GM is selling Hummer to mystery buyer

Random Ramblings
81

My buildings are in higher end cities and towns. These people actually place things of VALUE in these units and PAY because they don’t want to lose their stuff. I believe this is why my auctions are so infrequent.

A monolythic slab is simple a ONE PIECE POUR. The foundation walls or “footings” are all dug and the entire thing is poured all together. WALLS and SLAB.
I use a company called TRACHTE BUILDING SYSTEMS for the actually storage units. They have all the engineering drawings and PE stamps for these monolythic slabs and they have them approved for every State in the Union.

As far as costs go…Land costs are the big one. The buildings are CHEAP. I use my own steel company to erect the buildings, TRACHTE ships EVERYTHING you need right to the site. I sub out everything just like a flip house. TRACHTE buildings are TOP NOTCH but not the cheapest. VERY WELL BUILT. They suppy the key cards for the motorized gates, it tracks WHO went in and at exactly what TIME. Big sign out front with a phone number that says CALL this number for a UNIT. VERY SIMPLE BUSINESS.

I have heard that some areas are becoming saturated. I’ve had half of mine for over 10 years so they’re in very good established locations.

If you’re interested, check out TRACHTE BUILD SYSTEMS web site. They put seminars on around the country for investors looking to get started in this business. I’ve been to them…FIRST CLASS…NO SELLING…which ended up SELLING ME on Trachte. JUST INFORMATION.
These folks do EXACTLY what they say they’ll do, WHEN they say they’ll do it. I WILL NOT buy from anyone else

And Hooch, you are EXACTLY right…I AM a smart @ss. NO ONE…NOT A SINGLE PERSON…ever wrote a check for me…EVERY SINGLE THING I HAVE…I EARNED…I have NO tolerance for other peoples BULLSH*T.

I believe I bring something to this site…At least that’s what I’ve been told by people I have helped here. If I come off hard @ssed…It’s becasue I’ve made my MONEY in a hard @ssed BUSINESS…CONSTRUCTION. I believe it is one of THE TOUGHEST businesses in the world and Donald Trump has said the same thing.

I’m not saying I’m always right…But NOTHING comes for FREE…So if you guy’s want the GOOD…you may have to put up with a little of the BAD along the way. If you throw a punch at ME…Expect a BASEBALL BAT for a response.

Now HOOCH…Tell me how much you can teach ME about TERMITE investing!!!
:beer :beer :beer :beer :beer

82

NOW HOOCH…Tell me how much you can TEACH ME!!!

Not sure, but I haven’t been in the business longer than you. However I have no idea how much of your time was involved with multifamily and single family flips. I am sure that I couldn’t teach you about commercial warehouse or storage property but you failed to mention your residential experience. After all, we were talking about termite infested HOUSES, not termite infested STORAGE UNITS.

I believe I bring something to this site…
I won’t tell you that until you TEACH ME something other than the fact that military HUMMERS are made by AM GENERAL. So far I think that is all that I learned from you outside of the wisea** coments :shocked

You told me who you use to pour the concrete and bring the buildings but have not told me HOW MUCH each unit costs including the costs of paying your guys to erect it and not counting the cost of the land. Total costs minus the land including your special gate system.

“CHEAP” doesn’t mean S**T to me because that word varies depending on who you are speaking to.

Donald Trump has said the same thing.

I have more respect for people that are self made than those who aren’t like Trump. When you start with millions I wouldn’t say it would be that difficult to make many more.

If you throw a punch at ME…Expect a BASEBALL BAT for a response.

You can expect occasional sucker punches from me as I thoroughly enjoy stirring up the libs. It’s kind of like poking a monkey in a cage. :bigok

83

As I’m sure you know…My costs in NEW ENGLAND aren’t going to be even CLOSE to ROANOKE VA. I can’t buy USED CARS up here for what I paid for an 1800 sq ft 2 1/2 story home in Roanoke. But here’s the numbers on my last 104 unit storage building. Remember I AM the GC on these projects.
I have NO IDEA want you plan on doing with these numbers you won’t be able to recreate them.

And for your information…I DID the residential rental BS for 10 years…IT SUCKED…LOSER after LOSER…Sure I had some good tenants but the LAW favors the LOSER TENANT EVERYTIME…In self storage and commercial property it favors ME!!!

Here’s the rough break down.

4 separate buildings with 26 units each.

Land cost for 4 acres…$100,000 (ten years ago)

Building cost from Trachte…$15,000/ building X 4 = $60,000

Site delevopment cost…excavation, foundation, paving, fencing, building set up $30,000. REMEMBER…There’s NO PLUMBING, NO WATER SERVICE, NO GAS, NO SEPTIC…Just above ground electrical for lighting and the gate.

