looking to buy a multi-family home in Los Angeles

[Andrew Brewer]

Hi everyone, I am new to BP but i've been reading through the forums since I joined and catching the weekly webinars and want to get started on my first deal.

I am brand new to the real estate game and trying to learn to analyze. I was thinking to start with a multi-family home in the Los Angeles area (where I live). I was thinking to try financing with a FHA loan and live in one unit while renting out the other(s). Being new to real estate investing I have a few questions, specifially

-estimating cost of repairs or updates. I am not a contractor and don't know how to come up with an accurate number of what I would need to pay to rehab a property. Is this something I need to hire a contractor to tell me, or would this information be provided as part of a general inspection?

-ROI, COC, CAP, etc. I've listened to the webinars and read through some blog posts. Accepatable numbers seem to vary based on location. How would I find what these numbers are for the LA area? or any area for that matter, ultimately I would like to invest out of state as well and would need numbers for those areas. I am familiar with the principles of the 2% and 50% rules, however in watching Brandon's webinars when he analyzes properties it seems that those rules don't really get used as much(unless i'm missing some part of the equation), especially in expensive areas.

-also just a final theoretical question about the market in general. There are rumblings about a bubble forming in the real estate market, especially in LA, however since there are more people in LA than rental units demand for units is high. Since multi-family units are priced based on income provided to the owner, are the less susceptible to market fluctuations(from a long term buy and hold view)? Logically I would assume that market fluctuations would not affect these types of properties as much, it seems rising or falling rent prices or gentrification would affect these properties more.

If anyone has any advice I would appreciate it. Thank you all for your help