No Nonsense

     You know, when I started blogging back in 2009 on the old website, it was supposed to be a real estate blog. After a few posts, I realized that I couldn’t write about real estate without writing about myself. While many real estate blogs focus on providing helpful information to strangers, I made sure that everything focused on me because I was the only person I wanted to help. So it ranged in a variety of topics: from family to sex to personal issues and so on.

     My favorite resource for real estate advice and ideas is a site called No Nonsense Landlord. The guy owns twice as many units as I do and, while working a full-time job, was able to use the rental profits to pay off the properties in 6 years. He stresses credit scores and monthly income as the main factors of screening tenants, and does all his own maintenance (as long as it’s minor). He even has a neat downloadable log of all his repairs every year. A great example of his website is a post he wrote on July 29th, in which he detailed how to do a bathroom remodel cheap. I’ll post the link HERE.

     You see? THAT’S a real estate blog post. Detailed information that shows how to do a full bathroom remodel, and the steps are easy to follow. That bathroom post inspired me to the point that I definitely plan to do turnovers and minor repairs on my own from now on, especially after September when I did most of the work myself. I don’t like paying Handyman Alfonso for stuff that I can do myself. And, if I don’t know how to do it, I’ll watch Youtube videos or have Alfonso supervise while I do it.

Over the years I bought a lot of tools, so many that I had to buy another tool bag last month. What's the point of all these tools if I'm not gonna use them?

     I started going through my old blog and noticed that there were some posts that had very good real estate information that I could be using in my current situations. So I’ll find the specific posts, and then transfer them here along with an excerpt about how it applies to me. I also want to add a search bar so that I can search for a specific topic. Those labels turned out to be kind of useless.

     I know that this is not nor will ever be a true real estate blog, and I’m definitely not a normal landlord. But I should still have good real estate and property management information, as well as a simple means to find it all.

P.S.: The fact that the No Nonsense Landlord paid off his properties in 6 years got me thinking. With one property already paid off, should my focus be on paying off my properties for profit rather than buying another mortgaged property? The 30% rule tells me no, but the thought of having no mortgages and no debt has its appeal.

October 2017 Trading Report; Final Results

     Hookers. Rent theft. Roaches. McDonald's. October really was a horrible month. The only bright spot was my trading in the stock market, where I pulled off a nice streak of green trades. It was the last month of live trading, since I'll be pulling my money out to pay off my business line of credit. So it only makes sense to take a look at all of my live trades in 2017.


JUNE

June 2nd: $180 Profit

June 7th: $60.70 Profit

June 8th: $17.77 Profit

June 13th: $62.85 Profit

June 14th: $60.82 Profit

June 16th: $131.97 Profit

June 20th: $60.78 Profit

June 22nd: $21.78 Profit

June 23rd: $10.89 Loss

June 26th: $209 Loss

JULY

July 11th: $60.32 Profit

July 12th: $15.77 Profit

July 13th: $338.79 Profit

July 17th: $45.41 Profit

July 18th: $48.27 Loss

July 26th: $65.71 Profit

July 31st: $44.10 Profit


AUGUST

August 1st: $19.71 Profit

August 2nd: $39.72 Profit

August 9th: $584.24 Loss

August 23rd: $45.71 Profit

August 24th: $37.72 Profit

August 31st: $45.70 Profit

August 31st: $37.19 Profit

SEPTEMBER

September 1st: $17.19 Profit

September 5th: $34.04 Profit

September 18th: $11.01 Loss

September 22nd: $51.78 Loss

September 25th: $11.71 Profit

September 26th: $50.71 Profit

September 30th: $21.63 Profit

OCTOBER

October 2nd: $30.71 Profit

October 3rd: $30.72 Profit

October 4th: $45.72 Profit

October 10th: $9.72 Profit

October 12th: $45.70 Profit


October Profits: $162.57

Ending Balance for Round 2: $8,556.95

Total Profit for Round 2: $556.95


     Look at all that green. Hmm. You know how I say that sometimes I start a post with an idea but end up writing something completely different? I think that’s happening now.

