#i might have made some errors in the analysis as i dont do these usually

[why-am-i-so-bad-at-being-good]

The narrative Grian drives in his episodes is actually INSANE because he frequently makes himself appear guilty and a team killer as rightly said but I'm willing to die on the hill that Grian is nothing but loyal till given reason to be otherwise. (Personal opinion, ofc)

Third life doesn't even need any explanation for this. There was no option other than for him to kill Scar or to die. Grian might be loyal, but he isn't the type to give up the win either.

Last life had Grian kill Mumbo and Jimmy but yep, both tried killing him, Jimmy punching Grian onto a primed trapdoor (if I remember correctly) and Mumbo trying to blow up Grian using an end crystal. They were red names, so as Grian always said, all previous alliances were void to him, so killing them didn't feel like an act of disloyalty.

Now double life is such a delicious series fr. You see Grian cheating on Scar with BigB, a clear act of disloyalty. But Scar isn't absolutely innocent either. All through the series, prior to Grian giving BigB the cookies, Scar was never onboard the ideas of them being soulmates, outrightly asking if it was necessary for them to base together, never listening to Grian even when repeatedly told. Basically, Scar never spoke Grian's language, and Grian decided that he needed a better ally who would be more useful than Scar. And who better to ally with than the player who gave Grian steak while Scar was taking huge chunks of damage?

As for Grian killing BigB... After BigB turns red, Grian is unsure of their alliance, which is further confirmed when BigB asks for things from Grian and Grian has to accept it to ensure that he isn't killed by BigB instead. (Also Grian technically wasn't expecting to get a kill from the dripstone which was evident from his exclamation and he hadn't taken into account that BigB would die if Ren was killed but that's another story)

Limited life had Grian pair up with Jimmy and Joel. Other than the accidental button push and the ladder incident, Grian had no direct hand in killing his teammates. None of the previous kills were acts out of malicious intent, and he even offered Joel to kill him AFTER Joel had already killed him once for time. And only after both of them died did he change alliances and become a nosy neighbor.

Secret life Grian was mostly alone till he found Etho and Cleo, and he was most definitely loyal to them till the end. He fought alongside Cleo, devising the Nether Portal escape, making the TNT trap and making it a manual one to ensure that the trap actually worked, while putting himself in danger's way. What a madlad. That's loyalty right there.

Wild life had Grian pair up with Mumbo and Skizz, and my god, from Mumbo's pov Grian looked like the shadiest teammate ever, running off whenever he got the chance. But in fact it was the absolute opposite. Grian helped in securing the enchanter, setting up the tnt trap for skizz which killed him and Mumbo, making the tower to help his friends get kills, sometimes using insider knowledge to help them too.

He also allies with Scar, giving him the mace in exchange for allyship (something which he didn't have to do, but he did because he hates dirty kills) and actually followed through it till the end.

When Mumbo dies, his grief is immeasurable. He extends the water below the tower, improves the tnt trap on the tower. None of this is enough however to keep Skizz alive and he falls to his death. Here, Grian immediately turns to Martyn to ask if he would ally with him, and this was just a funny bit between them (which Grian later addresses and apologizes to Skizz for, lol)

And finally, Grian's alliance with Gem and Joel was rock solid. It was the whole server against them, and Grian helped Joel with his teleporting powers (Joel didn't need help but Grian didn't know that lmao) and even helped eliminate some of Joel's foes. In the final fight between the two, it's the same as Third life. Grian wasn't going to go down without a fight, so he absolutely tried to win. (He isn't Scott, after all.) But before that, he was loyal to the end.

All in all, TLDR is that Grian is a loyal teammate who simply takes on the blame for a lot of things very silently and very easily and does not retaliate because he himself absolutely believes that he is guilty of it when he's mostly not. (Unreliable narrator fr)

Thinking about how Grian is seen as the prime example of a "team killer" and "traitor" in the series.

Grian kills Scar in a 1v1 and it's the beginning of a pattern of 'disloyalty' (didn't scar kill pearl in much the same way seasons later?)

Grian kills Mumbo and Jimmy and it's a betrayal (they weren't even allies at this point, of course, and those two repeatedly tried to trap him first)

Grian kills BigB as collateral in a trap against Ren without thinking about it (of course, players have certainly killed allies more directly. the season before featured multiple full on betrayals from desperate boogeymen.)

Grian's allies both die, and it's his fault for not giving them more time (what is it etho said before killing his ally directly for time? "i wish you were better at the game"?)

Grian's allies die, and it's his fault, for having a bad plan, or for mis-stepping, or for not being there (him and everyone else, maybe)

Mumbo walks right into a bomb, Skizz stands exposed on a ledge for twenty minutes, it's Grian's fault for building the tower they died in (etho shoots scott. tango kills bdubs.)

Every season Grian "causes" the ultimate death of his team, or at least, he's said to. And every season other players do the same. Do worse. But Grian is still disloyal, flighty, dangerous. A traitor. A team killer. Not just to the fans, but often to himself as well. That's fascinating to me.

