All Forum Posts by: Alvin Uy

There was no mention of assignment fee on the contract nor did I even know what the amount was.   They had entered me a bidding war to get around this...and they used the C.A.R.  (California Association of Realtors) contract that clearly says my purchase price.  Easy to hide their margins when they did double escrows.  This also allows them to say that they are the "direct sellers" when clearly they are not...  only on paper as it turns out because of clever shuffling of cards.  Also, I had no control of escrows and title companies at the time... they did.  I did not know any better at the time as it was my first time dealing with wholesalers... nor did I know that double escrows is not always the normal practice with other wholesalers.  I was led to believe, that because they were also licensed REALTORS.  They had my best interest in mind.  I only found out months later once county records were mailed to me and there was a huge discrepancy.  Only then was I were able to put together what happened and how much the actual seller actually let the house go for.  Total scam in my opinion.  Ultimately, I was able to dispute it with county records because it clearly shows on my closing statement the correct amount of $$$ I had bought it for.   By the way, this issue with amount still pops in zillow and other online sources... so there's still several discrepancies floating around regarding actual purchase price.   

Yes... I figured that were the case.  No surprise it was New Western.   I've had dealings with  NWA in SoCal on my very first wholesale deal.   Even though I came out of it unscathed ...Never again!    Definitely crossed several lines of unethical practice on the last transaction I had.  They would do double escrows to hide their margins (and you end up paying for both closing costs)...  delayed ownership and limited access to properties that you had already owned.   They had a pressure cooker tactic to create a bidding war with other investors while maintaining that contact person.... your "buyer's agent"... is also in fact representing other buyers at the same time.   Not only that, but county records may not correctly show your purchase price (which is much higher than theirs).  Though you may end up paying less property tax, your capital gains tax basis will be compromised if you ever decide to flip or sell.  Very hard to catch this until its too late.   I can't even figure out how they were able to do that.  I had to go through the trouble to make the correction with the county records and assessors.  It's a total Mal Practice... and unethical at best.

They should be banned from this forum in my opinion.   

Yeah.... in my opinion, rent control does not work.     On one hand, sure it makes it harder to kick someone out without "just cause".  On the other hand, its a license to raise the rent 4% a year... and tenants expect it.  I've learned to work around it and have successfully navigated it throughout the years.   

Frankly, in my opinion... Rent Control plays a big role in what's causing the shortage of supply and increasing the demand... and ultimately, causing massive appreciation in CA.   

@Billy Zhao. Its market dependent.

I own 6SFRs and a 4plex in Los Angeles. Its rent controlled. With a rent cap at 4% per year on my 4plex. I raise all of them 4% per year.... Typically my turnover is every 3-4yrs on my SFRs.

I just had one. But I don’t mind turnovers because even in the middle of Covid lockdown, the vacancy lead to a new market rent that was $1200/mo higher.

On the other hand, My 4plex has existing tenants that I inherited close to market rent at purchase. Ive been raising the rent every year in the hopes they would leave. It hasn’t happened yet. Its been over 5yrs since I’ve owned it. Current rent is now way behind market rent ...even at 4% increases every year.

Ouch! Try cancelling the check... or call the bank let them know it was fraud.   Did you ever get his RE License#? Could be a wholesaler.   Believe it or not quite a few wholesalers are licensed realtors.   But if you are being blocked then definitely sounds like a scam that needs to be filed under the "lessons learned" folder.   I hope u find justice!   Please keep us posted.

@Karl B.

I just rehabbed a house (in Los Angeles, SoCal) to flip at a new area outside of where all my rentals are. But I decided to test rent before I listed it as a rental and see if I can BRRRR it. I priced it $1200 over the highest rent in the area just for kicks. I was surprised to get 2 texts to see within 10mins...10 calls within 24hrs and 3 applications within a week. Get this... im currently in refi process and as it turns out my house appraised way higher over $100k more than i expected ...so now my all in cash is at 75% LTV. I guess i might just pull a BRRRRfect in SoCal. Plus, I will be cashflowing $850/mo net on this house.

Despite the migration out of Cali. Interestingly enough, there are still a lot of folks moving into Cali (especially SoCal) as well. I had 4 sets of folks who looked at the house that are moving from the midwest. The new tenant we ended up with is from Atlanta GA.

Seems like there were more upside than downside. I can always give it back since theres no prepayment penalties. So I decided to take the plunge and signed the loan docs earlier today. I have it going directly into a newly opened checking account. Planning on holding on to it as emergency fund... plus use some for operational expenses (payroll, rent, etc). We’ll see how this goes. Curious how long it takes to transfer funds

@Jeremy Pelle you can invest with other investors or developers as private money source for projects like mine in SoCal.

@Shiloh Lundahl

My CPA encouraged me to take it as well.

Not sure I understand why you were moving funds between checking and savings around. Can you clarify the need to do so?

@Kamyar Dastani thanks for the perspective. $6000 “insurance” for $150k seems negligible to me especially since its 30yrs to pay. I have the note and have until September to make a decision.

Curious... so did u end up taking it?