All Forum Posts by: Avtandil G.

the claim that PM cannot share tenant's credit file / application is fundamentally incorrect because (caveat - not a lawyer so this is not a legal advice, was told this by a lawyer, but you still need to talk to your own lawyer)

1. the business relationship is between the landlord and the tenant, not between the property manager and the tenant - property manager is given limited rights by the landlord, which include tenant screening on the landlord's behalf, collect rents, etc. and all such limited rights are fully revokable. Pretty much all residential lease agreement start with something like "this lease agreement [] between [] LANDLORD and [] TENANT..." which establishes such business relationship for the purpose of leasing / renting LANDLORD's property (in other words, TENANT Is willingly entering into a financial/business transaction with LANDLORD, _not_ a property manager

2. Title VI specifically says "§ 604. Permissible purposes of consumer reports
[15 U.S.C. § 1681b]", 

• (a)(3)(F)otherwise has a legitimate business need for the information(i) in connection with a business transaction that is initiated by the consumer;

3. further, Title VI says "§ 624. Affiliate sharing [15 U.S.C. § 1681s-3]"

        (A) a financial contract between[]

        (B) the purchase, rental, or lease[]

PM declining to share information may do so if they are concerned about landlord not furnishing compensation for finding and placing a tenant, which can be resolved through legalese in contract between two parties. Title VI should not be an excuse for not sharing tenant's information, since landlord is effectively the one on whose behalf this report is being furnished. Finally, PM may decline sharing all applications they receive because that changes their process or increases burden or whatever, but again, the application for tenancy _belongs_ to the landlord on whose behalf this business transaction is initiated. PM is just an _authorized party_

There are also state level requirements, so ymmv there as well

by rehabbers do you mean investors doing rehabs or contractors who can do rehabs for you?

this forum is great for finding the former 

I don't know what impact COVID-19 will ultimately have on the property market in Sac, particularly in the short term, say next 12 to 24 months. Long term, it seems the general macro trend will prevail with Sac continuing to grow and with population growth we will see price appreciations as well

However, Sac prices also have run up quite a lot over the last 3 years and both buyers and sellers are fretting. I myself pulled a plug on an investment property that I would have closed prior to shelter in order. At the same time, I had 2 different sellers call me to ask if I wanted to re-bid on duplexes I lost out to bidding wars - in both cases buyers backed out, with one of them having 2 of his buyers backing out. So yea, I would not be surprised we will see price declines of 20%-30% in the coming 12 to 24 mo

In CA, you can only deduct expenses in excess of normal wear and tear. Making unit rent ready may include both normal wear and tear (i.e. spot painting walls) as well as excessive damage (i.e. replacing broken toilet). For carpet, normal life is 5 years, so you'd either need to clean it, or provide a proof that it's nor serviceable if you want to charge for its replacement from the security deposit. CA is notoriously tenant friendly and small claims courts in general side with tenants, so you should have your t's crossed before you decide to retain any portion of the security deposit. As suggested earlier, having a lawyer would help, but another and simpler option is to rely on a professional property manager - good one will remove a lot of headaches for you

Hitting 1% in a well established, quality area in Sac is not realistic these days (maybe recession will change that later this year). A/B neighborhoods like Folsom, Curtis Park, Land Park, etc. are more like 0.25-0.5%. You may be able to get close to 1% in D+ neighborhoods like South Oak Park. Duplexes may have a bit better rates, but not by much. 

I don't yet have any vacant properties in Sac, but one property will be due for renewal in 2 months. I chatted with my property manager and she assured me that the demand so far has been as strong as ever, with no noticeable decrease due to COVID-19. However, open houses are now by appointment only and are spread out with no more than one per day for given property, so the process itself may take longer

IMO, not worth dealing with used appliances - all savings will go out the window with the first repair call. unless of course your lease agreements explicitly require tenant to maintain appliances (not typical in CA but common in mid-West)

Personally, I always buy new from HD and always get 5 year pro warranty - covers all repairs and in a few cases ended up with new units when they could not fix old ones. Amortizing a fridge or dishwasher over 5 years is dirt cheap and not worth saving a penny on after all taken into consideration

i do only buy and hold. strategies in sac are unfortunately mostly limited to equity creation with the hope of breaking even or maybe generating low yield on cash. 2 years ago you could get 7 cap on duplexes, same duplexes now are about 4 or 5 cap. too much money in california - a lot of that money is also spilling to other states now

@Edy Lagares - i invest all over the county, but used to like suburbs like folsom and elk grove, but the prices there have gone through the roof

and no, i'm not in real estate full time

hey @Edy Lagares  - welcome to the forum. i have a couple properties in Sac and always on a lookout for more. feel free to reach out if you have questions. 

as far as local agent, highly recommend @Wes Blackwell  - he also has a couple of very informative posts on this forum about neighborhoods and general trends

Sac has been very hot last 1.5 - 2 years - prices in most areas are well above their 2005/2006 peaks and with influx from Bay Area things don't seem to be cooling down. I placed an offer on a duplex in Fair Oaks - complete rehab with machanicals and what not, all cash - place received 47 offers and sold for ~30% above asking