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njtosd
Participant[quote=FlyerInHi]You guys are raising super kids. I’m having anxiety just reading. I don’t think I could ever compete.
Did anyone consider a very tough boarding academy? How about an elite high school in Switzerland? Start saving as soon as the child is born.[/quote]
Before we had kids my husband used to joke about waving to the kids as they went from boarding school to summer camp. Our oldest is approaching college and guess which one of them is having the most difficulty with that? Babies change everything. A switch goes off in your head and it never goes back. This was a very interesting study: http://news.sciencemag.org/biology/2015/04/love-hormone-turns-mothers-moms
The most striking conclusion: “We hypothesise that changes in gene expression, as well as excitatory and inhibitory synapses lock in these changes for the lifetime of the animal,” he adds. The changes that this refer to are maternal behaviors that were permanently induced through oxytocin injections given to mice who had never had pups. Similar changes (though milder) are seen in humans, both male and female.
Which is a long way of saying, few people with kids think about boarding school
Participant[quote=yuhtey]i’m starting to get the fear regarding “good schools” especially if they solicit “donations” which are in practice a bunch of bribes in return for either special attention or higher marks than earned.
if there’s one thing rich people are very good at it’s tilting the table in their favor via cash. they take both pride and enjoyment in buying people off.
anyone have any experience with this?[/quote]
In terms of marks, I would say – Ha! They have adopted a system of grading with a low mark of “B” for beginning, then “D” for developing, then “S” for secure and then “E” for exceeds expectations. Most of the time, the teachers are told that they cannot give out an “E” and I have gotten a bunch of weasel words to explain why that is. Kids come home with a 100% math test, and they get an “S”. It’s nonsensical.
If there are any kids who get special consideration, I would say that it’s the children of people who volunteer a lot. The schools rely on those families and I sense that consciously or subconsciously the kids get preferential treatment. Donations go to the district as a whole rather than to your school of attendance, and you will rarely, if ever, interact with those at the district level.
Participant[quote=flu][quote=zk]Biodiesel. Could be.
I said he bought it from restaurants. What I meant was, restaurants paid him to haul it away, and then he sold it. Not sexy, but pretty sweet.[/quote]
He’s lucky. I know people that pay the restaurants to take it away. Because they are reselling it to those making biodiesel.
But I think this goes to show that if you pick something no one else is doing, maybe it’s actually a good business.[/quote]
I heard of a great business years ago. A clothing company would pay this business to haul away scrap fabric. This was then used to make underwear for prisoners and was sold to the state penitentiaries. Definitely not a high brand value business, but my understanding was that it was lucrative.
Participant[quote=Hobie][quote=njtosd]Failure to get the goodwill can invalidate the mark.[/quote]
Wow! I had no idea. Never again will I quibble about attorney fees 😉
You also have to ask yourself, “Are you good at sales?” Gotta feed the beast! Put a lot of weight on how you will generate new business and what you will do to keep up with changing times ( technology or maturing market)[/quote]
Trademarks (like supplier lists) are an underappreciated asset. By some estimates, the Apple brand (which is basically its trademarks) is worth ~$124 Billion. Google is worth about $40-45 billion. There may have been a patent or two worth as much as the Google mark, but nothing worth as much as the Apple brand. And the rights are perpetual if you play your cards right. Think about CRAYOLA and COKE. They will make $ forever. But people get sll excited about patents while usually shooting themselves in the foot (feet?) trademark-wise.
Marketing is the key to it all, though, I’m convinced.
Participant[quote=Hobie]” Well established business” A rough rule of thumb is you will retain 1/2 the current clients after an owner change. Especially if it is a working owner situation.
Another huge asset is the company’s supplier list. Perhaps the single most undervalued asset to a buyer. You may be lucky and piggyback on some long time very loyal suppliers with great pricing.
Go talk to their competition, current clients, employees, etc. This will help you more than you can imagine.
All the good advice given here. Consider hanging your own shingle vs. buying ongoing. You can buy a lot of equipment and ‘experience’ for the amount of goodwill many owners ask for. Remember goodwill in the eyes of the owner is very biased and all too often way overvalued. Many just fed up with all of the hard work and want to exit and retire in luxury.
Term of sale is another issue to be explored more in detail as you go along. This is huge. njtosd has hit excellent points and I may add the cash flow and payments are crucial as well.
