Orange County - Newbie

[Chris Hughes]

Hello everyone,

I've browsed BP and listened to the Podcast over the past few years. I've been interested in all aspects of Real Estate ever since I bought my house in 2013 in Wisconsin. In 2016, my now-wife and I picked up and moved to Orange County, California. I'm interested in pursuing REI to supplement my income. I have a good paying job in the LA area where I have the opportunity for essentially unlimited OT. The problem with this is the opportunity cost of getting to be home with my wife enjoying our lives together. My shifts are a minimum of 24 hours (firefighter) so while there's good money to be made, it's hard being away from home. I'm usually away from home for a minimum of 15 full 24-hour days every month. My goal is to supplement my income sufficiently that I no longer have to work OT shifts and can enjoy a comfortable life style with my wife while living in Southern California.

My interests in real estate are rental properties for both long term holding and short term rentals, multi-families, and flips. Due to the high investment level and cost to enter the SoCal real estate market, I'm looking into OOS investments or those in lower cost of living areas than OC/LA. My immediate area of interest includes California, Nevada and Arizona - anything within reasonable driving distance. I'd definitely be interested in OOS markets in the rest of the country but I understand the need for having an established team before partaking in a venture like that.

My interest with BP is to continue to learn about REI and learn what opportunities are available to me. I'm looking forward to meeting other like-minded individuals and talk about how we can all work towards our goals!

Looking forward to getting more involved and speaking with everyone!

- Chris Hughes

[Brenden Mitchum]

Hey @Chris Hughes! Welcome to the BP community!

I am no stranger to working crappy hours at a job that keeps you from doing the things you want to do with the people you want to do them with. But it sounds like you have the right mindset to grind through that and start investing. And it's great that you have a goal to replace your OT income with rental income. However, you should expand on that goal and get really detailed. This will help you develop a plan to get there. 

OOS investing is definitely an option, and probably the one I would go with if I were in your shoes. While this will be much tougher to get started than if you invested locally, it is certainly doable. You just need to do your research and determine your market and submarkets of choice. Really focus in and get specific about what you are looking for and where. Then start building your team there. Talk to people here on BP who invest in that area, call agents, call property managers. Then schedule meetings with those people and take a short trip out there to speak with those people and see the area for yourself. This is how you get to know an OOS market. I do think it is a good call to keep that market within a short flight (or a long drive), at least for your first few investments. Then, once you have your systems down, you can expand to other markets further away. 

By the way I grew up in Mission Viejo so if you need any good beach recommendations, have any questions or just want to chat shoot me a message anytime!

[Chris Hughes]

Thanks for the welcome Brenden. We live in Mission Viejo - we love it! You're right that I need to get detailed on my goals. My hope is that by getting involved with the forums, continuing to learn and speaking with others in out of state markets, I'll be able to make more specific goals. I'd be interested in large markets like Las Vegas or Phoenix so I'll be researching those markets as much as I can. Thanks for all of the great advice!

[Joe Homs]

@Chris Hughes welcome to BP here in the OC. I think you would benefit a lot by reaching out to @Peter Mckernan who is in the same situation as you but killing it. Check out the local meetup groups in the area as well.

Good investing...

[Peter Mckernan]

Thank you @Joe Homs for the mention, yes, @Chris Hughes send me a private message and we can link up. 

[Bob E.]

@Chris Hughes  You might want to consider looking at OOS investments.  If you are interested in Milwaukee or Fort Wayne I can set you up with our PM.  We have no relation to them other than as a customer.

It is not as complex as it seems.  Also, for people that are new my general advice is start now with one property, get your systems and your people in place and then wait for opportunity.  The market is pricy right now but you need to be ready when opportunity strikes.

There is also a great podcast where they interviewed some of Dave Greens client about how they house hacked.  That might also be a good way to get started.

Good luck and feel free to reach out to the BP community.

[Chris Hughes]

Thanks for the welcome @Bob E.

I lived in the suburbs of Milwaukee so that’s definitely still a market I’d be interested in since I know the area so well. I may have to contact you in the future about your PM if I end up looking back out there!

[Marcus Auerbach]

@Chris Hughes set up keyword alerts on BP for cities you are interested in!

[Martin Carstens]

Chris, my day job, is working eight months a year as a sea going captain. No, not your average office job, like yourself, I have found a way to make it work!

Some suggestions, what ever area you have a interest in? “You mentioned Wisconsin”. It is a lot easier, if it is a place you want to visit! Maybe family or friends, outdoor activities, any personal interest. I enjoy all my trips to Salt Lake City, especially when I can trout fish in Idaho on the way home! Read the daily news paper for the local area. I find this is a common oversight, and so easy to do. There is a wealth of information, that just helps you keep a tab on current events. And of course as others have suggested, network.  Others are in your position, some of them are willing to share. Reach out, and try to offer something in return-anything.  Most of all. Take action, dont sit on the side line.  If I can do it with months at sea, anyone can! Best of luck!  