Total cost for self storage space = $205,000 with incidentials.

Gross rents for 100 units @ $129/month (4 unrented) =$12,900/month
This particular warehouse has mostly of 10 X 20’s

Show me a $200,000 3 family home that pulls those numbers!!!

I used the money from 5 flips to build this warehouse…

IT’S COMPLETELY PAID FOR…ZERO MORTGAGE

There’s a few things you should know before comparing these numbers to others…

First…I’ve done this 3 other times…I pre-assemble these buildings on the ground BEFORE the steel company crews come in. They simply use a small crane to lift sections into palce and attach them…HUGE MONEY saver to me.

Second…My excavator is a part time contractor. He’s a retired Firefighter that bought himself a machine and works for short money because I treat him well and helped him build his log cabin!! I also know what I’m doing which makes his life easy. When I saw I’m ready…He knows I am!!!

Third…I lay these builds out in a way that allows for EXPANSION. Some of these units are not finished and are basically a big open space. I use that to store what I want there. I also will move items OUT of a space when a tenant is late on the rent. I place their stuff here. It allows me to rent THEIR unit and they can still get their crap out before it’s auctioned. This particular warehouse is minutes away from a popular lake. In the winter people store their boats and jet ski’s, in the summer it’s snowmobiles and motorcyles. Again, EXPENSIVE ITEMS that people DO NOT want AUCTIONED OFF!!!

Learn anything yet HOOCH?? Cause class is OVER.

YOUR WELCOME!!! :beer

84

The only thing I am missing are annual operating expenses for running the place. I’m sure you couldn’t use the 50% rule as you do in residential rental property.

Also you mentioned that you are the GC and you also mentioned that you have your guys put together the units. What are the costs of your guys setting up the units? I don’t see that mentioned.

I’m pretty sure it will blow my rental property out of the water but am not absolutely positive as we would be talking about 5 / 3unit multifamilies here for 200K each grossing around $1,400.

85

I’ll leave you with this…

NO FURNACES to DIE

NO PIPES TO BURST

NO ELECTRIC TO FAIL

NO WINDOWS TO REPLACE

NO GAS LEAKS

NO BROKEN STAIRS

NO FIRE EXCAPES

NO SMOKE DETECTORS

NO KITCHENS TO REPAIR

NO BATHROOMS TO FIX

NO APPLIANCES THAT BREAK

NO CARPETS TO REPLACE

NO FLOORS TO REFINISH

NO WALLS TO PATCH HOLES IN (Mine are STEEL)

But the very best one???

NO ONE LIVING THERE!!! :bouncemulti :banana

And you’re “PRETTY SURE this would blow your rental property out of the water???”

More like blown off the PLANET!!!

86

You still haven’t given me what the expenses are to operate a 104 unit storage business.

If you don’t have one of those automated systems than someone has to take money, sell locks, boxes, and other items, evict people, send notices, mow, repairs, etc. The big cost being the human being managing this stuff. I see potentially much more in operating costs than residential rental property. Definitely more than a trailer park which is probably the least of all.

I am guessing that your operating expenses could possibly be more than mine.

87

I believe I bring something to this site…At least that’s what I’ve been told by people I have helped here.

At this point I can only say that you are partially usefull because you only are giving part of the information :smashpc

And you say New England. When I lived in New England I always just said Connecticut. New England is too general.

88

Or…I could let YOU get off our @ss and do the LEG WORK yourself…Like I had to!!!

How’s that for partially useful???

89

I think you just figured out that my rental properties are more profitable than your mini storage. :biggrin

90

The house that I bought, the realtor/investor from Arizona I bought it from originally listed it at $21K, then put it on Craigslist for $17K… After seeing it and the inspection report from the city, we started negotiating… she did not want to go below $12K and kept pushing this number… Long story short, I told her I would offer her $8K and that she “might” be able to get more if she kept it listed, but I would be her “back-up offer” and when she wanted the money, I would write her a check as is…

I did this based on what I’ve read her and elsewhere… find your number and stick to it… I lost a group of offers on other houses before getting this one…

91

A few months ago I was working the numbers on one that was in real bad shape. Heavy termite damage on one side of the house, heavy rot on the other. It’s ARV would be around 90,000 and would need around 40,000 in repairs. The lot cleared with no house on it would be worth 16k and removing the house costs around 10K around here.