[pennyfynotes]

8.2.18 // 4:30pm // school subjects and AP exams oh my

so i recently (ok not so recently i’m sorry super busy rn) got an ask from an anon about subject specific tips and ap exams. this is the masterpost i told you to look out for ;). there are no ap exams in college, but some of the stuff is still applicable. i did my best to be as comprehensive as possible and dump everything in one place. hope this is helpful! xoxo, m ps. guess where the actual tips are?    if you said “under the cut” then you’re right bc i’m predicable af

tips by subject:

languages (i took spanish): 1. flashcards are your friend. i don’t care if they’re digital (would recommend quizlet or studyblue) or paper, but they help immensely with either vocab or things like remembering literature.

2. charts are also your friend. conjugations giving you a hard time? write out a chart of the different tenses and the conjugations for each subject. put down some of the irregulars too.

3. acronyms/pnemonics are also also your friend. a lot of these already exist, you just have to go find them. i’m pretty sure i still remember what “wedding” stands for for the spanish subjunctive.

4. it’s ok to start over. it’s easy to start a sentence based on what you’d say in english. you’re doing fine until *bam* you hit that word/phrase you really need but you have no clue how to say it. whether it’s an oral or written exam, take a few seconds to think about it and, if you can’t figure it out, just back track. restart the sentence and rework it. better to do that than to lose all your time thinking of one word you may or may not know.

5. skirt around things. if you can’t remember how to say fridge but you really need to say it for something, just say “machine that keeps food cold” or something. it might sound silly,  but it gets the point across and removes the road block.

6. make a list. no, not a to do list. if there’s phrases you find yourself reaching for all the time, but you can never remember, make a list of them and their translations. it might be because its a phrase/part of a sentence structure you use a lot in your native language or whatever. make that list and drill just those few phrases into your head. it’s helpful

english/language arts: 1. proofread. i guarantee you’ll find a mistake, a sentence that makes no sense, or one that just sounds cringy. thank me later.

2. have a damn thesis. its ok if you just need to write and spit words/ideas out for a while to figure it out. but figure it out.

3. conclusion ~= introduction. for those of you who didn’t get the tilde, it means not. yes, they both tie your points to your thesis but they are not to same. do not just reword the same information in the conclusion. push your ideas just a little further. i usually like the push them a little bit outside the realm of what i talked about in my paper. for example, if i focused on the first 5 chapters of the book in the rest of my paper, i’ll expand the ideas to the rest of the book. or if i’m talking about female characters and focus on just one or two, i’ll use the conclusion to potentially connect it to another.

4. have favorites. pick a few fav transitions, sentence structures, and fancy vocab words. basically build a toolbox. this way you won’t have to think as hard when you want to “spice up” your work.

5. summaries only go so far. once you get to higher level english classes, there will be a lot of analysis of specific imagery, or wording, or dialogue. reading cliff notes is only going to give you the plot and none of this. if you don’t have time to read and you’ve been assigned a pretty standard english novel/play/whatever, take the time to look up some famous quotes or symbols. they’ll probably come up in discussion and this will help you look less unprepared.

6. have on question/comment ready. if your teacher/prof is into discussions and grades on participation, it’s handy to write down one (or a few) things. it’s easy to forget what you were going to say while you follow the discussion and it sucks to get docked points for not saying anything. even if it’s just a thoughtful question, jot it down.

history: 1. lol prob my weakest subject, just go see the apush (ap us history) section bc i don’t have much more for you than that.

science: 1. back to basics. i say it all the time, i’ll say it again. really understand basic concepts. they will come back. i’m serious.

2. pattern recognition. science problems are often times about recognizing patterns. once you identify the type of problem it is, even if you’ve never seen the exact one/something similar before, solving it becomes way easier.

3. make a recipe book. tied to the last one, but once you recognize a type of problem, you need steps to solve it. go through any practice problems you’re given to determine all the “types” of problems. once you’ve categorized them, make yourself a step-by-step guide on how to solve.

4. flashcards. you’ll have to know polyatomic ions or random biology facts. see languages tip #1 for more.

5. note your errors in lab. if you do something wrong, don’t just try to brush it under the table and forget about it. not that it’s a big deal, because its not, so don’t freak out. they’re just great opportunities to note sources of error. i mean obviously dont write in your lab report that you weren’t paying attention and mixed the wrong chemicals, but something like “we may not have waited sufficient time for the product to dry” can explain why you got 800% yield.

6. have a toolkit. kinda like a recipe book, but just a collection of straight facts that come up often. knowing common molecular weights and chemical properties (is ammonia acidic or basic?) will make things go faster. like i said earlier, polyatomic ions are also great.