Try to tie payments of goodwill to retention of current business. This will usually include owner working for you. This is another can of worms, but necessary.
Probably best advice is to trust your gut feeling.
One more thing, there are a lot of perks for working for the man. Insurance, medical, 401k, etc. This stuff gets expensive on your own. Just keep it in mind.[/quote]
The supplier thing is a good point. My daughter is starting a small business for which she needed grommets of a certain size and finish. It took a lot of work to find what seemed to be a simple item in the quantity that we needed. There were 4 or 5 things like that – it took a couple of months (very part time) to find everything she needed.
The goodwill issue is particularly relevant to trademarks. You can’t receive assignment of a trademark unless you also receive the “goodwill appurtenant thereto” Failure to get the goodwill can invalidate the mark.
If you are thinking about a software company you should have a working understanding of copyright and patent rights as they relate to software. Lots of confusion about shareware, “creative commons” licenses, open source software, etc. The potential liability for infringing a registered copyright in software is enormous.
I could go on, but I will leave it with a warning to be careful.
ParticipantAs an alternative, we could have threads devoted to each area (both CVs, Mira Mesa, etc.) and simply let the posters either read or post their opinions there. I have a hard time believing that people join the board just to be jerks, but I do think there are a lot of people out there who are mad that they can’t afford what they want in SD. I remember when we looked for our first house here (’97) it was an eye opening experience. My husband was convinced he wanted to live west of the 5. The junk that we looked at was so depressing . . . you have to adjust your expectations, but there is no point in being rude.
Participant[quote=dumbrenter][quote=bearishgurl]Just saw this thread. I don’t understand why OP even started this thread (except for possible trolling purposes). Why is he gravitating back to Del $ur when the monthly HOA/MR there is “eye-watering.” And the current new development there is selling homes which have “particle board cabinets with metal drawers … for $1.5M” (quoted from his own words in the OP from the “Best Family Areas” thread).[/quote]
Am I missing something here? there is no mention of HOA or “particle boards cabinets” anywhere by OP on this thread.
Unless you know OP personally and refer to some other conversation?[/quote]See “Best Family Areas for Low-$1Millions Budget”. As the judge in “My Cousin Vinny” said “..[T]hat would certainly explain the hostility.”
ParticipantWhen you buy a business you may (or may not) receive the following assets: client lists, accounts receivable, trademarks, patents, trade secrets, copyrights, a corporation, right to assume a lease, inventory, etc. etc. You may also receive the liabilities of that business (accounts payable, other debts, liability to a lawsuit, employment contracts, etc.) some of which would be very hard to find out about unless you were given unlimited access to the business records. Has the business been paying workman’s comp and unemployment insurance? Failure to do so in CA can give rise to criminal liability.
Make a list of what you believe you are receiving. If it’s accounts receivable, get an accountant to look at the books. If it is a corporation – get an attorney who specializes in corporate law to let you know whether the corporation is in good shape (taxes paid, filings done, etc.). Same with IP (this is a big issue for a tech company) – everyone says they have something that is “proprietary” but few can tell you what they actually think that means. Make sure you can assume the lease – whatever. Then, think about all the possible liabilities. You need to know why someone is selling – and they often aren’t going to tell you.
Often, you aren’t really getting much. And if you find out that the seller wasn’t up front, your only recourse is likely to be litigation. If the owner has moved to Montana that’s going to be expensive. I agree with an earlier post – why not start from scratch?
If you do decide to buy the business be sure to work with an attorney. S/he will probably tell you to include in the contract of sale a very detailed and lengthy list of what you are getting and have the seller warrant that s/he has an unencumbered right to transfer those assets to you. Your attorney will probably recommend that have seller makes a lengthy list of any and all possible claims that might be brought against him/her or that have been threatened. (Not legal advice by the way.)
Participant[quote=flu][quote=njtosd][quote=flyer]Interestingly, we don’t know any bitter people in CV. Many of them purchased their homes years ago and have either stayed or easily moved up to something bigger and better in the area or elsewhere.
