All Forum Posts by: Allen Maris

@Elias Munoz, my advice is to not get your hopes up that SB will work. But if your father-in-Law is willing to put up 50% cash, you could probably find something to cash flow a little. But nearly impossible with a small down payment. But don’t give up. 
lompoc and Santa Maria are getting better. Lompoc has vandenberg and SpaceX so you get some renters there that make decent money but can’t afford nor want to be tied down to buy a place. Be carful of SM, and buy close to the college or in areas of development. It’s pretty rough outside these areas. 
stick with 2-4 units unless you find a great deal on a SFR.

@David Doyle - I'm always suspect when someone posts 1 item and it's a positive review for someone's paid course. Makes me suspicious of the course even more! Call me cynical but I've seen too many people get no value for the money they spend. 

@Chung Cam - While suing probably won't be beneficial since it was on title, you should definitely have some strong conversations with the listing agent & their broker (if they weren't a broker), and title company. A good title company will point out specific issues to you. 

@Maria D'Aura I live in the SB area and yes, unless you put a ton down, it's nearly impossible to find cash flow (at the moment). I have hopes for the future though. 

Hi @Emmett Rees, welcome to BP! 

+1 for the Santa Barbarains here too. Though I'm on the other side in Santa Ynez. Seems it's tough going these days in SBC especially in the city or SYV area where I'm at. 

@Kyle Fedewa - thank you.@James Orr - Yes, please be responsible. 

@John Corey - unfortunately, LAX is about the only viable option. It's nearly impossible to sync up an international flight with a connection into SB without some sort of long layover.  Whenever I do international I plan my arrival flight so I'm in by 5pm so I can make the drive up north before it gets too late. It's one of the downfalls of living up here, but you get used to it! It's well worth it.

@Richard Reyes, I've learned the hard way in 2007/08 to never buy based on appreciation because it may not happen or it may take 10+ years. One of my properties in Phoenix is just now back to even after losing 50%+ value. 14 years later. (I was young and new and BP was just starting.) So my investment play now is to only buy on cash flow (for buy and holds) and hope that appreciation will be a nice bonus. 

And yes, you're seeing the problem firsthand that many parts of CA experience. You have to make a much larger down payment just to cash flow, thus tying up your money for hardly any return if at all. I'm sticking to my local market for SFRs so I've only been looking with an eye towards flipping since the buy and hold financials don't make any sense to me at the moment. They will at some point and I'm slowly starting to see DOM increase, reductions and lower sales price percent vs asking. All signs of a slowing market. My crystal ball won't tell me how slow it will get so I'm watching and waiting to see where things head. 

@Richard Reyes Hi Richard,

Welcome to BP! You're on the right path by coming on here and starting the process. You've got a huge advantage that you know construction so you can put some sweat equity and grow your portfolio further. The great thing is you don't need that many properties to set yourself up.

I'm not too far over in Santa Ynez. The market is quite different but the principles are the same.