7. brush up on some simple arithmetic. similar to the tool kit, this will just make things go faster. being able to quickly add things and calculate easy percentages (ex: 30%) will make things like hw and exams go faster. i’m of the opinion it’s always good to know how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide w/o a calculator (on paper, not all in your head)

bonus: math #5 and #7

math: 1. see science #1

2. see science #2

3. see science #3

4. see science #4. see a pattern here? you might wonder why you need to flashcard math, but it’s good for learning equations or the names of certain techniques. if the prof asks you to solve something using X technique and you don’t know what that is, that’s gonna pose a problem. also good for the unit circle (don’t get me started)

5. figure out your speed. this is applicable to most everything, but i find it most relevant for math. is it better for you to speed through the whole exam and then do it all again/check it over 2x? or for you to take it slow so you know you got everything right the first time? personally i use the first approach, but i’m a fast taker and prefer to have time to process between repeating problems instead of staring at it forever once and never looking again.

6. science #7. a lot of teachers will expect you to be able to do this.

7. go over the material a couple times. also applicable to everything. i find it’s easier to remember things when i know that concepts are connected. you might have learned X 3 weeks before Y, but if you go back over, you might realize they’re closely related. this will help you if you’re not sure on a test because you can reason through things using the connections you’ve drawn

tips by ap course (obv look at the subject above bc i will be giving *really specific stuff* here that i’ve gathered from experience. they’re also ordered by when i took them, sorry it’s not super logical but i didn’t want to forget one)

general ap course/exam tips: 1. practice exams. you need to be familiar with what will/will not show up. you don’t always need to simulate and real testing situation, but i’d recommend doing at least 1-2 that way. also *know how many questions they’re are you so can pace yourself!!!!*

2. college board is pretty good about giving topic breakdowns. use those. go through and figure out what topics you’re solid on and which need more work. the above tip is to help decipher what the topics actually mean bc it can be confusing.

3. give the free response a quick flip through. do the ones you’re confident on first.

4. make sure you know the policies/what you can bring. don’t want to forget something. also once our test administrator tried to stop us 10 minutes early, but we were on top of our shit and all gave her a death glare bc we knew when we were supposed to finish.

ap chemistry: 1. polyatomic ions and molecular weights. know them

2. chapter/section reviews (in addition to class notes) and how-to guides. my teacher made us make them and let’s just say your girl did *really* well (and i’m damn proud of that one)

3. do a quick skim of the free response. applicable to most exams but, the year i took it, they’d just remade and re-curved the exam and put *way* too many free response. like no one finished them. if that’s still the case, make sure you do the one’s you’re confident on. also, i did not get to like 3 questions and still got a 5. they may have fixed this idk. (sorry this is redundant but i wanted to give this ap chem exam specific info)

ap environmental science: 1. there is a lot of damn information here. i would use chapter outlines and pick out key terms, policies, and events etc. treat this like a history class.

2. for the exam, use common sense. most of the time, the most environmentally friendly answer is the right one. if you just have a general gist of the course and its topics, but don’t know a lot of details, go with your intuition and you should be fine. i didn’t have a lot of time to study for this one and this method worked for me.

ap calc bc: 1. memorize standard derivatives. power rule, sin and cos, chain rule. that’s important.

2. similarly, memorize standard integrals.

3. don’t forget +c for indefinite integrals. just don’t.

4. similarly, if it’s definite, don’t forget to evaluate at the end! super easy thing to do, but also super easy way to lose points if you forget.

5. if the integral looks complicated, that probably means there’s a “trick” involved. u substitution, integration by parts, trig substitution. something like that.

6. memorize some standard series’, operations, and types (arithmetic, geometric etc)

7. if you’re looking at a word problem, understand what is dependent on your variable and what isn’t (in other words, what’s a constant). for example, if it says the water flows into the barrel at 50 mL/s and flows out at 1/5 times the volume, that translate to F = 50 - (1/5)V. don’t make things more complicated by trying to write everything in terms of V (in this example). also, your equation might just be a constant term or just a variable term doesn’t have to be both.

8. know what your derivative is with respect to/what it really means. aka if your problem is talking about flow and volume, how are they related to each other? flow is the change in volume *with respect to time*. so if i differentiate volume with respect to time, i get flow. if i integrate flow with respect to time, i get volume. this also helps you make sense of word problems.

*disclaimer*: it is been 5 years since i took this class and i have taken quite a few math classes after. i apologize if i introduce anything that is a little irrelevant.

ap spanish language: 1. flashcard. like seriously. there’s gonna be vocab involved.

2. understand what’s asked. for the persuasive email. *be persuasive*

3. toolkit. i mentioned this before but this was probably the most useful for this class. our teacher gave us a bunch of fancier words to use instead of causar (to cause) because that was a word we’d need a lot. the one that still sticks with me 4 years later is fomentar. have a few alternatives for these kinds of super common words, a good greeting and closing for your email, and a set of good transitions. *make sure you know how to use them properly*

4. write stuff down during listening. you can either answer questions during the first listen, then take notes the second to catch stuff you missed or vice versa.

