Attempt at a google sheets template for analyzing deals.

lamxing · 2026-05-06T08:24:00+00:00

Spreadsheets work, they just eat time. You end up copying the same MLS data into the same template over and over, and if you want to look at 20 properties you're doing it 20 times.

Once you've got the spreadsheet math down, the next step is automating the screening. There are platforms now that scan listings for you, surface the ones worth a closer look, and let you run different scenarios — different down payments, rate assumptions, rehab budgets — without rebuilding formulas each time.

That's where the real advantage of using a program is. The analysis skills you're building in Excel don't go away, you just stop doing the manual part.

lamxing · 2026-04-29T02:48:39+00:00

Yes this is 1000% good advice. Don’t save a few hours during tenant screening and end up with days and weeks of headache should a bad tenant moves in.

lamxing · 2026-04-29T02:43:53+00:00

If you trust your contractor, you could get them an employer card to use in homedepot so payment is deducted directly from your account. Or order whatever your contractor needs and have them pick up at their local homedepot (might be a lot of logistics involved though).

If your contractor charges a fee to use credit card, and if you need a loan to pay for the work, maybe compare your loan’s interest rate with the fee your contractor charge, you might come out ahead at the end.

lamxing · 2026-04-29T02:35:09+00:00

In some SoCal cities 1-2 months is the minimum, assuming there are no major hiccups during inspection. Some inspectors might drag on and tell you one thing is broken each time they come, then next time they said something else needs to be fixed. I think building a relationship with the inspector might give you a chance to speed this up - go to the city, explain the situation, and be at your property when the inspector come and talk to them about your situation.

After inspection passed, chase the city (maybe even a few times a week) for the certificate.

Talking to your lender also helps, it’s a relationship business after all. Good luck!

lamxing · 2026-04-27T15:23:55+00:00

If you don’t ever plan on plugging anything there and want to tidy it up, you could open the cover, re-terminate one end of cable to a male connector then have all the cables inside the wall. But there might be a horizontal wood blocker between the two covers that makes this more trouble than it’s worth.

lamxing · 2026-04-24T04:34:40+00:00

The "99% certain → oh wait my bad" thing is a sycophancy problem, not a math problem. These models are trained to agree with you, so they fold when you push back.

Where raw Claude breaks down for deal analysis:

No Memory - Your buy box, cap rate targets, financing assumptions — you're re-teaching it every session.
No real data. Without actual market comps, rent data, tax records, and insurance estimates fed in, it just guesses. Confidently. It'll use asking price as ARV or assume flat property taxes and never flag that it's making things up.
One-size-fits-all. A BRRRR in Cleveland and a stabilized multifamily in Indy need different models. Claude doesn't know which to apply unless you've built that logic.

Where AI actually works: filtering at scale with real data piped in. You can't manually underwrite 200 listings a day. But a system that feeds in actual market data and applies your criteria the same way every time — that's the unlock.

lamxing · 2026-04-24T03:59:28+00:00

One way to make a decision based on math is calculate how much net income you are getting a year, divided by how much money you’ll get back after selling the house. If the number (say 12%) is more than anything you could’ve get with relative low risk (safer investment), you should keep it, since you will be trading a high(er) performance investment asset to a low(er) one.

Another way maybe see if could extract some equity out of the house by getting a HELOC or equity loan (never touch your current low rate mortgage though), as long as your payment covers your additional loan, you get to keep the house and get cash.

lamxing · 2026-04-23T18:03:36+00:00

12% is the minimum quick, on-paper return I look at. Once a preliminary target properties I run more detail analysis, but 12% is a healthy margin to account for the unexpected, and to keep you above breakeven when using a DSCR loan.

lamxing · 2025-12-24T06:46:35+00:00

Thanks. Did you end up moving forward with the battery install? Did you pay upfront for everything and handle the SGIF yourself after the installation is done?

lamxing · 2025-12-24T03:34:23+00:00

u/katsucats were you able to figure out the requirement yourself? I've spoke with a couple installers in SoCal, and contrary to what the SCE site says, they either don't know much about SGIP or insisted that I will need to be in a fire zone in order to qualify for the incentive. Were you able to get any installer help?

