Previously: Part IV: I Become a Landlord Part V: Sold! and the taxman cometh. One of the few good things to come from all this was the bond and friendship we owners developed. My pal, whose name I have somehow shamefully managed to forget, was now the Condo Association president and he kept an eye on… [Continue Reading]
Archives for March 2012
How I lost money in real estate before it was fashionable, Part IV: I become a Landlord.
Previously: Part III: The Battle is Joined Part IV: I become a Landlord. Me in my landlording duds It is said some are born to greatness, some seek greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them. So, too, with land-lording. And I was definitely in category #3. So now the battles have ended and the… [Continue Reading]
How I lost money in real estate before it was fashionable, Part III: The Battle is Joined.
Part II: The Limits of the Law Part III: The Battle is Joined Major Mistake #3 In the comments section of Part II you may have noticed a couple that celebrated my ultimate success in the completion of my unit. At the time, me too. Things looked pretty good and I was feeling thrill of… [Continue Reading]
How I lost money in real estate before it was fashionable, Part II: The Limits of the Law.
Part I: Impossibly Naive Part II: The Limits of the Law Here’s what YP had been doing. sales office He had acquired the building with bank financing and gutted it. Maybe at this point he really planned a real project. Attractive literature had been prepared showing floor plans and images of the finished units. He… [Continue Reading]
How I lost money in real estate before it was fashionable, Part I: Impossibly Naive.
Part 1: Impossibly Naive. Up In Smoke Nowadays, everybody has a tale of money lost in Real Estate. Dreams and cash evaporated. It has become all the rage. Hard perhaps to believe now, but time was not so long ago, real estate was a can’t lose proposition. People said things like, “Buy land. It can… [Continue Reading]
You, too, can be conned
I made an enemy this week. She is the widow of an old friend. Before he died, I promised to try to look out for her a bit. During our recent conversation she said I made her feel small. She said I made her feel stupid. There were tears. I’m very likely guilty on both counts. I’m… [Continue Reading]
Armageddon and the value of practical skills
Maybe I’ve been watching too much Discovery Channel. I’ve been thinking about Armageddon lately. All these programs on asteroids or super volcanos or global warming or viruses or alien invaders or an ice age or the reversal of the magnetic poles or AI robots or nanobots or maybe Zombies taking us out. Well, relax. It… [Continue Reading]