Monday, March 17, 2014
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
More bad Memphis news...
City Jornal 28-may-2013
Live Free or Move by Scott Beyer
ne state performance, anyway. A Cato Institute study analyzing tax burdens for America’s 100 largest metros reported that the ten lowest-taxed regions saw triple the population increases of the ten highest-taxed from 1980 to 2007. The connection between freedom and growth even explains differences for metros within the same state. Last year Memphis, with a business climate ranking last in Tennessee, had one-third the job growth of booming, pro-business Nashville. In another study calculating economic freedom in U.S. metros, economist Dean Stansel pointed to similar explanations for the growth of San Jose over Los Angeles and Tampa over Miami.
Live Free or Move by Scott Beyer
ne state performance, anyway. A Cato Institute study analyzing tax burdens for America’s 100 largest metros reported that the ten lowest-taxed regions saw triple the population increases of the ten highest-taxed from 1980 to 2007. The connection between freedom and growth even explains differences for metros within the same state. Last year Memphis, with a business climate ranking last in Tennessee, had one-third the job growth of booming, pro-business Nashville. In another study calculating economic freedom in U.S. metros, economist Dean Stansel pointed to similar explanations for the growth of San Jose over Los Angeles and Tampa over Miami.
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Friday, December 7, 2012
Anti-obamacare Exchange rally in Nashville
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
AT&T cell phone plan explanation
Went to AT&T store in Collierville today (2012-11-20) to ask why I am getting texts from AT&T saying I'm going over data limit. I got new Galaxy 3s phone about a week ago. Lady there said my data plan was very old and so low (200 MB) that they don't even offer it anymore. She said I could switch to a 3GB plan for an extra $15 per month which I did. I was paying $60 for talk minutes + $20 for texting + $15 for data = $95 total. Now I will be paying $60 for talk minutes + $20 for texting + $30 for data = $110 total. If I want to go back to a lower data plan, I can go back to the lowest currently offered plan which is 300 MB. That would be $20 per month, so I would only save $10 per month for a MUCH lower amount of data.
Friday, March 30, 2012
Floorcovering
30-March-2012 Ann said that Anthony Borroughs did carpet in 485 E South St #103 for $1200. It was 100 yards, so that's $12 per yard or $1.33 per foot. That's labor AND carpet.
I talked to Cindy Hunkus at Home Depot today about the fake wood looking vinyl strip flooring (with no sponge backing that might absorb water - just plain vinyl) and she said price for material was around $1.75 per foot and probably $2 per foot to install. That's a total installed price of $3.75 per foot.
I talked to Cindy Hunkus at Home Depot today about the fake wood looking vinyl strip flooring (with no sponge backing that might absorb water - just plain vinyl) and she said price for material was around $1.75 per foot and probably $2 per foot to install. That's a total installed price of $3.75 per foot.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Grove at Cayce - Mobile Home Park
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
passport ssn
passport and ssn card are in top drawer of FireKing fireproof file cabinet in Shamrock backroom.
5-july-2012 I wrote voter registration number (voter ID ) on a piece of paper and put it with my passport and SSN card. I needed it for TTV and called election commission to get it.
6-july-2012 Also copy of concealed carry permit renewal application which I mailed back to Tenn Dept of Safety today. Current permit expires 22-sept-2012.
5-july-2012 I wrote voter registration number (voter ID ) on a piece of paper and put it with my passport and SSN card. I needed it for TTV and called election commission to get it.
6-july-2012 Also copy of concealed carry permit renewal application which I mailed back to Tenn Dept of Safety today. Current permit expires 22-sept-2012.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Richard Scarbrough seminar
Sat 10-dec-2011 "Building Your Team" seminar with Richard Scarbrough.
MIG. Memphis Investors Group.
Don't lease to people with motorcycles or lawyers. If you want a female, give discount to school of nursing students.Richard concentrates his properties in Bartlett, Germantown, and Collierville.
4 Elements of cashflow:
1 monthly cashflow
2 tax savings
3 principal paydown
4 (soon) appreciation
A house is the only form a real estate that is sold RETAIL. All other real estate is sold on a cashflow basis to investors. Many end user house buyers, however, don't buy on cashflow and buy for many reasons not related to economics.
Banks figure:
10% management
10% repairs and maintenance
10% vacancies
So banks will lend less on your rental house than you might imagine because they are going to mark your rent down to 70% of gross for calculating the amount of income you will receive on rental house.
Your team should consist of:
1 system of getting leads on houses to buy (bird dog fees paid to person who tells you about a house, checking chandler reports or court house retrieval, hire and agent to look for you)
2 system of finding buyers or another way to dispose of property (MIG, advertising, wholesale it, rent it out, etc)
3 system of finding financing - hard money lender, bank, friend who wants to invest in real estate
Banks: Are they turning money into the FED each night? If they are that means that they have too much money and they will want to make loans. But tellers and even some VPs won't know what you are talking about if you ask them whether their bank is turning money into the Fed each night. You have to find a knowledgeable insider.
