What will the Fed do today?

Nothing wrong with a little debt.  I've got a 205K mortgage (about 400K property, bought at 246K in '01) at 5.75% fixed.  Even if I could pay it off at this point, I wouldn't.  I'd rather have the tax deduction and invest the rest.

Lippsman,

You are a slick cat..

I am jealous and impressed.

Renting from your LLC huh? How many LLCs do you have? (that makes two I know of)

If I had enough cash to pay off a house and finance my business, I would pay it off too..might not be the perfect tax use, but if I had the cash I would do it.

Actually I've never considered a home purchase debt.  I consider it an investment.

I have 3, the third is Sunset Amusments.  It's a carry over from when I had video games in arcades and vending machines. It's still alive on just paper now.  It may come to use again sometime.....on down the road.

Gotcha..

When you find a few spare minutes to open an arcade right?

I saw a biz for sale that seemed similar to yours last night, service and consultation work, I think it ran for 250k and had revenues in the 750k range..

Not that I have ANY skills in that area..haha

I agree though, if you can cash flow a property in a hot area, no reason to sell..that link was pretty nice if I do say so.

So you own some of those apartments? Or are they town homes/houses near that area?

They are town homes/houses in the area.  And I mean very close area.  5 minute walk or less. This is old coverted Air Force base.  Those are the places I own.  They were built by military specs in the late 50's.  You can't knock them down if you tried.  They have survived 3 major hurricanes and are less than a mile from the ocean.

I have put a deposit on two of the units in the lifestyle center area.  They are the ones with a business on the ground level and a split level apartment upstairs.

Sounds like the market is still cruising there which is both amazing and awesome..cant say the same here.

You get the biz valuation guys sniffing around and everyone selling a business will call you.

I am sure you were told this but the valuation to sell would be a multiple of cash flow, if I were looking I would pay 2 times cash flow.

You seem pretty set asset wise, it MIGHT be a good idea to consider, then you can retire right?

Doing quick math me thinks you could already..

I found that listing from last night, I thought sales were higher, and it sounds like they are into different things than you but here it is-

LINK

Yeah, that's pretty much what we do, but on a bigger scale.  Customer base, sales wise and a couple more FT employees plus a copule of PT'ers. . Although doing phone systems makes me break out in a cold sweat.  I farm that out to another company and just get a percentage of the sale and a nice size finders fee.

My name and fingerprints are no where on the phone installs though.  I point the customer in the companies direction and when the contract is signed with them I step completly away from it.  Well, when the check clears that is.

Well that gives you an idea what the valuation might be I guess..

I actually think their valuation is kind of steep at 2 times cash flow and I am sure that is assuming no owner salary or debt service, so the REAL cash flow after you pay yourself is not that high. Also looking at the numbers I dont see how they can sustain those margins, so they are probably not including real advertising dollars either..if they are advertising that is.

WS, I think I've asked you before, but is there anything that you actually like now?  It seems like you always have reasons to have particularly stocks, which is nice, being selective and all, just wondering if there's anything out there that meets your criteria? 

Oh yeah, I could retire.  But I am one of the few people that I know that actually likes what he does. I don't consider what I do work.  Also I have some very good people that work for me.  I wouldn't want anything to happen them.  I've been told that I probably could get about $750,000 for the whole operation.  This coming from people that wanted to infuse a great deal of cash so I could open up other locations.  Which I would never take investors.  That means my baby isn't all mine anymore!!!!!

I have been tempted to sell the computer part of it and just keep the consulting part.  But being the honest person that I am, I know that is the springboard for a good deal of the business. 

I can't tell you the number of times that I've flown somewhere to consult with someone about thier computers and they ended up signing a contract for us to do the computers.  I swear, I've never, not once went somewhere to do this.  But when they hear what I have to say they figure, why in the hell don't I do it in the first place.

So if I did sell the compnay and someone called and I didn't own the business anymore they wouldn't use Sunset Computers.  They would call me personally.  Which happens most of the time anyway with consulting.  They don't ask for the owner, they ask for me.  Which means word of mouth is a great thing. Or they will call me on my cell phone which I always give to the bigger clients

One other thing I have a huge advantage with, over other computer companies being sold is that the business has been open since 1984.  I challenge any computer business of being open this long.  Although I do know of another company that has been in business since 1982.

Well anyway....after that War and Peace write up I have to take off. I'm going to conduct a presentation.  I need to tell about 1000 elementary school kids why they are smarter than computers.  For FREE!!!!!!!! 

See I give back to the community.  As they get my companies name and phone number on all of thier programs.  

Good luck and I think you do a great job and are right on the point about the business being correlated to the person..it might be tough to sell no matter when it is and get fair value.

I know if I were looking at a biz I wouldnt be interested if the name is tied to a person and the loyalty decline in revenues would be substantial.

I bet the family would like you to sell though....lol  

D2,

I think I come across as a negative market commentator and in fact that is KIND of true..

When I see the insides of the market and the disaster waiting to happen and the prices of stocks at highs, yeah I am quite conservative and I will say what I think..you wont get an answer to a stock question if I havent researched it and analyzed it as if I were buying the stock..so somtimes I will either say I dont know enough or say it isnt for me but good luck if you do. I dont hae enough money to invest ine very idea, but when someone asks I usually try to answer.

Over the past year I have mentioned several stocks I have bought and ones I have liked and specific price points. I have also said that certain sectors I dont have enough experience and exposure to just based on my background and to a degree that is a big negative on my part. For example, my lack of exposure to home builders, solar etc has made me miss many stocks I would be watching and my conservative nature has made me miss stocks like DRYS because somthing stinks inside and I have been in too many stocks that imploded for those reasons..so I am quite conservative when I give reccos here..

Here are a few I have mentioned over the last year-

JNPR, HLIT, VLO at certain price points, EBAY at a price point, RMBS and QLGC. I even posted a purchase if IMB and bailing because of having to leave..

So yeah I post stocks I like, but I dont push stocks and I am very selective on what I say I like in public.

Did anyone happen to hear the Warren Buffett interview before the Bernanke price cut yesterday? They were interviewing him regarding some donation to a Quaker school, but then asked him how the upcoming HOMC meeting might affect his investing decisions. He simply chuckled and said "Anyone who invests on the basis of a given meeting will not do well long term. It has no effect on me, as I buy stocks based on what I consider the business to be worth."

 Pure and  deceptively simple.I think it pays to know if you are a speculator or an investor, and if you are an investor, it pays to be conservative and highly skeptical. One might might the boat on some run up of a given stock, but one also misses the crash and burn of others.

 I think skepticism is healthy, and not negative.It can save you a lot of grief and some serious mistakes.Of course, speculating is fun as well...I have enjoyed reading the observations posted here, positive or negative...