      October started off great. I made trades that were based solely on OMEGA, and really got into a zone. Then came the issues with ErentPayment and roaches. One of my big rules for trading is that, if something is pissing me off, do not trade. Outside frustrations disrupt my thinking and how I see patterns, so I didn’t trade for the rest of the month. It bothered me that I couldn’t trade because I really had a good shot at 10% and, since October was my last month live trading, I had to be comfortable enough with an overall profit of 5%. And I wasn’t… until I started writing this post.

     It’s clear right? I mean, one can look at those trades and see what’s happening here. How can I not be excited by this?! I’m actually getting a handle on this stock market thing, but the numbers clearly show that I have one glaring problem. Here’s what I learned about OMEGA during Round 2:


Time Per Trade

     In general, a typical OMEGA trade takes anywhere from 30 seconds to an hour. The longer a trade goes on, the lesser chance that I’ll end up with a profit. Most of my profitable trades happened within that time frame, which works out good since I want to do multiple trades pee day.

Taking Losses

     This was the “glaring problem” that I spoke of earlier. My first big loss was for $209, when I was watching Battlestar Galactica instead of the market. The obvious lesson was to pay attention, so I’m not going to delve into that. The second loss was for $584, and that was due to me not wanting to take a loss. The thing about making trades with an account under $25,000 is that I’m only allowed 3 trades a week. When I see my trade hitting negative, there’s a huge amount of pressure to wait for a profit because I only have two more trades left for the week. That problem should be solved next year when I trade with $25,000. I’ll be able to trade as many times as I want, and that means I will have no issues taking small losses.

The Rhythm

     One morning I woke up at 10:20am, 50 minutes after the market opened. I decided to enter the market and look for OMEGA patterns. I found one, made the trade, and lost $51.78. I wondered what I did wrong, as the pattern was perfect. I then expanded my chart and realized that the pattern I saw was actually at the end of its gains. The stock itself was going against the NASDAQ earlier, but I didn’t know because I wasn’t there when the market opened.  There’s a certain, unmistakable rhythm to the stock market that I can feel only if I’m in it for a while. This rhythm allows me to know how the market is moving and how investors are feeling. Without this, I’m not able to see the big picture and can end up making easily avoidable mistakes as I did on September 22nd.

Small Gains

     My first issue with losses had to do with not accepting the loss since I only had 3 trades a week. My second issue has to do with wanting too much. The pattern known as OMEGA is not about big gains. It gives a certain amount, and it's up to me to accept whatever it gives. Just like my first issue, this problem has the same solution. The profits I'll make with $100,000 of investment is more than six times the amount I'll make with $16,000. And, as September and October showed, I got very comfortable with small gains.

Up Or Down

     Right now the market is hitting all time highs, so one might say that my profits were a fluke because everyone is making profits with trades during this time. It's a fair statement, but it doesn't apply to me. You see, I really wanted to test OMEGA and see if it truly works. That's why over 90% of my trades were done with companies that were going down. That's the best part of OMEGA. It shows clearest when a company is having trouble. So whether it's good days or bad, I have a pattern that has proven itself reliable. 

Talking To Myself

     Socially, talking to myself has been a major roadblock to having success with women and making connections in the real estate world. I'm so self-involved that, if the subject isn't about me, I get bored very quickly. Financially, however, talking to myself has been a great asset to my trading strategy. I've been able to talk myself into and out of trades, using my conversation as an anchor so that I don't stray away from my trading pattern. I ask myself if what I'm looking at is a real OMEGA pattern, or whether I'm being too cautious or not cautious enough. There's such a fine line to walk when maintaining one's composure during a market session, and having someone to talk to helps keep that balance. It's all part of the Mirror Theory, where one operates better when he/she is able to look at themselves in the 3rd person.