5. it’s ok to backtrack in the speaking. don’t let yourself get stuck and just not say anything. it’ll freak you out for the rest of the exam and will rob you from showing off what you know. also take notes of things you want to mention based off cultural knowledge of the situation related to the dialogue.

6. don’t zone out. with everything going on and all the stress, it’s easy to zone out (esp during the conversation). don’t do it or you’ll have a hard time responding and freak yourself out (again)

7. don’t lose your place in the convo! they give you a sheet that shows you how many times the other “person” will talk. i lost track and said goodbye one segment early. it was bad ok. all these conversation tips are from personal experience.

ap statistics: 1. know the different kinds of tests inside and out. know the differences and the conditions. if you’ve got that, you’re like 75% the way there.

2. be familiar with sample vs population. it’s a bit confusing, but take the time to understand.

3. ok sorry i really don’t remember anything else. this exam really isn’t that difficult (in my opinion), you’ll be ok.

ap physics c: 1. free body diagrams. understand how to draw them *and draw them*. they will carry you through mechanics. draw gravitational force, normal if there’s a surface, and then any other given forces.

2. basic equations. you get an equation sheet, but knowing the equations means you know the concepts and the relations between them. big ones are f=ma and the equations relating position (x), velocity (v), and acceleration (a). also friction f=uN.

3. *normal isn’t always the opposite direction of gravity!!!!* gravity is straight down. normal is perpendicular to the surface.

4. vector components. please don’t just add vectors. break them down into components and then add or you are so fucked.

5. get familiar with triangles. this will help with the whole component thing.

6. kirchoffs rules are so helpful. know them.

7. understand the relations between voltage/potential and current in terms of the properties of circuit elements. that means the equations for resistors, capacitors, and inductors.

8. know how to add in parallel and series. it’s important. also! if the circuit is drawn “weird” a good way to know series vs parallel is that parallel elements share two nodes and that series circuits only share 1.

9. sorry i kinda blocked out E+M bc i didn’t know what i was doing (or so i thought). i still got a 4 tho so that curve is generous.

ap us history: 1. chapter outlines. pretty self explanatory.

2. make a timeline. put important events, sentiments, policies, and presidents. if you can associate these things together into time periods it will be easier. most of the time, any one question (esp long response or whatever they’re called) will only focus on 1 time period.

3. sentiments are important. if you know nothing else, know these bc they will help guide you through questions by reasoning even if you know nothing else.

4. gilder lehrman (or similar us history summaries). these are tailor specifically to apush bc they are organized by period (i think that’s what they were called?). i actually fell asleep listening to these bc i didn’t have time to study. they were mildly helpful, but every little bit helps right?

ap psychology: 1. chapter outlines/flashcards. this course is based heavily on key terms and less so on larger concepts.

2. ok sorry i took this online i remember literally nothing except how annoying my teacher was and that the exam was easy. if you know terminology i think you should do fine.

ap biology: 1. there is a lot. go through all the topics and make sure you’re solid. start with the big picture, then think about narrowing down.

2. know how charts work. things like pedigrees, punnet squares, and evolution trees (that’s def not the right term). some of the exam will just be interpretation of this.

3. i am so sorry i remember nothing else.

ap spanish literature: 1. flashcards. title, author, time period, short summary, key elements (a line, character, symbol). this is *so helpful*

2. think about the works in relation to each other. you might be asked to compare them. even if they ask you to compare something on the reading list with something new, you’ll be familiar with the points you might talk about.

3. know the lit terms. more flashcards. associate them with a particular work if you can/need to.

4. don’t freak on the listening. a lot of the recordings are old and shitty quality. take a deep breath and try your best. know that the rest of the test takers (excepting maybe natives) are experiencing the same thing.

5. use that tool box. see general spanish and ap spanish lang.

this is so freaking long and i think the moral of the story is that i blocked out my senior year ap exams. i hope this was helpful and, if you have more questions, or want more stuff like this, let me know!

[therealestatesparkblog]

