ShreveportTiger07

To me it depends on the location of the land, and what the highest and best use of it would be.

If you intend to build a house on it one day, a trailer or something else that could easily be removed seems to be the only option to me.

Buying a house could make sense if you either a) plan to live in it for the next 5-7 years, b) have a realistic plan for renting it at a decent return, or c) some combo of the two. I'm 25 and just bought a house that I live in. I plan to be here for at least 2 more years, probably more, so it made sense. However, you really need to hold a house for about 7 years or else the transaction costs will eat up your return from equity/appreciation. If I have to move out of the area I can easily rent to college or grad students. My mortgage is 900/month and rent in the neighborhood is 1500/month so the value made sense as well,

It's probably too late to buy BH except as a defensive play. However, Buffet's investment philosophy and strategy are still solid gold IMO. His performance has dwindled with time as the sheer enormity of his cash position has anchored his returns. Still the greatest investor who ever lived.

If you're bullish on natural gas, Encana (ECA) or Devon (DVN) would both be good picks, with encana offering more risk/reward.

I've worked as a landman/abstractor, so I've dealt with both issues multiple times.

Taxes

You probably are thinking of the city taxes. Mortgage companies/banks that pay the property taxes will usually pay the parish taxes, but may not have agreed to pay the city taxes.

Or, there may have been some sort of error by the assessor or bank. You may have gotten a duplicate city tax notice, the assessor may have sent the notice to the wrong place, or the city may not have been notified that municipal taxes should go to the bank.

Regardless, you need to follow up with whomever sent you this notice to verify what it is, and if it has been sent to your mortgage company also. Then, you should check with your mortgage company to clarify who is responsible for paying. If this ball gets dropped, you get stiff penalties on your taxes.

Title

It's situational.

Obviously houses in older neighborhoods that have had multiple owners will probably not have complicated title issues, and so 32 years would be plenty far.

Other tracts with fewer conveyances (and therefore fewer title inspections) may have uncured defects that need to be addressed.

When I did mineral title, it was different as well. At the leasing stage we would go about 15 years before the last date of production (when prescription runs), so we could lease as fast as possible in the land grab. After everything was leased in an area we often went back to the patent from US, and always got a full title chain on a drillsite. The risk is too great not to have complete title on a piece of property sitting on top of your $10MM well.

You wouldn't believe how much curative work got done as a result of old title, especially in TX where there's no mineral prescription. I've heard of people having to track down owners based on 1890s deeds.

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If you have a signed and recorded lease, her estate may still be responsible for the remainder of the lease

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Reminds me of a law school contracts exam question from LSU a few years ago.

An author sends the Unibomber a letter offering to do his biography for free if Uni would grant him exclusive access.

The Unibomber sends a letter back that says "I accept." He encloses a bomb with the letter, which promptly explodes and kills the author when he opens the envelope.

The Unibomber sues author's estate, claiming his failure to write the bio was a breach of contract.

The fact that this is hysterical to me is proof that law school turns you crazy.

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Depending on income level, the tax exposure can suck, but the profits are solid.

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I'm doing this in my Roth, so the only downside is the $10 per trade cost. It's a nice scenario when your stock goes down for no good reason, you buy, then it goes up for no good reason, and you sell, just before it goes back down again...

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"write covered calls"



I grind it out and I make a ridiculous return. It's like stealing

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Can you explain this?

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You might see a $5K debt go to sheriff sale, but it's dangerous to deal in that because the debtor has like 6 months to pay it off

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That is very similar to Texas's Tax Sale process, which is facilitated by a Sheriff. When people don't pay taxes the Sheriff auctions a lien for the delinquent amount or higher.

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