     Let's not sugarcoat anything. Not getting to 10% was a failure. I won't deny that. But what happened in October solidified that I'm a much smarter trader than I was in Round 1. For example, even though my mind was obsessed with the Erent Payment saga and other things, I really wanted to trade. I wanted to force it because I really wanted to get that 10% goal. So I looked at a trade that developed and was tempted to get into it. But then I started talking to myself and realized that I was forcing a nonsense trade for no reason, so I pulled back. The very next day, that same stock I wanted to invest in dropped 25% and I would have lost over $4,000. I sat there watching the stock drop with a big smile on my face, knowing that I didn't make the same mistake as I did in Round 1.

     The more I write this post, the more I'm encouraged that I can do this. There's a part of me that wants to max out my business line of credit and my credit cards just to put $25,000 into the market and start Round 3 immediately, but I know better. I have to stick to the plan and wait until the timing is right. Until that time comes, I'll be using the simulator to continue making trades. I won't be posting them, as I use the simulator as more of a training for disciplne. In Round One, I lost 45%. In Round 2, I gained 5.5%. Round 3 starts in 2018 and, if this pattern continues, I will have incredible results.

October 2017 Food Report

Groceries: $43.28
Unnecessary Outside Food and Snacks: $238.12

Total Spent: $281.40


      Let’s keep the misery of October going...

     Once I discovered roaches in my apartment, I felt very uncomfortable eating there. I made a bagel with cream cheese during that time and, as I ate it, I kept thinking about how gross roaches look with their spikey legs, narrow black eyes, and those nasty little antennas. So, for the month of October, I ate mostly outside food while waiting for the pest control treatment to kill them off for good.

Goodness. It was visually stunning and the taste was good.

     Even though my favorite ice cream place closed for the season, there was another ice cream place that stays open until mid-November. Their ice cream isn’t as high quality as what I’m used to, but it was good enough and satisfied my cravings. I have to be careful with them, however, as they take the term “a lot of Oreos and rainbow sprinkles” very seriously. That ice cream in the above picture has about 40% ice cream and 60% toppings. Wonderful but just a bit too much Oreos for me. I also had my usual pepperoni slices and chicken wings, but the real disaster happened at the beginning of the whole ErentPayment saga.


Four Years Gone

     One night, I was driving around aimlessly while talking to Brooklyn Mike on the phone. We got to the subject of food, and Mike stated that he wanted some McDonald’s. I talked about my almost 4 year ban of McDonald’s and he asked why I avoid that place when I eat foods that are equally bad for me. Usually I’d have something smart to say, but nothing came to mind. All that was in my head was something like, “McDonald’s serves crap but I eat crap all the time. I just lost over $1,600 so why not?” And, with that, a major streak ended:

At this point, I still had an opportunity to throw this out and drive away unharmed

Once I opened the box, however, I was officially powerless

It started out as one Big Mac. I went back 10 minutes later and got 5 more Big Macs. You know how the rest of it goes...

For the second half of October, I spent way too much time here with my fellow losers. Seriously, this is a sad fixture.

October 18th: 2 Big Macs, 3 hamburgers
October 21st: 2 Big Macs, 5 hamburgers, 4 Cheeseburgers in the afternoon, then 4 Big Macs, 3 hamburgers, and 1 cheeseburger in the evening
October 22nd: 2 Big Macs, 5 hamburgers, and 3 cheeseburgers
October 25th: 3 Big Macs, 3 hamburgers, 1 cheeseburger
October 28th: 2 Big Macs, 5 hamburgers, 3 cheeseburgers
October 31st: 4 Big Macs, 3 cheeseburgers, fries

At the time, I thought that taking this picture would help me stop, but it just made me hungrier for more the next day

     The 21st was the worst day, because I had so much in a 12 hour span. I felt like crap but knew I wasn’t gonna stop. Looking back, there was a very good answer to Brooklyn Mike’s question of why I stayed away from McDonald’s that had nothing to do with health. The streak was something I was proud of because it showed that I was capable of self control. Whenever I went to tackle a task or break a habit, I had more confidence because of how long I stayed away from that place. It was a badge of honor, and now it’s gone. Thankfully my hunger for McDonald’s is also gone, so I guess it’s time for another streak.

