New Member from Pasadena, CA

[Jay Jones]

My name is Jay. I own a property in Pasadena, CA. I have a stable job as an engineer. I have no real estate experience outside of buying one property. I am excited to be a new member on BP. I hope to establish friendships with like minded people. I am looking for networking opportunities with other members. I am interested in buying and renting properties. I would also consider flipping properties but the hope is to have a portfolio of properties. Long Term Goals: Own enough rental properties to be financially indeoendent from my job. I love my job and will not quit but just want to be independent financially from it. I want to start my own company holding numerous of properties. The company will be used to hire family members and local youth to provide them with money and education towards being financially independent. I will be able to travel with my wife to explore the world. I also want to generate enough income from my properties so my children can be financially independent and choose whatever career path they want regardless of monetary factors. Short term goals: I want to refinance my FHA loan into a conventional loan. Take a HELOC on my existing property and use that as a down payment for another property. The market is really high in Los Angeles but I am not comfortable, at least not right now, with purchasing property in locations I cannot access with car or within an hour or two. Questions: What do you think about purchasing properties out of state or county? I ask because of the high market in LA and have talked to a few folks and listened to numerous of BP podcast where a lot of the deals being made are outside of CA. I am aware of markets like Bakersfield and San Bernardino but am curious of what folks think. Who has used a HELOC to purchase more properties? I am thinking that I could just refinance the new property to pay off the credit eventually and repeat this process.

[Amber Smith]

hi there! I have to respectfully disagree with the prior comments about ca (specifically bakersfield) not cash flowing. 

I actually used a heloc on my primary residence to buy a 4plex in Taft (45 min south west of Bakersfield) in December 2016 and it cash flows very nicely, about 1000$-1200$ a month. I've had no problems with vacancy, low maintenance and expenses, I manage it myself & I got a great deal on it. 

I have noticed in recent months that rental properties are getting more expensive and it's hard to find 4 plexes under 200k. I got mine for 168k. 

As far as using a heloc, it is a great way to pull out cash, but since it is essentially a monthly payment, it affects your bottom line. So my plan with it was to pay as much as I could on it & pay it off in 2 years. I ended up selling my primary residence though & have since paid off that heloc. 

If you have any questions about the kern county market, feel free to reach out & don't give up!!