downpayment on a condo or buy a RED One system

[Eugene]

What should I do? I want to be cool. Which will make me cooler? 1) buy a condo on South Beach, but not be able to afford to shoot 4K. 2) buy a RED One, but stay living at home with my parents.

Check out what I can afford a down payment on. 350 sqr ft for $155K.
Check out the pic of the dorm style loft bed.
http://www.byownermls.com/property/57528

Or I could get a new car.

[Andrew Benz]

Which one of the three will earn you income and further your craft? Screw cool.

[chuck colburn]

Buy the camera. You can always live in your old car.

[Sam Druckerman]

If you want to be really cool.... Maybe there's a way to do both.

Put a $1750. deposit down on a RED reservation. It may be nine months to a year before it's ready.

Buy the condo, but rent the condo out... for now. You will have a little negative cash flow.... but it shouldn't be too bad, and it's a great tax write off.

Stay with the parents and save as much money as you can.....

Make all your condo and credit payments on time and you should have enough good credit by the time RED comes to cover the balance of what your savings won't cover.

If you live at home and work for a year you should be able to save a lot.... if you really focus.

And if things go well you could be living in your condo and shooting on your RED by the end of 2008.

And if not, you could be on your way to building a solid investment portfolio and shooting on your RED, just living with your parents.

Either way you win.

[donatello b]

i say forget the auto ..
real estate has always been a good invertment ..
RED - if you are already in the business then it could bring in $$ ... if you are not in the business then take another look at the condo and Sams post ...

[Poi Boy]

(what's with the serious answers here?)
I say mooch off the paren'ts a bit longer, buy Red, make blockbuster, buy mansion mary blond babe with inplants and screw the condo.
Aloha
-A

[Steven M. Bailey]

If your parents give you the freedom to practice your craft buy the RED and make investments in things that will give you a return. (not the car).
If your parents are non-supportive then best of luck with the condo. There is also the option of buying a fixer-uper, fixing it up, and getting an equity loan to buy the red. Look at foreclosures. a bigger house with needs may also give you a place for a studio. I've built bathrooms bigger than that condo. You can do better.

Just the opinion of an escaping contractor.

[Curran Giddens]

I will be 28 next month and I'm living at my mom's house and have no car. Oh yeah, I've never used a video camera before....

[Paul Hazlett]

buy the red, make a name for yourself with the camera and a whole lot more
cash then that closet your looking at cost.

[R. Gonzales]

If you want to be really cool.... Maybe there's a way to do both.

Put a $1750. deposit down on a RED reservation. It may be nine months to a year before it's ready.

Buy the condo, but rent the condo out... for now. You will have a little negative cash flow.... but it shouldn't be too bad, and it's a great tax write off.

Stay with the parents and save as much money as you can.....

Make all your condo and credit payments on time and you should have enough good credit by the time RED comes to cover the balance of what your savings won't cover.

If you live at home and work for a year you should be able to save a lot.... if you really focus.

And if things go well you could be living in your condo and shooting on your RED by the end of 2008.

And if not, you could be on your way to building a solid investment portfolio and shooting on your RED, just living with your parents.

Either way you win.

I agree with sam but remember a roof over your head is more important to the rest of your life...IMHO.

[Sam Druckerman]

There is also the option of buying a fixer-uper, fixing it up, and getting an equity loan to buy the red. Look at foreclosures. a bigger house with needs may also give you a place for a studio. I've built bathrooms bigger than that condo. You can do better.

Just the opinion of an escaping contractor.

Agreed.

Nice catch, Steven.

To be clear.....

You have to be very careful with any real estate purchase. Or making any investment.

My suggestion to try doing both should have included that warning.

Good Luck.

[Thomas Mathai]

why buy a condo? why not just rent?

[Costelloe Michael]

Buy the condo, move in, make it real comfy and write a really good script before the Red is delivered. Post it on here and you've got a couple of thousand options if it's good enough to make.

Mike EC

[Andrew Benz]

Isn't Miamis' real estate market in the toilet right now! Only buy if you can find a seller in terrible shape that needs to sell, from what I understand from friends on the front line of that market right now-- you cannot swing a dead cat without hitting a desperate seller. Do more research, take your emotional response to the property out of the equation and make a purchase that you will be happy with for 5-8 years because you will not flip it any sooner without having your ass handed back to you.

[Dan Blanchett]

Andrew makes a good point. Real estate is only a good investment if you do your research. Otherwise it can become a money pit. Likewise, I would only recommend buying a RED camera package if you have a good plan on how you will use it.

Of course, if you don't have to worry about making a living, then it really doesn't matter. Cool is subjective. The South Beach pad, or a car, will likely get you laid more readily than a cool camera... :matrix:

[Andrew Benz]

Cool is subjective. The South Beach pad, or a car, will likely get you laid more readily than a cool camera... :matrix:
No truer words were said today... :greedy: but with this camera system, persistence, craft, delayed self gratification and clients... then comes the multi revenue streams to do what you like in this life... if you keep your health inshallah... and always be thankful, it's just a good way to be...

[Poi Boy]

I disagree, camera versus car, have you forgotten the line " baby I can make you a star " ???
Aloha
-A

[chuck colburn]

I agree with Phaz, it is a closet. You can buy an RV with that much sq. footage. And that way you have a rolling office for location work. Or a dressing room for the star! And isn't that the building they used for the chain saw scene in the remake of Scarface?

[Gavin Greenwalt]

-- Stay with the folks (if it's working out ok).
-- Keep the old car (assuming it's reliable)
-- Don't buy the RED. Rent.

Dump all of that money into production.

[Zakaree Sandberg]

I am 24... live with parents.. chose to buy a RED ONE and dive in head first..
Will chicks dig my situation.. NO
Will most "normal" or non film people think im weird.. yes
will i be shooting the shit out of 4k.. yup

I was looking into buying my own condo..
average $500,000 in oc..

but id rather get a sick red set up and live life on the edge


PS.. i do not agree with the guy above me...

Do not dump your own cash into a production.. worst idea ever
if your just a director looking for the next big thing to make it in hollywood. DO NOT BUY A RED
pay one of us crazy guys to shoot the film for you

[Michael Schrengohst]

Do not buy a 350 sg. ft condo for $155,000 that
whole area is over built and those prices will crash.
You really need to get up over $1 mil before you will
see any appreciation. Move to an area that will
support your RED and you will be miles ahead of the game.

[ranera]

maybe if you're lucky, there will be a much cheaper red two or something with less features and maybe just 2k in the near future, then you can afford both. Though i'm not sure why you compare a $155000 condo to a $20000 red camera

[donatello b]

155K condo to 20k RED ?..
i think the comparision is because it might take 20k to get into the condo ?