     I went to the gym on October 2nd, determined to restart my routine after not working out for over a month. I got onto the chest fly machine, put it to my usual 220lbs, and then did my first set of ten. After it was done, I felt a pain in and around my left shoulder and bicep. Instead of stopping, I did another set. This is my fucking pattern and I thought I had broken it. Instead, I messed up my arm and haven't been able to work out since. It's tough to get rid of that meathead mentality when I have that UFC song blaring in my ears.


     With the roaches gone (I think), I can finally buy groceries and start cooking at home again. I should be going to BJs early next week, as I've already gotten tired of eating outside food. As far as working out, I'll go slow. In about 10 minutes, I'm gonna do a few pushups to get myself started. It's gonna take some time to heal whatever is going on with my left shoulder/tricep/bicep, but I really can't wait to go back to the gym. I'm tired of spending $20 a month to NOT go to the gym. Injuries suck, but they're even worse when I'm too stupid to avoid an avoidable situation.

     November should be a great rebound, as long as there are no more roaches and I take my time with the recovery process. I'm just glad October is over with.

P.S.: I just read this post over again, and that drive-thru picture is torturous. I am so glad I no longer have to wait on that god-forsaken line.

October 2017 Property Earnings Report

Property X

Apt 1 - Black Family: $700
Apt 2 - Consuela: $0 (Already paid last month)
Total Rents Received: $700
Repair Costs: $124.03 ($70 Handyman Alfonso + $54.03 window glass replacement and batteries)
Remaining Taxes Owed: $99.05 (balance from tax payment)
Water Bill: $24.40

Total Profit for Anita: $452.52


Property 1

Apt 1 – Dharma and Family: $525
Apt 2 - Belle and Sebastian: $875
Total Rents Received: $1400
Mortgage: $833
National Grid: $97.09
Repair Expenses: $325.13 (Roach Treatment, cleaning supplies, tools)
Water Bill: 94.14

Total Profit: $50.64


Property 2

Apt 1 – Nicholas 2: $0 (Already paid last month)
Apt 2 – Edward and Gabby: STOLEN
Total Rents Received: $0
Mortgage: $754
Repair Expenses: $5.38
Water Bill: $101.66

Total Profit: -$861.04


Property 3

Apt 1 - Chucky: $435
Apt 2 - Toby: $0 (Already paid last month)
Apt 3 – Rory: $530
Apt 4 - Taniqua and Eugene: $570
Total Rents Received: $1,535
Mortgage: $887
Repair Expenses: $63.59 (Smoke and CO detectors)
National Grid: $157.26
Water Bill: $180.76

Total Profit: $246.39


Property 4

Tenant Latisha: STOLEN
Repair Expenses: $0
Water Bills: $40.54

Total Profit: -$40.54

Lawnmowing Fee: $75


Net Real Estate Profit for October 2017: -$679.55


     I knew I wasn't gonna make a lot of money in October, but it really irks me that I would have had a $900+ profit if it weren't for those Erent idiots. Obviously, this is going to be a very long post, probably the longest property report I’ve done. And it makes sense since so much has happened in one month.

ErentPayment

     The situation with the stolen rents comes down to this summary:

     ErentPayment processes payments from the tenants. They send the transaction to Check Commerce, who then sends it to eCheckit, who then finally sends it to the landlord. Had I known it was going through all these companies, I wouldn’t have joined with them in the first place. Anyway, eCheckit files for bankruptcy after a bad business deal. Check Commerce, who is holding almost 4 million dollars of tenant money, now has to keep the funds while eCheckit goes through bankruptcy court. This means that landlords everywhere have to try and make up for those losses on their own.

