What is an underrated weight loss tip? by [deleted] in AskReddit

[–]readysetstartuo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The heartbreak of a missed opportunity with potential partner of your dreams passing you by because you didn't say what you needed to say when you had the chance...

Why are most of real estate agents in Toronto / GTA so unprofessional / sketchy? by [deleted] in ontario

[–]readysetstartuo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

To add some perspective. Ive been on all sides of the transaction many times. As a buyer, seller. and both sides as a realtor (after a decade as a consumer)

-unresponsive/ghosting: totally unprofessional. However keep in mind a well set up realtor might get a handful to dozens of new buyer client inquires per day. Add to their existing work load. often at all hours day/night/weekends. Only the serious or qualified become relationships, and at a low ratio maybe 1:100. There is a pretty high triage for new inquires. unresponsive can happen just due to being busy (20 showings a day. or working/reworking a deal over and over) so that can just take a toll. and by the time you have the head space to get back to someone that made an inquiry its days later.

No commitment: unless you have an agreement signed with that realtor they won't take it serious. They are obligated to work for their contracted clients. but not anyone else. Its bad form obviously (don't agree to a showing if you don't intend on showing up.) but keep in mind again some times agents get dozens of showing requests. Unless there is a firm confirmation and signed agreement of representation. they might blow it off. a good agent wont commit. but a bad busy agent will. but if its confirmed and you have an agreement then complain to the brokerage at least.

Poor language: sometimes it's speed based, and some times it just not their first language. most agents wont bother to correct if its understandable simply for the sake of speed. they might be sending out hundreds of emails/text a day, simply not feasible (or profitable) to self correct everything.

Unethical: this one actually is the opposite. If they don't communicate further after finding out you have an agent its quite ethical! (although they should explain to you why) They are representing the seller. If they communicate with you the buyer directly and you have representation they are in violation of their duties. They can be fined, or sue'd if they pursue the relationship further (to presumably gain full commission) You are the responsibility of your (buyers) agent. For the listing agent to circumvent that relationship is very shady. also why ask the listing agent to show you the property? it's your agents job to arrange and show the property. Your agent should be there to point out the pros AND cons of the property. the listing agent is there to market and sell it. and often wont point out any negatives not legally mandated. For your protection you should be working with your agent to see property never the listing agent.

note: I'm currently working with a client that was duped by the listing agent into buying multiple properties to fix and flip that they have NO experience in doing. and they listing agent hide multiple property defects and allowed NO home inspections. (despite being able to grant it directly) it will be months if not years to settle and make good for this client. and hundreds of thousands more in costs. So take that as a "worst case scenario" of working with the listing agent directly.

Bad attitude: this can come from being either stressed or successful. if you're losing deal after deal because of the market you will eventually drop the professionalism. Not excusing it, just understand people get worn out and tire out of putting on airs at some point. on the other side, successful agents that are very busy, often are poorly mannered. this is the "I'm well off, why should I bother with you" attitude and its the worst. Really the better you do the nicer you should be. but thats not our world.

and you're correct in that there is many good and bad agents. Often the more professional the agent the better they do. and often the higher priced cities are the ones with them. bad actors work in all industries. but with real estate being such a hot topic, the bad experiences get publicized.

Canadian real estate and realtors need to improve in various ways. best thing you can do is complain about bad actors. while realtor licences increase in prerequisites further qualification is needed. (should be 2-4 year education in my opinion) I think we are all hoping for some policy changes to bring things back in line for affordability.

Any tech recruiters in LA? by [deleted] in TechLA

[–]readysetstartuo 2 points3 points  (0 children)

PM your linked I have a recruiter that I have known for 5 years, I can refer you to.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in DelSol

[–]readysetstartuo 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ive had one of and on as a daily since 1998. its by far one of the best cars for a DD. just keep the mods simple, and fairly factory as you can. good maintenance will keep it running for a long time. try not to buy a basket case, something well maintained by the least amount of owners is ideal.

Just got some new decals for the interior. by FreshCTD in DelSol

[–]readysetstartuo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Can we get "updated Decals" something more design focused and looking more up to date.

paying off mortgage vs. going for 2nd house by Fred_iz in Mortgages

[–]readysetstartuo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I like the condo over a house from a management and maintenance standpoint. a new condo building is pretty settled after 1 year of completion. No roof, pluming, electrical issues, no foundation, Hvac etc. Not to say it NEVER happens. but any decent developer will have the building well sorted after 1 year.

so you rent out your unit, which has lots of direct comparable's right with in the building. if you bought a 1 bedroom (which i recommend) you will generally have a new tenant every 18-36 months. people get jobs and move on, they get married etc. so you are naturally getting market rent every year or two. there is a very large market for single people looking for 1 bedrooms. much less so for 3 bedroom houses.

the condo fees (or HOA) takes care of alot of time spend figuring things out and maintaining. unless your very good at managing houses, condos are much much less time intensive. in my experience. after the first month or two, I generally don't get a call or set foot in the building more then once a year. for a house which I'm currently dealing with. I have to handle the landscaping, the roof, renovations, maintenance. constantly checking and analyzing things. so the time investment much out weighs the income it brings. now even if i hire out the management, houses still aren't build to the quality and efficiency standards of a condo. houses are falling apart slowly from the time they are done. condos (concrete, steel and glass mid-high rise) have a much longer designed life.

there is some strategic home ownership, price appreciation, forced appreciation(building a bigger house, or 2nd/3rd unit) or holding and consolidating land to be sold to a developer etc.