10 Lethal Mistakes to Avoid on Your First Real Estate Investment

Your first investment will be a learning process.While youll definitely make a few mistakes along the way, there are a few common pitfalls that can be avoided if you educate yourself beforehand.From financing errors to underestimating repair costs, newbies are at risk to lose serious cash if theyre not careful.Still, a real world education is invaluable, and this guide will help steer you down the best path possible to your very first real estate investment. You may have heard that your first real estate investment is the most difficult one. Its true. Your first deal is difficult because you dont know enough. How could you? Yet you still need to move forward and get started. If you wait until youre 100 percent ready, youll never make progress. But even though your first deal wont be perfect, you still dont want it to be so bad that it will knock you out of the game. So, this article will help you avoid the 10 most lethal mistakes on your first real estate investment. Use this like a checklist to ensure that you avoid the worst case scenarios. When you prevent the worst from happening, you will gain confidence so that you can buy your first deal, move forward, and begin your real world education. Here are the 10 lethal mistakes to avoid. 10 Lethal Mistakes to Avoid on Your First Real Estate InvestmentMistake #1: Bad Financing Bad financing can be one of the most lethal mistakes possible. I have personally seen more real estate investors lose money or go out of business from bad financing than from any other mistake. What is bad financing? For me, it includes a combination of the following: High interest rateAdjustable interest rateHigh monthly paymentBalloon paymentPersonal recourse Most residential bank mortgages at least save you from the first four mistakes because the interest rates are low, fixed for 30 years, with amortizing payments, and there are no balloons. But they almost always require personal recourse, meaning you personally guarantee the loan with your other assets and future earnings. This is probably a reasonable trade-off. Many commercial, portfolio, hard money, and private lenders, however, do not meet any of these criteria. And that could be a problem, especially on your first deal. If you borrow at 12 percent interest with a large monthly payment, a balloon due in one to threeyears, and full personal recourse for the loan, you are likely taking too much risk.

Why? Because the property will likely have negative cash flow with the high interest rate. A balloon note means you will have to refinance or sell in a very short period of time. As many learned in the 2008 credit crisis, trying to refinance when credit dries up is very difficult even with perfect credit and good income. And personal recourse means that if anything goes bad and your lender loses money, they could chase you around and take your other assets in order to collect. I have always used a lot of private and seller financing for my real estate deals, and I keep this list of financing mistakes in mind. For example, I might trade off a little higher interest rate and a larger down payment in exchange for a longer loan term and no personal recourse. Related: The Biggest Mistake I Made as a New Investor (& How You Can Avoid It) The beauty of private financing is that everything is negotiable. But no matter what type of financing you use, be sure to negotiate hard and avoid the worst mistakes. Mistake #2: Bad Location Real estate value always begins with location. The people and businesses who will rent or buy from you begin with location, and then they evaluate other criteria like the lot and the house. Because its so important, you should study the best and the worst locations in your area before buying. There are investors who make money in bad locations, but its a challenging game that beginners should probably avoid. I bought a lower-priced single family house once at a below market price with excellent seller financing terms. But the location was awful. I could not consistently attract good tenants because the neighbors were not pleasant (or safe) to live around. On the other hand, I have bought properties in good locations that I made mistakes on, like paying a little too high of a price. The good location helped to bail me out of some of those mistakes.

Mistake #3: Misjudging Resale or Rent Value I would argue that our number one job as investors is to understand how our end customers (renters and buyers) make buying decisions and then to translate that to a value. If we cant determine the full value potential, we will have a hard time making a confident purchase offer that earns us a profit. This job is important. But its not easy. Its a skill that you must commit to learn and then continue to refine every day for the rest of your investment career. On your first deal, its likely you are not yet an expert on value, so there are a few things you can do to help yourself: Reduce your target market to a relatively small, manageable area.Study all of the transactions in your market daily using tools like the MLS, Zillow, or your local tax assessor. For me, this is like the daily weight training of real estate that keeps me fit and competitive. Hire professionals for assistance. For resale value find a very competent real estate agent and/or appraiser. For rental values find property managers with multiple units in your area.Take courses on valuation at your local Associate of Realtors or other continuing education school.Mistake #4: Underestimating Repair Costs It is inevitable that you will underestimate repair costs at some point. But you want to avoid enormous cost overruns that could cause you to run out of cash or face other problems. To avoid large mistakes, learn a good repair estimating system. I use the one taught by J Scott in BiggerPockets own The Book on Estimating Rehab Costs. Also be sure to get help from other more knowledgeable investors or contractors. Dont be afraid to pay these people for their time and knowledge. You can meet these people by: Mistake #5: Running Out of Cash Your investment properties are like your race car. Cash is like your cars fuel. Whenout of fuel, even the most powerful race car in the world sits still. If you run out of cash, even the best investment property will hurt your wealth building. So you want to avoid running low or running out of cash. This usually happens for a couple of reasons: Underestimating repair costs (see mistake #3 above)Underestimating future capital expenses on a rental property Capital expenses are big ticket items like a roof or a heating-air system replacement. If these costs hit you unexpectedly, it can become a big problem. Related: Want to Lose All Your Money & Cry Yourself to Sleep? Make These 4 Newbie Mistakes! Brandon Turner wrote a really good article about estimating capital expenses and budgeting for them on your rental properties.