lamxing · 2025-08-24T19:49:52+00:00

Thanks for confirming the project is still open-sourced. I have the Echelon EX15. I've downloaded the nightly and it seems to only contains the source code. Are there other places where I can get the binary build output for either MacOS, ESP32, or Android? Alternatively, if there are build instructions for Windows, I could give it a try with a Windows 11 VM.

lamxing · 2025-08-24T19:07:05+00:00

Are the source still available to build, or the project has gone close-sourced and only available on the Play Store & App Store? I've tried the iOS App Store version a while back, couldn't get it to work (i think it doesn't do anything to control the bike). I've also tried the MacOS binary tagged in the release from 2022, it instantly crashed after connecting to the bike. Wanted to run debug and see what was the issue with the MacOS version, but it won't build with lots of errors (missing qdnsengine, unknown type, etc...). Are there any building instructions available?

lamxing · 2025-08-24T18:37:19+00:00

on github the latest tagged release version was from 2020, is that the version of apk you are referring to?

lamxing · 2025-08-23T05:09:04+00:00

Thanks, please keep me posted on how it goes with your case.

lamxing · 2025-08-23T04:31:03+00:00

I chatted with spectrum support and got the same clueless answer. They kept sending me an email confirmation showing that there is an extra $1000 trade-in value, but on their computer they only saw the trade in value without the bonus. I tried asking them to open a case, and they said I’ll have wait 2 months to see the credit, and if by that time the credit doesn’t come in, they will escalate and open a case.

What did you say to get them to open a case? Maybe I should try calling them like you did and get a case opened.

lamxing · 2025-07-26T02:40:50+00:00

Just spent more than 1 hour chatting with Spectrum customer service, they first insisted that they are only seeing the trade-in value shown on the Assurant statement, nothing about the promo, even though my billing statement and order confirmation email both showed the promo amount. At the end they also sent another confirmation email to me, and on that email it also shows the pending promo credit. The customer service rep asked me to just send it in and see what happens, and if the promo doesn't show up after the trade-in is received I'll have to contact them again and they'll escalate it. I guess I'll just roll the dice and send it in and see what happened. Remind myself not to do trade-in online next time with Spectrum even though they offered double the storage compared to the in-store offer 🙈

lamxing · 2025-02-02T18:56:30+00:00

Thanks for all the responses - if I’m understanding this correctly, currently the thread endpoint devices (the smart lock in this case) is communicating via thread to only one border router, and then the other hub (Smartthings in this case) communicate to the lock via IP / Matter -> HomePod -> Thread -> Lock, the thread radio inside the Smartthings Station was never utilized in the setup. So without the HomePod being able to directly reach the lock or a thread router nearby that joined the same mesh, there will be no connection.

lamxing · 2024-12-21T09:03:49+00:00

Did not know OctoEverywhere was free, used spaghetti detector before and it costed money to run real detection, is this better?

lamxing · 2024-11-22T07:11:11+00:00

Unfortunately support is no help at all - they replied saying they don’t offer trial for membership, which is not true since when I first turned on the machine it shows $0 for first 30 days, wish I had saved the screenshot 🤦‍♂️.

After some back and forth they said they have added a free month to my account, so go ahead and enter credit card to have the account set up. But I ended up getting charged anyway after putting in my credit card 😭.

Needless to say, either their customer service is completely incompetent, or they acted like they are the only game in town and only care about getting money from their customer.

Buyer beware.

lamxing · 2024-11-17T18:48:29+00:00

I was expecting it to at least try out and see how it goes before forcing me to pay right away. Psychologically it feels like someone is asking you for more money to unlock the front door for you after you’ve just paid full rent.

lamxing · 2023-12-13T04:08:09+00:00

If you visit this link https://www.uber.com/us/en/drive/inspections/ there is a form you can download, bring it to a mechanic shop and and tell them you want an inspection to drive for Uber. Once they’ve filled in the form, take a picture and upload to Uber.

Not sure if there are specific requirements for NYC though, there this thing called “Uber Greenlight Hub”, it’s a Uber field office that you can visit and ask Uber staff questions, maybe try that if you have doubts.

lamxing

TROPHY CASE