     ErentPayment claimed that they were not responsible for the lost money, as their job was only to process the transactions. What bothered many clients was that, as angry landlords and property managers were calling trying to get information about their money, ErentPayment decided to turn their phones off and communicate intermittently through their Facebook account. Finding this extremely unprofessional and unfair, many of the victims are banding together to file a class action lawsuit against Erentpayment for having prior knowledge of eCheckit’s financial problems, as well as Check Commerce and eCheckit to release the funds. What’s my take on it?

     I was mad at first but, once I realized that my anger was fake, I was able to see the real problem. Yes, you guessed correctly. It’s the My Fault Philosophy. I should have read their User Agreement, which clearly states that they are not responsible if the money gets lost or stolen along the way. Why would I trust a company that doesn’t insure my money? I read the user agreements of other rent collection sites, and they’re all the same thing. They DO NOT insure money because, if they did, the insurance payments on million dollar transactions would put them out of business. Their entire business model is flawed because none of these sites insure the money, so this same thing can happen over and over again. They’ll leave the insurance to third and fourth parties, absolving themselves of the most crucial part of the process: the landlord getting the money.

     When October began, I was at work walking around in my underwear because I really didn’t care about the bank job. Remember that? At least four people saw what I was doing and didn’t report me. Maybe I’m so pathetic to them that I wasn’t worth the effort… kind of like letting a piece of shit float in the toilet without flushing. Either way, I’m glad I still have this job. October was awful, but the money from the job helped cover the stolen rent. Once I get going, I really have to start saving reserves for emergency situations like that.

     So I’ll now have tenants deposit funds directly into my bank account. It’s a hassle for them, but that’s their problem. If not being able to pay online causes them to leave, then they were halfway on their way out anyway. I'll take my time in finding a more convenient and safer online payment process. Now that I’ve explained everything, let’s get to the properties.



Property X

     Even though Consuela was approved for the apartment and paid first month and security deposit, she tried to back out claiming that her mother got shot and she needed to take care of her. I told Alfonso to let her know that she can get her security deposit back ONLY if we could get another tenant before the end of the month (as advised by Marvin Wassle). Facing the risk of losing $600, she decided to keep the apartment. She didn’t seem too happy with the place when she signed the lease, saying that “everyone has to start somewhere”, so I knew she would have issues. And while I doubt she’ll stay long, I’m hoping she at least makes it through the winter. I really don’t wanna deal with multiple winter turnovers.

Property 1

     So I was making breakfast one morning when I saw a roach scurrying around on the countertop. I quickly killed it, but then I saw another. And then another. What the fuck! I had a suspicion that the roaches were coming from the Nepali tenants, as they had some people over for that goddamned Duwali holiday festival a few days earlier. I asked Dharma if they had roaches, and she said they’ve had them for a couple of weeks. A couple of weeks?! WEEKS?!!

     When I was a kid, I fucking hated roaches. Even though our family was relatively clean, our apartment building was always infested in roaches. I’d wake up in the morning with roaches on my head or dead in my ear. At night I wouldn’t dare go into the kitchen for a late night snack, as it was usually taken over by hoards of roaches. So, when I saw those little assholes on my kitchen countertop, it brought back memories of those awful times and I justifiably freaked out. I sent the pest control guy to treat the entire house. I know I said I wouldn’t call them anymore, but I wanted written proof of where the roaches were coming from. Sure enough, it was coming from the Nepali apartment and I was pissed. Naresh was there trying to defend them, but I was having none of it. After all, the last time there were roaches was when he moved in some more people into the apartment about a month before he left. Ugh!