So I go at the angle that I don’t think there is any way to rehab that house although my intention was to rehab it. I tell her no investor would ever consider rehabbing the house due to it’s extensively damaged condition so the issue I have right now is that I can not pay any more than 1k for it.

She started telling me this story about her daddy and how he is in very poor health. How she hates to see that he made such a bad investment. I said don’t worry about it. Everyone makes a bad investment from time to time. I tell her I have on many occasions. Then she tells me about another one he has and how it is worth at least 100K. I say well, see, he didn’t always make bad investments.

She said can’t you just give me 6k for it? I stuck with my number and explained logically, If I gave you 6k for it, and I have to tear it down for a cost of 10-12K than what do I have left? She said if you tore it down for 10k and paid me 6K than that would equal the value of the land. She is getting nasty at this point. Her moods were swinging back and forth throughout the entire conversation. We were going back and forth, pretty much arguing about it. Normally I am really nice to people I buy from but this redneck girl was incredibly irritating. I explained to her that I am an investor and why in the world would an investor buy property for exactly what it is worth and not be able to make a penny on it. I asked her, what exactly would be my benefit from doing that. You’ve got to understand, I have to make money.

She then said OK, how about 3K. I paused and said sorry, no can do. At this point the girl had already pissed me off and 1K was all I was doing. She at this point started crying to me and telling me how she wanted to put the money for this house to pay for her daddy’s grave. Now I’m feeling bad so I start being nice to her again and just start nicely explaining how I can’t do more than 1K. Well, she said OK and that we will meet out there to sign a purchase agreement, but she has to talk to her daddys lawyer first just to make sure that she can sign for her dad since she was the power of attorney. I started getting a feeling now that she was lying and that she was just trying to keep this deal on the table while working on finding another buyer. The next day when we were supposed to meet she called and said that the lawyer was in court all day and she can’t get a hold of him. Then later saying that she still can’t get a hold of him.

Now I’m getting pissed because I strongly feel she is stringing me on. I figured I have to do something now and force this sale since I could tell she is looking for a buyer. I call her up and ask her who the lawyer is because I will call him. She stumbled around and made up a name. I looked it up on the internet as she said it and their did not appear to be a lawyer of that name in this town. I called her on it and she said that there is and all she needs is until the end of the day and we will meet and she will sign. Within a couple of hours she called me and said I found another person to buy that house for $500 bucks more than you you mother f**ker.

I always stick at the offer that I give but this is an example of one time where it came back around to bite me in the rear. I definitely would have given her another $500.

92

Hooch,

As far as residential rentals…

I DID the residential rental thing FOR YEARS. I found it to be nothing but a never ending stream of BULLSH*T.

The turning point for me came from an older investor that I had coffee with every morning. He started out with residential rentals…His advice to me was…GET OUT!!! Nothing but BULLSHT and headaches. He said the REAL MONEY was in commercial real estate. He mentioned that he had built a self storage warehouse in Florida and it was a CASH COW for him. He told me to sell the 3 families I had and asked if I owned any commercial LAND??? I told him I did. He went out to the site with me and put me in touch with TRACHTE…I built the first one and within 5 to 6 years had another one up and running. Then SOLD EVERY SINGLE ONE of my residential units. The day I closed on the last one was one of the happiest days in my life. NO more rehabbing trashed apartments, no more shthead tenants, no more midnight phone calls, no more never ending repairs, no more never ending maintainance, no more screening tenants, no more WATER BILLS, NO MORE APLLIANCE REPAIRS, NO MORE GAS SHUT OFFS, ELECTRIC SHUT OFFS, the list goes on and on!!!

BEST MOVE I EVER MADE…My life went from 100 mph to 10 mph but with 10 times the NET in my wallet!!!

SELF STORAGE in my area absolutely CRUSHES residential rentals.

It isn’t even CLOSE.

BEAUTIFUL, BEAUTIFUL BUSINESS!!!

That’s why I have FOUR separate facilities now and NOT a SINGLE residential rental…10 times the profit and 10,000 times less BULLSH*T!!!

And I KNOW EXACTLY what the numbers are…

I’m just not giving them to YOU!!!

You seem happy with your residential rentals…GOOD FOR YOU!!

My recommendation is to STICK WITH IT!!! You don’t want to get involved in self storage. You’re making money dealing with tenants…ENJOY IT!!!

Leave the self storage to me!!!

93

Great story Hooch… lolz. Sorry about you missing out on the deal though, but it was funny to me.

94

That’s a hard situation. I wouldn’t know whether to feel sorry for her or not. Some unrealistic people think you’re there to swoop in and fix everything for them, and they get angry when you can’t do that.