Mistake #6: Letting Emotions Drive Your Decisions This is a huge mistake for newbies. And its understandable. I mean it IS an exciting chase to look for your first deal. But you have to balance your enthusiasm with cold, hard, and objective analysis. I love enthusiasm. Its critical as an entrepreneur because it helps you push ahead through the many obstacles you will face. But I have also learned to never make big financial decisions with emotion alone. I use a process of analysis that filters each of my deals. I also run every deal by someone else, which typically means my business partner but sometimes includes other mentors and advisers. My process begins with basic criteria, including general locations, neighborhoods, housing types, construction quality, etc. This helps me to filter down the enormous number of properties out there. Then I use a deal analysis process to analyze the numbers. Here is my basic go or no-go system for a deal. I also like to calculate key metrics like the cap rate (or return on asset), the cash on cash return, the discount from full value, and the internal rate of return. My favorite book to teach you the cold, hard analysis of real estate is What Every Real Estate Investor Needs to Know About Cash Flow by Frank Gallinelli. Mistake #7: Choosing the Wrong Real Estate Strategy Fellow investor and BP writer Erion Shehaj introduced us to the dreaded Shiny Strategy Syndrome and showed why its detrimental to your financial future. Real estate investing has MANY strategies. And as wonderful as BiggerPockets is, its easy to get overwhelmed or waste time chasing the wrong strategy. Heres a tip: You wont find a perfect strategy. But you can find one that pretty well suits your unique strengths, your short-term needs, and your long-term goals. So, instead of borrowing the perfect strategy for someone else, think hard about what you really want and which real estate strategy will get you there. To get you started in this process, I wrote: Investors: DONT Begin by Wholesaling. Take One of These 7 Paths Instead. Mistake #8: Choosing Bad Contractors My business partner and I bought our very first fix-flip deal in December of 2003. We proceeded to go through three different painters, two different heating and air companies, and two different carpet installers before we got the house looking decent. These were expensive mistakes. We were lucky to even make a small profit on that first deal! Finding contractors who will do good work, finish up on time, clean-up after themselves, and charge reasonable prices is harder than finding buried treasure on a beach. Yet the people who do work on your fix-flip or rental deal will make or break its success. J Scott does a great job discussing this issue in The Book on Flipping Houses. He discusses the different types of contractors, when to use each, and how to manage the relationship well.

Mistake #9: Not Using Your Due Diligence Period Some experienced investors make offers with fast closings, in as-is condition, and with no due diligence period. This may help them get a lower price, but for your first deal this is probably not the best route to go. Instead, include a short but reasonable due diligence period that allows you to get out of the purchase contract if you find a problem. Here are a few of the important things I usually do during due diligence: Obtain a very good professional third party property inspectionRepair estimates (see mistake #3 above)Evaluate zoning and local ordinances (for example, the college town where I invest has a law that you cant rent to more than two students in a residential zoning district)Get a professional third party opinion of value and rental comps Basically, you want to double check all of the key assumptions you used to make your offer. If you find that you made a bad assumption, you may need to renegotiate or walk from the deal. Related: The Rookie Landlording Mistake Most New Investors Make Some of your best deals may be the ones you dont do. Mistake #10: Not Learning From Your Mistakes You have just read 9 mistakes to avoid, and I could probably tell you another 20. But no matter what you learn, you will still make mistakes. I guarantee it. This is called The School of Hard Knocks. Go ahead and listen to Annie sing Its a Hard Knock Life and join the club. But the biggest mistake you can make is not learning from this School of Hard Knocks. In our first year of business, my partner and I agreed that we didnt know everything. We knew we would screw up many times. But we decided to call each mistake a seminar, and then write down the lesson. We have attended thousands of these real world seminars since then, and our education continues today. Go ahead and decide to create your own personal School of Hard Knocks. Its an invaluable education. Conclusion Real estate is an entrepreneurial venture. We entrepreneurs shoot for the stars, but we also take risks that could turn out badly. This can be a difficult pill to swallow on your first deal. But risk doesnt have to be a bad word. I see it as a barrier to entry. It means that the less committed, pretender-investors dont bother. They drop out when it gets too tough. The successful real estate entrepreneurs arent perfect. They have scars to prove all of their past mistakes. But they learn to avoid the fatal mistakes that would knock them out of the game. And they learn to always keep moving forward. Forward movement. Thats what entrepreneurship is all about. I hope the lessons of these 10 fatal mistakes help you to continue moving forward at whatever step of the entrepreneurial journey you find yourself. Were republishing this article to help out our newer readers.

What did you think of the 10 fatal mistakes to avoid? Are there others that I missed? What challenges are you facing as a new investor? Id love to hear your thoughts and comments below. https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2016/03/22/10-lethal-mistakes-avoid-real-estate-investment/

[rebeccahpedersen]

Where Do I Find A Condo’s Square Footage?

TorontoRealtyBlog

This makes a great follow-up to Wednesday’s blog post, “Random Thoughts About Square Footage.”

There was a lot of conversation in the comments about how to calculate square footage, what standards to use, how developers make the calculations, what the difference between buildable and useable square footage is, and so on.

For a would-be condo buyer, this could be quite co0=\fusing.

But in my mind, it’s more than confusing; it’s downright scary.

When you consider that we pay for condos based on the square footage, not knowing the square footage, is a scary proposition.

Imagine if this were the case with other goods and services?  Imagine if you had to purchase a bar of gold without weighing it?  At $1,300 per ounce, wouldn’t you want to know if that bar weighted eight pounds or nine pounds?

