42 pm - Written by BawldGuy
Ever wonder who writes definitions of any particular industry’s nomenclature? In baseball for instance, a little over half my time umpiring was spent doin’ the ‘dish’. The what? The dish is home plate, where the plate umpire’s main duty is to call balls and strikes. When a hitter’s at the dish lookin’ ‘dead red’, he’s up there lookin’ for nothin’ but a fastball. Ever heard of Louisiana Ball? The hitter just struck out, swingin’ late on a fastball. From the pitcher’s dugout you might hear, “That musta been some Louisiana ball, cuz that one was Bayou!” Baseball lovers know what I’m talkin’ ’bout cuz there are a million of ‘em.
Same happens in real estate investments, though its nomenclature, sadly, isn’t nearly as plentiful or colorful as is baseball’s. Here are a few terms with some plain English definitions. Some of them are formal terms, some slang. Hope this helps. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on August 5, 2010 @ 7:32 pm - Written by BawldGuy
This week has been informative to say the least. I’ve heard from several (4) income property owners in markets much like San Diego, including one actually in my town. Though their situations varied a bit here and there, there was a common thread when it came to the reason they contacted me.
They all said one of two things — one of ‘em said both.
“As one of your posts challenged us to do, we looked all over our local market for something into which we could exchange our equity(s). It’s been ‘X’ months (fill in the blank) and there’s just nothing worth trading for.”
OR
“Your post askin’ us if we’d now buy the units we’ve owned for quite some time, even for what they’re worth after this market correction? No! As in, not in this or any other lifetime.” Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on July 12, 2010 @ 4:09 pm - Written by BawldGuy
Many of you have repeatedly asked for the occasional case study, something that would illustrate much of what I talk about in my daily posts. As Lani (A RE blog owner herself) said in a comment last week, “I’ve been waiting YEARS for this side by side comparison.” It’s been her contention these comparisons shoulda been part and parcel of this blog all along. Though my clients live these comparisons, I think my reply to Lani hasta be — guilty as charged.
Sometimes we get too close to a thing, and wonder how anybody could look at two things and not see huge differences — if they indeed exist. My mistake, if you’ll allow me to self-diagnos, is (using baseball analogy in Lani’s honor) akin to me constantly makin’ the point that Major League Baseball (MLB) is vastly superior in quality of play than is seen in the Rookie ‘A’ Ball League in East Toilet Seat, Montana. Problem is, if the reader isn’t either a baseball fan, or would like to be but has no context in which to compare, merely reading about it doesn’t quite do the job.
I get it — mea culpa. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on July 7, 2010 @ 12:03 pm - Written by BawldGuy
If you haven’t read yesterday’s post, take some time now to go read it here — A San Diego County Duplex vs Texas Duplex. In it, I show the core rationale for San Diego real estate investors, and really the entire west coast, for Gettin’ Outa Dodge. In it I promised to publish a post today showing what the owner of that La Mesa duplex could accomplish in real life with a tax deferred exchange into Texas. This be that post.
The premise is that the La Mesa duplex investor has owned it since forever, and owes nothing on it. He’ll sell it for $300,000 — netting about $275,000 or so after all sales/closing costs. In fact, let’s make that $270,000 — as it’s no doubt being held in place by all the termites holding hands. 
Yeah, a cheap shot, but I speak from painful and personal experience. Own San Diego real estate? You have termites. Get over it. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on June 29, 2010 @ 5:05 pm - Written by BawldGuy
One of my favorite transactions ever involved a partial tax deferred exchange; partial installment sale; hypothecation; three states; a Mercedes convertible, and a vacant lot in the mountains east of San Diego. There were four of us involved, all more or less equally skilled, with widely different levels of experience. The Friday it closed we went out to The Charcoal House to celebrate — which was, for the record, simultaneous in nature. That is, every single property involved had to close at the same moment in time. Try that in 1984 — in three states — no cells, no ‘puters, no, well, no nothin’ back then.
A requirement of the exchange was that one of the principals had to come out with a small amount of cash, without having to pay taxes. Geez, what else guys? Ya need an albino llama to go with that cash? We did it through the wonders of hypothecation, using a note he’d carried back as part of the transaction. Problem solved — we all chanted the magic words in unison — and yea, though the light did hide itself from among us, it closed. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on June 24, 2010 @ 3:44 pm - Written by BawldGuy
Beginning in 1976 or so, real estate investors, especially in markets like San Diego, the general SoCal region, much of NoCal (Palo Alto is an example), and a few other regions around the country, began to be conditioned to expect values to rise significantly over time. In fact, from 1976 through the end of 2005, their expectations were met without a single exception, long term. The cycle became not only reliable, but predictable. Appreciation, often double digits, would raise values for 3-4 years, much longer for this last one. Recession would cool things off, prices would either flatten out, maybe recede a bit. But they would always resume the seemingly inexorable march to ever higher prices. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on June 10, 2010 @ 4:23 pm - Written by BawldGuy
Live and invest in real estate in places like San Diego or Palo Alto California? Then you know exactly to what today’s title is referring. Living there is Paradise, but your income property? To be kind, it ain’t what it could be. Even after this correction, as persistent as it’s been, your properties still don’t spin off the income they should, given your current net equities.
Then there is the issue of age, a sore subject in many places, but none more so than San Diego County. Residential income construction has been little more than a faint rumor since Regan’s second term in office. In fact, if you don’t count the ultra-elite apartments which have been built on the coast and in Mission Valley, pretty much nothing of even minor consequence has gone up since around 1987. I know, cuz I’ve seen ‘em not go up. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on May 27, 2010 @ 5:32 pm - Written by BawldGuy
Lots of people have been stunned in terms of their relative financial security — especially those whose retirement plans depended largely upon Wall Street. Over and over I hear, “We can watch our stock/bond values so much more closely than we can with real estate.” Boy, ain’t that the truth?!
Segue to total SmartAlec mode.
So, when you were watchin’ your million dollar stock portfolio turn into $600,000 — did watchin’ it add or diminish your sense of financial security? Read the rest of this entry »