March Apartment Update

Got the management report and the March financials for the Houston apartment complex yesterday. Things continue to look good. Occupancy remained steady at 93% and revenue stayed about the same as February. Expenses due to marketing, turnover, utilities, and property taxes dropped. The property had a positive cashflow of about $7,500 for the month - a nice change after running in the red for so long. The property is also in the black to the tune of $17,000 for the year.

The positive cash flow will be used to pay down some of the bills that had accrued during the lean prior 12 months. Management doesn't expect to resume investor payments in the near term, but I'm pretty confident they will happen before September. As a reminder, our loan switches from interest only to interest and principal in June (it was interest only for the first three years), so that will add about $3,000 to the monthly expenses. But this was budgeted for in our projections, so it's nothing unexpected.

Management feels the property performed fairly well during the recession and I agree. The goal of this investment has always been to make money by improving the performance of the property and selling it, rather than strictly through cashflow. I think that goal is still on track.

Bank Of America CEO Agrees - Your Home Is Not An Asset

Today, the C.E.O. of Bank Of America, at a summit of state attorneys general, said that some people should not think of their homes as an asset. He was only referring to people who live in areas where there is low population growth and where, therefore, demand for housing won't create pressure to increase home values.Personally, I agree. Even though I stopped reading his books years ago, I still subscribe to Robert Kiyosaki's definition of an asset as something that puts money into your pocket. By that definition, your home is not an asset.

Random Musings On Investing In Stocks vs. Real Estate

I was checking out my various IRAs the other day and was struck by how much better I feel about my self-directed IRA than I do my traditional (stock-based) IRAs. Most people’s retirement savings are invested in the stock market (including the majority of mine). But when I compare that with my self-directed IRA which is investing in hard money lending, I can’t help but notice how differently I feel about them.

Yes, stocks historically have risen over the long term. I know this. But I also am acutely aware that I have no control over the prices of the stocks I hold. About the only control I have is which stocks to buy and whether or not to reinvest any dividends they might pay.  So each month, I check the value of my stock portfolio and I’m fairly detached from the experience. Stocks went up in value? Yay. But I know they could drop again tomorrow. Gains are transitory, at least in my mind. As the adage says, you’ve never made (or lost) money until you sell.

But with my hard-money lending IRA, I get a check each month for a couple hundred dollars. That’s real money I see coming in each month. It can’t be taken away again by a news report of a product recall, class action lawsuit, or some other random event outside my control. It’s cash in hand. Now the possibility exists that my loan might be defaulted on, but with the loan-to-value limits I use for my lending criteria, I know even if that happens, I’m still pretty well protected.

I know there is no such thing in investing as a sure thing or a guaranteed return, but the returns my HML-based IRA are generating feel much more real to me than my stock-based returns.

Groupon Gets Into Real Estate

A real estate brokerage in Chicago is selling $1,000 discount coupons on Groupon. They are good for $1,000 cash back at closing and it's good for owner-occupants and investors. The coupons are good for one year and a total of 50 must be sold (at $25 each) for the deal to become valid. The pruchase price of the house must be over $150,000. If you invest in the Chicago area, this might be a good deal.