To think that we value real estate based on a standard that we have no idea how to calculate is absolutely scary.

And as a reader pointed out on Wednesday, organized real estate is doing nothing to help:

Well isn’t that great.

This reeks of, “We’re afraid of failing, so we just won’t try.”

Or the classic Ned Flanders line, “We’ve tried nothing, and we’re all out of ideas!”

I understand the argument that you don’t want to provide a platform for constant litigation, but not looking for a solution is a cop-out.

The idea that publishing square footage is not made mandatory, I understand from a potential litigation perspective.  But to basically ban agents from publishing square footage?  That’s pathetic.

What’s next?  What about a bedroom that might not be deemed a bedroom by all, because it doesn’t have a window, or a closet, or a door.  Why not ban agents from specifying how many bedrooms there are?

As an industry, we have to do better than this.  We have to raise our standards, and provide the consumer with better, more complete, and more accurate data so that they can make an informed purchase decision.

I have long maintained that TREB should make square footage mandatory, and the simple way to do that would be to get together with MPAC and work out a deal so that we have access to the square footage reports.

For those of you that don’t know (and this includes many Realtors…) MPAC has a slew of real estate related products available, customized to each property.  And by “each property” I mean every property, since MPAC is linked to every single listing on MLS, current or past, and has an easy-to-use interface for those properties not appearing on MLS.

For example, I just looked up a newly-listed condo, and if you click “Store,” you see the following:

Right there, you’ve got twelve products that you may, or may not, find helpful with respect to your property search, comparative market analysis, or upcoming listing.

These are tools that Realtors have at their disposal for every property out there, be it house or condo, and these are far from cost prohibitive.  Then again, if agents balk at paying $400 for a fantastic photographer to help advertise their $600,000 condo listing, then maybe $6.00 for a building permit report is a bit steep.

But the one product that every Realtor should be familiar with is this one:

The Residential Floor Area Report contains a square footage amount, on which MPAC presumably bases taxation.

This square footage, again – presumably, would be from a source deemed accurate, likely from the builder.

Having purchased about a thousand of these reports over the years, I can personally attest to the fact that they almost always match any available floor plan.

So it is my contention that the Toronto Real Estate Board should, at the earliest possible opportunity, make the inclusion of an MPAC Residential Floor Area Report mandatory for all condominium listings, and failure to provide the square footage and/or the document shall result in an error message when one tries to submit the listing to MLS.  That’s the case when you don’t fill in the taxes; you can’t submit the listing.  Same goes for any mandatory field – you get an error message in RED.  Of course, you can put “$0” for taxes, but that’s not the point.

The point is, if we, as sales professionals, want to do our job effectively and to our fullest capability, we will find a way to provide consumers with this information.

So where does a person find square footage for a condo, in lieu of an MLS listing?

Here are the most effective ways:

1) MPAC

As described above, this is an option available to Realtors for $5.00 per property, and I believe the public can open an account and gain access as well.

2) ONLINE FLOOR PLANS

As a client once asked me, “How is your Google-Fu?”

If you’re willing to put the time and effort into it, you can probably find any floor plan from a condo in the past ten years.  You just need patience.

I have complied a massive database of floor plans on my laptop, for thousands of units in hundreds of buildings.  Every time I see a new floor plan, whether it’s attached to an MLS listing, or even a soft copy at a condo I’m visiting, I file it away.

There are a lot of real estate agent websites out there that have floor plans for newer buildings.  I don’t feel like plugging those agents here and now, but let’s just say they’re easy to find.

There are also a lot of websites that have the word “floor plan” in the body of a web-page, whether visible or hidden, and that means that hundreds of clickable search results on Google will return zero actual useful information.

A colleague of mine at Property.ca told me once that his goal was to accumulate the floor plan for every single unit in the city of Toronto.  Quite the endeavour!  Condos.ca was, and still is, and industry leader in Toronto condominium data, but a database of floor plans would be something else altogether.  I told him that I would gladly pay an annual fee for access to a database, as would many agents, I’m sure.  Then again, most agents won’t pay $5 for the floor plan from MPAC for a property they’re listing, and being paid $10K, $15K, $20K or more to sell, so perhaps my suggesting that floor plan database subscriptions would go through the roof is wishful thinking.

3) PAST LISTINGS

In many condos, the square footage for Unit #1101 is the same as Unit #1201, and the same as Unit #1301, and so on.

Again, with some time and effort, this is an easy search through the archives of MLS.

Because most agents don’t include the actual square footage in listings (I would estimate less than 20% of historical listings have an actual square footage), this endeavour can be painstaking, but it often bears fruit.

When I’m doing a Comparative Market Analysis for a condo, I’ll include the exact square footage for every comparable unit.  When I see other agents give a “range,” like 500-599, I laugh.  Imagine that gold bar, weighing somewhere between 8 and 9 pounds, and being expected to pay $1,300 per ounce.