[Don Spafford]

@Chris Hughes Maybe get your wife involved. She can search for properties and you can both analyze them together. Something else to consider, maybe your fellow firefighters also feel the same as you but don't know or understand REI. Get them involved and maybe pool your money together and purchase a larger MF in a partnership deal. Some of them may know people with lots of cash but need your REI knowledge to help place it in a good property.

[Todd Rasmussen]

@Chris Hughes

OOS investing is working out for us. Contact info is on my profile page if you ever want to talk shop. Also, we have an OOS investors networking event that meets at the north end of the 57 and go to a couple others I'd be happy to recommend.

[Chris Hughes]

Thank you everyone for the welcome and great advice! All of it is going to help me moving forward. It’s great having so many people here on BP willing to share their experience and advice.

@Marcus Auerbach

Great idea, I’ll go ahead and do that!

@Martin Carstens

Definitely makes sense to pick an area I’m interested in. Investing back home (WI) would definitely be a bit easier to start out since I know the general area very well. And it always be great to have an excuse to visit my old friends and favorite restaurants! It’s comforting to hear that with as tough/time consuming of a job as yours that you can make it work. Gives me hope for myself!

@Don Spafford

One thing I notice about firefighters out here is that many of them want to get involved in REI but don't know how to get started or don't want to put in the effort. I think in the future I'd definitely be interested in getting a partnership deal together. Good advice about my wife too! She's not very much interested in the investing aspect but she loves looking at listings.

@Todd Rasmussen

Thanks Todd! I’ll send you a message this week and ask you the details of the meetings and pick your brain a little on the process of OOS investing if you don’t mind.

[Zeke Liston]

Hi @Chris Hughes, I know CA can be pretty expensive, my brother lives out there and invest OOS. 

[Chris Hughes]

@Zeke Liston That seems like the trend here. It seems that not many "average" people are investing in Southern California on their own. It's tough enough to afford one house here...let alone have the savings to close another deal! Average house prices are 500-700k in Orange county depending on the area. I'd love to invest locally but this market has too high of a entry price point for me! Out of states seems like a great alternative.

[Terry Lao]

@Chris Hughes

I've been on bigger pockets since 2014. I notice many forum posts repeat with same questions by different people at different times. Based upon your question, LV only, why re-invent the wheel.

Terry

https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

[Chris Hughes]

@Terry Lao

Thanks for the links to the posts - I'll read through them all today!

[Jacob Repreza]

Hey Chris welcome to BP! Since your goal is ultimately cash flow, the best way is more than likely going to be somewhere out of state where you can make the 1% rule work and collect rents each month. We're personally in Cleveland but there are plenty of other markets and the more familiar you already are with one then even better. 

We also have a meetup coming up next tuesday night in newport if you wanna come by! Meeting people always helps decisions. https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/521/topics/789230-orange-county-investor-meetup

[James Wise]

Originally posted by @Chris Hughes:

Hello everyone,

I've browsed BP and listened to the Podcast over the past few years. I've been interested in all aspects of Real Estate ever since I bought my house in 2013 in Wisconsin. In 2016, my now-wife and I picked up and moved to Orange County, California. I'm interested in pursuing REI to supplement my income. I have a good paying job in the LA area where I have the opportunity for essentially unlimited OT. The problem with this is the opportunity cost of getting to be home with my wife enjoying our lives together. My shifts are a minimum of 24 hours (firefighter) so while there's good money to be made, it's hard being away from home. I'm usually away from home for a minimum of 15 full 24-hour days every month. My goal is to supplement my income sufficiently that I no longer have to work OT shifts and can enjoy a comfortable life style with my wife while living in Southern California.

My interests in real estate are rental properties for both long term holding and short term rentals, multi-families, and flips. Due to the high investment level and cost to enter the SoCal real estate market, I'm looking into OOS investments or those in lower cost of living areas than OC/LA. My immediate area of interest includes California, Nevada and Arizona - anything within reasonable driving distance. I'd definitely be interested in OOS markets in the rest of the country but I understand the need for having an established team before partaking in a venture like that.

My interest with BP is to continue to learn about REI and learn what opportunities are available to me. I'm looking forward to meeting other like-minded individuals and talk about how we can all work towards our goals!

Looking forward to getting more involved and speaking with everyone!

- Chris Hughes

 Welcome aboard Chris.