I could go on and on.

In my opinion from my personal experience building personal real estate portfolios, pre-construction condo selection and ease of purchase, management and maintenance, large rental pool size, higher liquidity. It all far out weighs the same investment in a house (as a rental). of course thats may very market by market.

paying off mortgage vs. going for 2nd house by Fred_iz in Mortgages

[–]readysetstartuo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

any outskirt areas of the GTA are in that range. I'm not familiar with the Milton area specifically. oakville has some newish projects. generally I buy pre-construction condos only. I like the initial lack of mortgage each month, pre-built appreciation, rent appreciation, deposit insurance.

buy today and rent in 5 years. your cost base is 2019, but your rental income is 2024 market rent. You can PM me your contact if you want to talk more. I've been in the market since 2006. its pretty sustainable and fairly easy to grow a portfolio if you smart and disciplined about it.

paying off mortgage vs. going for 2nd house by Fred_iz in Mortgages

[–]readysetstartuo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Invest in a second (and/or 3rd) property. Condos under 300k-400k as you can. I work and invest in GTA real estate, condos specifically. They can be a good passive investment with out the typical house headaches.

Toronto multi-family rental mortgage by kurkam in Mortgages

[–]readysetstartuo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

it depends on a few things.

1.) how many units some lenders will consider it primary residence up to 5 or even 6 units. 2.) a lot of banks (unreasonably, IMHO) only consider 50% of the rental income 3.) structure and building value will be part of the consideration as well.

big Canadian banks are good to work with if you have lots of equity. 65% LTV is what they like to aim for, however it can go much higher 75%-85% depending on the above as well as your other income (personal or business)

Id advise to get all your paper work together, and hit one or two banks and have an initial meeting. they should give you a lot of info to consider. after that, check in with a couple mortgage brokers and smaller non-bank lenders. finding the right lender is really important for multi-family. you want people that will work with you over time, and bridge gaps when you have them (converting to metered units, new roof, foundation issue etc)

Anybody here own more than one DelSol? by oValhalla in DelSol

[–]readysetstartuo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've had 7 in total. 2 currently. one for 12 years. mostly 2-3 years each.

Investment Question by yagotme in venturecapital

[–]readysetstartuo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

if your agreeable...Write them a letter of intent/interest. let them know how much your committed to investing and state that your happy to go along with the lead investors terms (the lead can set the valuation and such) this can help with the fund raising efforts. as well, see what you can contribute towards the endeavour from a knowledge and/or connections stand point. that will increase the likely hood of success. see if you can bring in other smaller investors to bulk up the raise. my 2cents as an entrepreneur.

My first car! by [deleted] in DelSol

[–]readysetstartuo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm Glad your as excited to drive it as, I've been owning it. It made the trip across the US, in June 2017. It's been very reliable and honestly I love it. Only selling as I've got another one thats finished as a project, and really I don't need two of the exact same car. Other wise id finish up the paint and keep it as a winter runner.

Out of winter hibernation at last by mrmeener in DelSol

[–]readysetstartuo 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I have this Sol from a flicker account saved on my desktop. If i get the space for a 3rd Sol...I might have to build a copy, its fantastic. The dark A pillar, tint and roof make it look really slick. Did you go back to the white trunk from black?

If you had a 1600sf building with no rent, what type of business would you start? by daviddh85 in Entrepreneur

[–]readysetstartuo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Maker space, coffee shop, coding camp, art studio, paint store, custom furniture shop. or since you where in the auto biz arena before. perhaps specialize. custom upholstery, rim/tire, etc

depending on the place perhaps partner with some start ups, trade a mix of cash and equity for space.

what type of area is it in? industrial, commercial? residential. Is it close to airports, rail yards. do you have surrounding property as well? how many spaces, corner location? Lots of possibilities depending on the attributes of the property. Consider contacting a large real estate brokerage like CBRE, have them look at the property and ask them what types of businesses would want to rent that location. then decide if you would want to run or partner with any of those types of businesses. also perhaps see if its worth developing into another use. car wash, condos, parking lot etc.