You want to use a REAL lender. There are 2 aspects to real lenders:
1 Real lenders lend their own money. Many banks get the money which they lend from other banks or other sources. You need to skip these banks and go directly to the sources that they go to.
2 Underwriter should be local. Don't use a bank where decision maker is out of town. You might want to sit down with underwriter face to face and make your case.
You want a plumber and HVAC and electrical guy who are licensed but who don't have an office and a fleet of trucks.
HVAC -- Al Scarbrough (Richard's brother) 834-3555
Electrican - Scott Banson 274-7936
Painting - Mid South Painting (in millington) 872-3517 Robert George
Roofer - Harold Hiatt 550-6212
Closing attorney - Doug Beatty 680-0888
Mortgage guy - Herb Hyman Iberia bank 759-4800
Richard said that Greenway Home Services was good.
Attorneys make money on closings 4 different ways:
1 doc prep
2 closing fees
3 attorney fees
4 title fees
Farrell Calhoun makes about 3 standard colors that they make in 5000 gallon batches. Use these colors. Bone white is one for walls. Bright white is good trim color.
Tenant's income should be 3 times the amount of his rent payment.
Use large type (like 16 point) on business cards and other stuff so people over 40 can read it without glasses.
Home Warrnty companies can be good. Don't get the standard plan, get the upscale plan. When they come out to repair some problem there will be some ancillary thing that needs to be repaired also - the upgrade plan will cover this too, the standard plan won't. Get the tenant to pay the deductible. Since he will have to pay that amount, he will not call nearly as often for repairs. Richard said plans are about $500 per house per year. Find out what the cash-out value of a problem is from the warranty company. If you can fix it for that or less, then do it yourself.
Other people in class:
Tom Elledge Jr 755-4425 (cell 849-8888) house investor in Cordova area. Seems like nice guy - knows a lot.
MIG. Memphis Investors Group.
Don't lease to people with motorcycles or lawyers. If you want a female, give discount to school of nursing students.Richard concentrates his properties in Bartlett, Germantown, and Collierville.
4 Elements of cashflow:
1 monthly cashflow
2 tax savings
3 principal paydown
4 (soon) appreciation
A house is the only form a real estate that is sold RETAIL. All other real estate is sold on a cashflow basis to investors. Many end user house buyers, however, don't buy on cashflow and buy for many reasons not related to economics.
Banks figure:
10% management
10% repairs and maintenance
10% vacancies
So banks will lend less on your rental house than you might imagine because they are going to mark your rent down to 70% of gross for calculating the amount of income you will receive on rental house.
Your team should consist of:
1 system of getting leads on houses to buy (bird dog fees paid to person who tells you about a house, checking chandler reports or court house retrieval, hire and agent to look for you)
2 system of finding buyers or another way to dispose of property (MIG, advertising, wholesale it, rent it out, etc)
3 system of finding financing - hard money lender, bank, friend who wants to invest in real estate
Banks: Are they turning money into the FED each night? If they are that means that they have too much money and they will want to make loans. But tellers and even some VPs won't know what you are talking about if you ask them whether their bank is turning money into the Fed each night. You have to find a knowledgeable insider.
You want to use a REAL lender. There are 2 aspects to real lenders:
1 Real lenders lend their own money. Many banks get the money which they lend from other banks or other sources. You need to skip these banks and go directly to the sources that they go to.
2 Underwriter should be local. Don't use a bank where decision maker is out of town. You might want to sit down with underwriter face to face and make your case.
You want a plumber and HVAC and electrical guy who are licensed but who don't have an office and a fleet of trucks.
HVAC -- Al Scarbrough (Richard's brother) 834-3555
Electrican - Scott Banson 274-7936
Painting - Mid South Painting (in millington) 872-3517 Robert George
Roofer - Harold Hiatt 550-6212
Closing attorney - Doug Beatty 680-0888
Mortgage guy - Herb Hyman Iberia bank 759-4800
Richard said that Greenway Home Services was good.
Attorneys make money on closings 4 different ways:
1 doc prep
2 closing fees
3 attorney fees
4 title fees
Farrell Calhoun makes about 3 standard colors that they make in 5000 gallon batches. Use these colors. Bone white is one for walls. Bright white is good trim color.
Tenant's income should be 3 times the amount of his rent payment.
Use large type (like 16 point) on business cards and other stuff so people over 40 can read it without glasses.
Home Warrnty companies can be good. Don't get the standard plan, get the upscale plan. When they come out to repair some problem there will be some ancillary thing that needs to be repaired also - the upgrade plan will cover this too, the standard plan won't. Get the tenant to pay the deductible. Since he will have to pay that amount, he will not call nearly as often for repairs. Richard said plans are about $500 per house per year. Find out what the cash-out value of a problem is from the warranty company. If you can fix it for that or less, then do it yourself.