95
I always stick at the offer that I give but this is an example of one time where it came back around to bite me in the rear. I definitely would have given her another $500.

That’s how they invented copper wire…

Two guys fighting over a penny.

-Mike

96

Yeah, but that penny was worth ALOT more back then… :biggrin

97

fdjake,

nice Trachte post…

can’t beat a systemized, under one roof…approach like that, (especially with your streamlining of the process).

thanks for the insight.

-Mike
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgZsamFWyBI

btw…YSI, (U-Store-It), caught my attention recently…but didn’t like it’s candlestick wicks, (shadows).

98

Hooch,

My hat’s off to you man!!! And I not breakin b@lls here.

That’s a great story for everyone to read.

This is a VERY COMPETITIVE BUSINESS…If you’re GOOD at it (like you)
it becomes a common practice to get the deal YOU want.

Your example is a GREAT LESSON in stepping back from the negotiations and keeping your eyes on the BIG PICTURE.

For those reading Hooch’s example he said the house needed $40K worth of repairs and would be worth about $90K.
Arguing with this woman over basically $2000 cost Hooch $48,000!!!

I’m not knocking him for this…He knows what happened and was man enough to relate the story to us. I completely understand what happened here. I’ve done it too. You get so wrapped up in WINNING the negotiation, you forget what the hell you’re there for in the first place. MAKING MONEY!!!

Great story and an even better lesson!!! :beer :beer :beer

99

LOL, you’re right. I would definitely have given her more money. I was just a little to focused in this case on hitting a home run.

Relating to the rentals, I never said I like them. Just that around here they are good money. I deal primarily with junkers and a few flips here and there.

The low income area junkers are tied with lots of continual drama. Last week I was meeting code enforcement out at one of my triplexes and my german shepherd and I popped out of the truck to go up to the house. Next thing I know a big pit bull tore across the street and locked down on her rib cage. My baby yelped. I yelled NO and was about to kick the dog off and it let go and slowly walked back across the street to it’s house. A person in the back yard who was watching the dog had a big smile on his face and never even called the dog back.

I checked my dog over and didn’t see any blood or damage to her. A little puff of hair on the ground but that was it. I figured she yelped just because it scared her. Later the next day she was licking herself and I reached over to give her an itch and my finger completely fell in a hole about 2 inches in diameter. Inside that deep hole about an inch or two back was the outside of her rib cage and mussel tissue. So I rushed her over to the emergency vet and they stitched her up. They said the hole looked that bad because the dog grabbed her and yanked backwards ripping her skin off of her mussel creating a pocket.

I then called the animal control to go out to this crack house and do something about that dog before it kills some other dog. My dog is big. Much bigger than that pit bull. If that dog latched on to a medium size dog it wouldn’t stand a chance.

There is always a bunch of people there usually drinking in the back yard with all of the pens of dogs that are in it. They have many pens in the back yard and it looks like they are breeding the pit bulls. Usually a bunch of guys in the back getting drunk, selling drugs and blasting anti white comedy.

The owner of the house I have met and I had no idea who’s dogs they were. The owner is a nice older black guy and I still haven’t figured out why he has all of these younger guys hanging out in the back yard. Probably his kids or renting to them.

It turns out that the dogs are the dogs of the owner of the house and the guys in the back yard were paid by him to clean the cages. They let that dog out to clean. The animal control guy felt sorry for the old black guy since he was not the one who was supposed to be in control of the dog so he only gave him a no proof of rabies shot ticket.

I now have a $400 bill from the emergency vet, another $150 from my vet because she ripped the stitches out. And am facing another again because yesterday she ripped the stitches out again. (yes I have had one of those head things on her. She is persistent. I take it off for her to eat and within seconds she has ripped them out) Then after this 3rd time of stitches I will be paying to have them taken back out.

When I go over there to hand over the vet bills that I already know he won’ t pay I have a very high likelihood of getting jumped so I will have to have my 9mm on me not concealed so they all see it in my holster (which you can do in VA as it is an open carry state). I could go with a cop but I’m more of one of those types of people who likes to stand his ground and not be a sissy who had to have the cops with him. Do remember that I have to go back to this place on a regular basis because it is right next to where I put my put my rent hand out every month. I also have to do this in a peaceful manor because if not I can be sure that I will have property damage to deal with. I’m a big guy which would be a little bit of a deterrent and I think the gun will keep everyone thinking clearly.

Drama, Drama, Drama with the junkers and sometimes you get sucked into the drama like in this case.