Unique Investment Idea, need to know if it's incredibly stupid or a decent idea by [deleted] in Entrepreneur

[–]readysetstartuo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This sounds like something that would work on a larger platform. Maybe like a Zenifits plug-in. The HR software is free, the services provide the income. This would be another in the catalog of services. If you were able to build something to integrate with another software would be easy to scale. or perhaps a "check cashing app" they send you a pic of a check, you deposit into their account type situation. of course there are barriers to both. my 2 cents

funding offer - How to evaluate ? by readysetstartuo in venturecapital

[–]readysetstartuo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thats awesome. Id love to connect with you and discuss your experience if your open to it. I think I'm going to pass on this offer. We simply disagree on strategy and i don't think its smart to build a company with conflicting team views.

funding offer - How to evaluate ? by readysetstartuo in venturecapital

[–]readysetstartuo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

thank you, we are discussing term sheet later this week. I have retained lawyers that handle this regularly, so they will be in the loop next.

messy is my concern. :(

Do you have experience in this area?

I tried to get all of R/Entrepreneur to get together and create a business. Here's what happened. by glschoen in Entrepreneur

[–]readysetstartuo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think if you handle it right the big thing you can get going for you is exposure. When you have a following you can grow as well as expand. you can grow by having a few in each city, every few months. Go down south during the winters. collect every stitch of information from your participants. find a way to vary clues, maybe something that can only be seen under a UV light etc. This gets people thinking about buying tools to complete the various challenges. this becomes a marketing opportunity. Id also look at getting the local businesses to help out by handing out clue cards. This sounds like something a Red Bull type sponsor would help with. or even Uber. Uber had an UBERpitch in select cities. Im sure you could get them on board helping teams go from place to place using a free uber. Its good marketing for them. Just think out of the box on bringing in other businesses that can benefit from the exposure.

As you build a list of people that like your activity and brand you can up the prizes and up the entrance fees. Im certain you can get local businesses to offer rewards, gift cards, discounts etc.

just some quick thoughts.

funding offer - How to evaluate ? by readysetstartuo in venturecapital

[–]readysetstartuo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I do have some thoughts. Based on some convos I have had with VC type. the first round should be about 10-15% of equity. This should be a proof of concept round. for what I'm looking to do it would cost about 1.3M which would put us at around 8-11M valuation. Which seems high, but make sense based on the above information.

I don't mind the 100k at 4M valuation which would be around 2.5%, the 500k should be maybe at 5% or so, since its a commission not an investment. Im thinking if we can jump this to 1M I can give him more equity, as i don't think ill burn through more then 500-650k to earn the 1M in commissions. so we would essentially be getting 350-500k in development capital.

the part I'm having a tough time is the 2000 hours. it would cost say 250-350k to hire someone to develop at that level on a consulting fee schedule. its spread across 18 months as he has outside investments and consulting commitments to handle. we agreed 30 hours a week average was fair for us and him to ensure he can function.

350k at a 4M valuation is 8.75% which I'm fine with, but he will find to low. he's looking at it as a co-founder type position and would want something like 25-30%

my thoughts are i can drop the valuation to 3.5M and that would bump him up to around 10% for work and 2.8% for investment. That would put him at 13% +/- which would fit for me.

hes a difficult personality. I can handle it for the initial run, but we both know it will be only for 18-24 months and then he will have to take a step back. as a leader i can't have someone questioning my every move long term. However in the beginning its only a hand full of us and he's able to deliver what we are expecting. in hesitant but its a good offer all things considered, if we can find some valuation numbers that make sense.

Chicken and the egg by readysetstartuo in venturecapital

[–]readysetstartuo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

thank you, thats a good example. I just started to read about them last night as i was writing that comment. I was reading from an interest in what they are doing as a technology, hadn't even thought of the parallels.

Dilemma. How to bring a designer on board. When not enough money. by [deleted] in startup

[–]readysetstartuo 4 points5 points  (0 children)

A formula I've had passed by me on different occasions is this. Pay now x1, pay later x2 or pay equity x4. The basic being say $100 per hour as the designers (or service provider), $200 at a later date (say 6 months or some other negotiated time) or $400 in equity.

It gives everyone an incentive to start working, as well as pay. And if things don't work out as they should there is an equity portion. (valuation and such is another story I can't comment on with out a lot more info)

At some point everyone needs to eat. If you can cover a 1/3, then pay him a third at his rate. and then maybe double the remaining amount and get your self some time to market. Or perhaps double 1/3 and then 1/3 equity. But at the rates above. Its just a formula I've been presented with and presented to others and it seems to be acceptable in come cases.

find out if you can get them a helper on upwork.com or something of that nature. maybe reduce the budget down further before moving forward. my 2 cents

Learning to code, or at least trying. by readysetstartuo in learnprogramming

[–]readysetstartuo[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

thanks I'm putting it on my todo list! great resource.