Other people in class:
Tom Elledge Jr 755-4425 (cell 849-8888) house investor in Cordova area. Seems like nice guy - knows a lot.
Friday, November 25, 2011
DVD TV Cable instructions
DVD -- TV -- cable box help
2011-10-31
---------------------------------
HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) - passes a DIGITAL signal. Has both video and audio signal. With HDMI, signals are encrypted with HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection) to prevent recording. All modern devices that use HDMI interfaces use HDMI version1.3. Devices or cables that are not 1.3 compliant will not work with Hollywood movies because Hollywood doesn't want you to steal their movies.
DVI (digital visual interface) - a standard for passing a digital signal between a picture source such as a computer and a display. DVI passes ONLY picture (video) but uses same encoding as HDMI so is compatible without any converting. There were originally 3 types of DVI: DVI-d DVI-a DVI-i (digital, analog, and integrated).
With DVI, signals are encrypted with HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection) to prevent recording.
RF coaxial cable -
RCA plugs -
RED - right audio channel
WHITE - left audio channel
YELLOW - Composite video.
Composite video is the format of an analog television (picture only) signal before it is combined with a sound signal and modulated onto an RF carrier (such as coax). It is called composite because it combines on one wire the 3 red blue green color info as well as the frame syncing signal. In other words, this one yellow cable gives you all the visual signal. So using a composite connection, you would normally have a total of 3 cables: composite cable (yellow), left channel sound (white) and right channel sound (red).
Below is a composite video jack.
S-video (the s is for “separate” channels) is an extension to the Composite standard. It uses 2 parallel signals, one for luminance and one for chrominance (color).
Below is an S-video connector:
Below shows pinouts for s-video
Component video - one RCA plug each for red yellow blue. This is an ANALOG standard. This type of connection does not have sound, so you must also have audio cables. If you have left and right audio cables, then you would have a total of 5 cables with this type of connection. Component video provide excellent video signal, even at 720p resolution. If you want 1080p resolution, then you must use an HDMI connector because 1080p devices are not made with anything but HDMI ver 1.3 due to piracy worries. Supposedly if you don't use HDMI 1.3 (I guess you would have some type of converter to get to another type of connection) then you will only get 480i (interlaced) quality signal.
Fixed pixel display - a display with a set number of pixels like an LCD or plasma display.
DVI outputs are below:
From Wikipedia: A channel 3/4 output was a common output selection for most audiovisual devices sold in North America, that are intended to be connected to a TV using a Radio frequency (RF) signal. This channel option was provided because it was rare to have broadcast channels 3 and 4 used in the same market. The choice allowed the user to select the unused channel in their area so that the connected device would be able to provide video and audio on an RF feed to the television without excessive interference from a broadcast signal.
Monday, July 11, 2011
AC filter sizes at 2350
air conditioning filter sizes
downstairs unit 16 x 25 x 1
upstairs unit 14 x 20 x 1
downstairs system completely replaced in 2013 or 2014 by Landmark
downstairs unit 16 x 25 x 1
upstairs unit 14 x 20 x 1
downstairs system completely replaced in 2013 or 2014 by Landmark
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
songs
rhythm of love - plain white Ts
Animal - Neon Trees
Andy Grammer - Keep your head up
Santana - The game of love
13oct2011--- pumped up kicks - foster the people
27nov11 poutin' by Ben Webster -- King of the Tenors
23feb12 No Rain - Blind Melon
27mar12 Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up
Hotline - sylvers
Mary's Prayer - danny wilson
Waterfront - Cry
Some one that I used to know Gotye with Kimbra
paramore - the only exception
2012-11-12 Weezer - say it ain't so
Animal - Neon Trees
Andy Grammer - Keep your head up
Santana - The game of love
13oct2011--- pumped up kicks - foster the people
27nov11 poutin' by Ben Webster -- King of the Tenors
23feb12 No Rain - Blind Melon
27mar12 Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up
Hotline - sylvers
Mary's Prayer - danny wilson
Waterfront - Cry
Some one that I used to know Gotye with Kimbra
paramore - the only exception
2012-11-12 Weezer - say it ain't so
Thursday, April 14, 2011
QE2 and low rates
According to George Will, QE2 (quantitative easing) was accomplished by the Fed buying 70% of new the Treasury's new issues of debt. Rates will have to rise in order to sell all the issues once QE2 stops in June 2011.
If interest rates are kept low, this stimulates things, such as housing, that are interest rate sensitive.
If interest rates are kept low, this stimulates things, such as housing, that are interest rate sensitive.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
cutting expenses
Today I told Ann to stop the following services in order to save money. We have lost the Mexican restaurant at Cotton Plant and will lose Swaffer insurance and K & F Wireless in a month or so. So I am cutting back.