To find the square footage of every unit, the first place I go is to the MLS archives.  First, I look up the history of that unit, and if the building is old enough and the unit has been sold before, I might find it.  Then, I’ll go to the archives for all the units with that model number, and 95% of the time, I’ll find the square footage.  Of course, I have a rule that I need triple-confirmation, otherwise it doesn’t fly.  If 1201, 1301, and 1401 are all said to be 542 square feet via past MLS listings, then we’re good.

4) MAINTENANCE FEE MATH

This is a very inexact science, but it can get you anywhere from 90% to 100% accuracy.

In virtually every building in the downtown core, maintenance fees are apportioned by square footage.

So if you can solve for “X,” you can figure out the fees.

Keep in mind that basic maintenance fees, per unit, do not include a locker or a parking space.  Those are separate, and are lumped in with the overall fees on MLS.

So if Unit #1201, with parking and locker, has fees of $451.87, and is measured at 652 square feet as per MPAC, floor plan, or other source, then you know the fees are 69.3 cents per square foot.  And you’re looking at Unit #2707, which also has parking and locker, and shows as having fees of $655.52 on MLS.  Get your friend from NASA to work this complicated mathematical dilemma, and voila – the unit is approximately 946 square feet.

Just remember, you need to compare apples to apples.  So if you’re looking at a unit with locker, and no parking, then you need the square footage of another condo with locker, and no parking.  And, since we know maintenance fees usually increase one out of every two years on average, then you need a comparable sale that’s very recent.

5) PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

Are you good on the phone?

Suave, charismatic, and convincing?

Property management has the square footage for every condo in the building, so why not call them up and just ask?

They don’t have to give it to you, of course.  And human nature is to question a person’s agenda and integrity.  Just say, “I’m looking at buying Unit #XXX that’s currently listed for sale, and there’s no square footage on the listing.  It just says 900-999, and I’m trying to figure out the exact square footage.”  Maybe give them my “bar of gold” anecdote, and the person on the other end of the line will see the logic, and respond in kind.

Now this might not work if you needed the square footage of sixteen units for a CMA that you’re doing, but if you’re just a prospective buyer looking for one unit’s square footage, I see no reason why the property manager wouldn’t help.

–

I’m not a “car guy,” but I’ll give this analogy a shot.

There are different types of engines, right?  V6 and V8?  I’m assuming that the difference between those two is about……..V2, or something?

Right.  Okay.  So there’s also litres, horsepower, and torque, and I won’t even guess at things like HEMI and turbochargers.  I just hear the words on television ads.

So if you’re a car-buyer, do you want to know the size of the engine?  Does the engine in a Lexus IS 250 differ from that of a Lexus ES 350?  If so, would you want to know, or just guess?

What if the windows on the car were tinted, and you couldn’t see inside?  What if you had to guess whether the seats were leather or cloth?  What if you didn’t know whether there was a navigation system in place?

The fact that we as Realtors are not required to provide exact square footage is mind-boggling, and I’m downright embarrassed as an agent.  Considering the “price per square foot” metric is the most commonly-used evaluator of condominiums, it’s puzzling as to why we haven’t made this mandatory as of yet.

Fear is not the best motivator.  If the folks at TREB are afraid of being sued, then use those same lawyers who say, “There’s no upside to this, just leave square footage out,” to draft some legalese that covers themselves, and agents if need be, in the event of a discrepancy.

We could avoid all of this if TREB just used some of their accumulated war-chest (from their Competition Bureau fight…) to work out a deal with MPAC, but I didn’t intend to turn this blog post into a TREB-bashing, so I’m going to stop here.

One final thought about square footage sources, for both buyers and sellers: what’s the deal with virtual tours?

If you’re using a virtual tour’s floor plan on a listing for the square footage source, should you get further verification?

Does the virtual tour usually end up higher or lower than MPAC?  That’s tough to say.  I’ve seen it both ways, to be honest.

And that begs the question: what source do I use when I have two different numbers?

Truthfully, folks, I leave that up to the seller.  If MPAC says the unit is 635 square feet, but the floor plan shows 646, I will ask the seller what they want to use.  It’s up to them, and that’s not me passing the buck; it’s me giving my client options as to how they want their condo marketed.  I would suggest they use MPAC, but MPAC has been wrong before, and I’ve seen first-hand instances of MPAC being lower than an in-hand floor plan from my seller, albeit maybe 2-3 times, but it’s happened.

I’m not God, and I’m not the authority on this.  I leave this decision to my sellers, and I would advise all listing agents to do the same.

As a buyer, if you see square footage on a virtual tour floor plan, I can tell you that in my experience, it’s lower than the MPAC square footage about 70% of the time.

But then again, two sources are always better than one, so when in doubt, just go for a deeper dive!

Have a great weekend, everybody!

The post Where Do I Find A Condo’s Square Footage? appeared first on Toronto Realty Blog.

Originated from http://bit.ly/2HMXOuW