More recently, a few friends and family purchased homes around San Diego, including CV, during the last downturn a few years ago, and are very glad they got in on that window of opportunity. We still have several rental properties there, and are very happy with the arrangement, so I’m just not seeing the bitterness in any way, shape or form.[/quote]
It’s a perception bias. People want to believe that those who they see as affluent are sad/bitter/superficial. They only real stereotype that I see is that a lot of the people in CV are a little anxiety ridden – which led them to work hard in school and at their jobs and earn enough money to pay for a higher than average priced house. One of my daughter’s friends makes herself do 50 push-ups if she gets a low A on an assignment. It’s a bit worrisome.[/quote]
I hadn’t thought about that. I ask my kid to do a few jumping jacks when shes dozing off or in dreamland and needs to wake up to finish her work. I don’t think I can do 50 pushups (yet)[/quote]
This isn’t imposed by the parents – it’s the kid who is mad at herself. She excels at everything but is still very self critical. I think you get couples who are both sort of neurotic who can give rise to (sometimes) even more neurotic kids. Assortive mating, as they say in the bio business.
I have never been able to do 50 pushups. Sigh.Participant[quote=yuhtey][quote=flu]
And like I said. Have fun renting. There’s nothing wrong with it. If you really don’t know where you want to live.[/quote]
ok, have fun in your 90’s (or maybe even 80’s) tract home. do you have white tiles on your bathroom counters? i love that stuff.[/quote]
You remind me of one of those women on “House Hunters” who looks down on a house because of superficial items that would be cheap to change. In the words of Tina Fey (coincidentally in the 30 Rock episode entitled “Idiots are People, Two!”) “Why can’t people see past paint color?”
What would you consider to be the ideal counter material? Frankly I like the off brand man-made faux marble at Ikea.
Participant[quote=flyer]Interestingly, we don’t know any bitter people in CV. Many of them purchased their homes years ago and have either stayed or easily moved up to something bigger and better in the area or elsewhere.
More recently, a few friends and family purchased homes around San Diego, including CV, during the last downturn a few years ago, and are very glad they got in on that window of opportunity. We still have several rental properties there, and are very happy with the arrangement, so I’m just not seeing the bitterness in any way, shape or form.[/quote]
It’s a perception bias. People want to believe that those who they see as affluent are sad/bitter/superficial. They only real stereotype that I see is that a lot of the people in CV are a little anxiety ridden – which led them to work hard in school and at their jobs and earn enough money to pay for a higher than average priced house. One of my daughter’s friends makes herself do 50 push-ups if she gets a low A on an assignment. It’s a bit worrisome.
Participant[quote=scaredyclassic]The problem is most things just aren’t worth the money. It makes us kind of sad. But they’re not worth it. Crap shacks generally aren’t worth it.
Very few things are worth it:
1. A nice walk. Totally worth it.
2. A good bed. Absolutely worth it.
3. A great bowel movement. Worth it.
4. Exercise. Worth it.
5. An 3lectric toothbrush and floss. Worth the money.
6. My ping-pong table. Very worth it.
7. Nice glass to drink whiskey from. Worth it.
8. One of out 5 cats. Worth it.
9. Mmmm. Costco membership. Worth it I guess.
10. Burrito from Aztek tacos on the 79. Way Worth it.
I can’t think of much else that provides good value.[/quote]
When my kids want expensive stuff, I ask them to name off the three best times they’ve had. Invariably these times involves being with a group of other people – the amount of money involved was not really relevant. Then I ask them to tell me an item that they received that still makes them happy – usually it is something that would be valueless to someone else. Money provides convenience and reduces worry. We’ve lived in a number of houses – some bigger, some smaller. I was the least happy in the largest house (NJ).
Participant[quote=yuhtey]the only positive about mira mesa is that wings n things. mmmm.
i love all the CV folks trying to tell me that, because it’s not to my taste, that i “just can’t afford it” and that it’s above my class. has my point been proven without me saying anything?[/quote]
You’re the only one whose mentioned your “class”. And if it’s not to your taste why are you keeping such close track of theCV RE offerings?
Participant[quote=yuhtey][quote=njtosd]
Flu will be pleased. One less potential CV buyer. And just for the record – the average CV home price is about $950k. You just can’t take being average – you need a gorgeous place on a huge lot. Boo hoo..[/quote]
you sir, have me PEGGED. you must be from new jersey.[/quote]
Ha – you don’t have me PEGGED. I’m not a “sir” and we moved from CV to NJ for 4 yrs and then moved back to CV. I picked my screen name during the moving process. Nice try, though.
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