Mirror Lawn - sweeping service at CP every sunday night - $200 per month
Herbi systems - weed spraying at CP - $100 per month
Green Meadow - fertilize and weed kill at Shamrock - $200 per month
2011-04-04 Also stopping Grisanti's landscaping at Shamrock. He was cutting grass and maintaining flower beds. -- $480 per month.
Total savings is $980 per month.
Mirror Lawn - sweeping service at CP every sunday night - $200 per month
Herbi systems - weed spraying at CP - $100 per month
Green Meadow - fertilize and weed kill at Shamrock - $200 per month
2011-04-04 Also stopping Grisanti's landscaping at Shamrock. He was cutting grass and maintaining flower beds. -- $480 per month.
Total savings is $980 per month.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
GTNC - sold intermediate bonds and total bond fund
Today I sold:
approx $54,541 Total bond fund
approx $24,339.98 Intermediate term investment grade fund
bought:
VFSUX - short term investment grade bond fund
Total bond fund has too much US treasury stuff in it and wanted shorter duration than intermediate fund.
GTNConstruction
approx $54,541 Total bond fund
approx $24,339.98 Intermediate term investment grade fund
bought:
VFSUX - short term investment grade bond fund
Total bond fund has too much US treasury stuff in it and wanted shorter duration than intermediate fund.
GTNConstruction
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
bought GLD and CNDA in T Rowe acct
Today I bought approx $50,000 of GLD and $50,000 of CNDA in T Rowe Price acct.
GLD - bought 374 shares at 133.95
CNDA - bought 1395 shares at 35.76
-------------
GLD - bought 374 shares at 133.95
CNDA - bought 1395 shares at 35.76
-------------
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
bought CNDA small cap canadian fund
Today I bought 4002 shares of CNDA at $33.70 per share. Order total was $134,987.46 plus commission of $7.95. Bought for my personal account at Fidelity.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
bought stocks for Macon road
20-Dec-2010
Sold Vanguard total bond fund (VBTLX) and prime money market (VMMXX) and bought Vanguard S and P 500 (admiral shares) and Vanguard Small cap (admiral shares). Split the money 50-50 between SP 500 fund and Small cap fund.
Sold Total bond fund (VBTLX) -- approx $530,100
Sold Prime money market VMMXX -- approx $288,884
Bought Vanguard S and P 500 (VFIAX) - $115.31 -- 3554.39 shares -- approx $409,856 total
Bought Vanguard Small Cap (VSMAX) - $34.97 -- 11,747.78 shares -- approx $410,820 total
Sold Vanguard total bond fund (VBTLX) and prime money market (VMMXX) and bought Vanguard S and P 500 (admiral shares) and Vanguard Small cap (admiral shares). Split the money 50-50 between SP 500 fund and Small cap fund.
Sold Total bond fund (VBTLX) -- approx $530,100
Sold Prime money market VMMXX -- approx $288,884
Bought Vanguard S and P 500 (VFIAX) - $115.31 -- 3554.39 shares -- approx $409,856 total
Bought Vanguard Small Cap (VSMAX) - $34.97 -- 11,747.78 shares -- approx $410,820 total
Monday, December 13, 2010
Bought stocks for NBC
In mid December 2010 bought about $100,000 of each of the following stocks for NBC
Amerigas Partners LP -APU - $48.3299-- 2070 shares
Conoco Phillips - COP - $64.48 -- 1550 shares
Johnson & Johnson - JNJ - $61.818 --1617 shares
Kraft - KFT - $30.65 -- 3263 shares
Altria - MO - $24.57 -- 4070 shares
Merck - MRK - $35.98 -- 2779 shares
ATT - T - $28.76 -- 3477 shares
Walmart - WMT - $54.28 -- 1842 shares
Google - GOOG - $591.81 -- 169 shares
McDonalds - MCD - $77.13 -- 1296 shares
Proctor & Gamble - PG - $63.65 -- 1572 shares
Autozone - AZO - $264.70 -- 378 shares
Bought about $100,000 of each
Amerigas Partners LP -APU - $48.3299-- 2070 shares
Conoco Phillips - COP - $64.48 -- 1550 shares
Johnson & Johnson - JNJ - $61.818 --1617 shares
Kraft - KFT - $30.65 -- 3263 shares
Altria - MO - $24.57 -- 4070 shares
Merck - MRK - $35.98 -- 2779 shares
ATT - T - $28.76 -- 3477 shares
Walmart - WMT - $54.28 -- 1842 shares
Google - GOOG - $591.81 -- 169 shares
McDonalds - MCD - $77.13 -- 1296 shares
Proctor & Gamble - PG - $63.65 -- 1572 shares
Autozone - AZO - $264.70 -- 378 shares
Bought about $100,000 of each
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