     The truth is that I think I’m done with these guys. They don’t pay a lot of money. They usually have too many people in an apartment. The one good thing about them was that they were clean, and now that’s gone! Now that I think of it, I’ve never had an immigrant tenant who didn’t bring either roaches or bedbugs into their apartment. So I think I’m done with immigrants in general. They don’t pay full rents, it’s overcrowded, and they will always bring some kind of insect infestation at least once a year. Their only good aspects are that they don’t mind living in bad areas, so you can buy very cheap properties and get a good profit without the ghetto gunshot bullshit that goes on in those areas. My plan for the Nepali tenants is to wait until I move out of the basement apartment, and then raise the rent from $525 to $600. If they threaten to move out, let them. I got Property X's one bedroom rented out for $600, so I can probably get $700 for this 2-bedroom. You know, if I weren’t living in the basement I would have never known about the roaches. The Nepali tenants would have just lived their lives while roaches populated the building, which may have caused my upstairs tenant Sebastian to move out. And, while I’m on the subject of Sebastian…

     Sebastian always pays rent a week early, so he went to go pay November’s rent last week but Chase told him that he needed the account number. This, of course, is not the case. As long as someone has the exact spelling of the business name, they can deposit money into a Chase business account WITHOUT the account number. I verified this information with two managers at that branch, as well as online. When he told me what happened, I was furious. Not only did ErentPayment steal my money, but now Chase is turning away the people who are trying to pay me?? What made it worse was that he went to the same branch that Rory and Eugene deposited money through with no issue, so what the hell?! The very next day I went to speak with whoever was available. The second that poor lady sat me down, I started cursing up a storm. I even made her go to the bank tellers to find out which one turned Sebastian away for bullshit reasons. Evidently, a new person was training there that day, so he/she didn’t know the business account rule. I wanted to yell and scream but decided not to because she was pregnant and being really patient with me. Next time I’ll make sure I talk to a dude so that I can really let off some steam.

Property 2

     Thankfully, not much happened here. A small issue did arise where the upstairs tenant, Edward, called to state that the dryer wasn’t working. A day later, Nicholas 2 also complained about it. I realized the problem was the dryer was hooked up to the electricity of the downstairs apartment, which the former tenant Gianna had turned off before she left. Nicholas said that he was turning on the electricity on a Wednesday, so I told both tenants that the dryer would be “fixed” on Thursday. I really don’t want them knowing that they are paying for the washer and dryer electricity, as it might cause unnecessary issues later on. So I’ll keep up the ruse for as long as I can.

Property 3

     To my surprise, Rory and my new homo tenant Toby seem to be getting along. Rory said that he needed smoke and carbon monoxide detectors for both his and Toby’s apartments. I really don’t like them talking to each other, but at least they’re getting along. I guess, as a child rapist, he has to be good at getting strangers to trust him. Ugh.

     Eugene and Taniqua paid rent at the deadline once again, but now the real test comes. With all the struggling to pay rent before the end of the month, is it possible for them to pay the new rent of $550 just six days after paying $570?? I have absolutely no faith in them coming up with the money, and I’m looking forward to throwing them out when they miss the November 6th deadline tomorrow.

Property 4

     It always feels good when Latisha doesn’t have issues. I’m beginning to use her as a barometer for how I’m doing in general with property management.


     Thank goodness the shitty month of October is over. It wasn’t my worst month ever, but the Erent thing really caught me off guard. The roach infestation was a horrible reminder of the dangers of immigrant tenants, and how pathetic it is to still be in that basement apartment. With November finally here, I’m really looking forward to the increased rents and the new system of receiving money. All I want for this month is profit without anyone screwing me out of my money. 

P.S.: One last thing about the Nepali tenants. After getting rid of both Nino and Sam, the Nepali people are the last trace of Indian culture in my life. Every time I hear them playing Indian music or watching a Bollywood movie, I get reminded of past friendships that now hold pointless memories. I know it’s unfair to them, but I’m more inclined to kick them out just because of their culture. My interest in Indians is definitely over.