All Forum Posts by: Andrew Fingado

@Account Closed Have to ask, before you rented to this person, did you detect that this guy would be one of "those" types of tenants?

As to your question, I second what another poster said.  Have him pay for a test and if it's not in a normal range offer to reimburse him and try and remedy the problem.

@Matt Mahony City-data is a good site.  I look up in their forums and type in exactly what i'm looking for.  I even type street names and what not and 9 times out of 10 something comes up.   It's a site where people come to talk about neighborhoods, relocating, etc.  Locals give others opinions about where they live.  It also has a neighborhood map for most cities where you can literally look at a block or section of a neighborhood and find out it's average income, type of employment residents are in, and hundreds of other factors.

I also utilize crime maps, call local brokers, and also private message people on here who are locals in the area i'm looking at and ask them about their opinion about the property address I am interested in.  In this day and age, the internet will give you a wealth of information.  It truly is a great time to be an out of state investor with all the tools we have.

@Robert Lammers Welcome, and thank you for your service.  If you have the time to become a real estate agent, I think that's always helpful.  It will save you a few bucks down the line too when you begin investing.  This site, along with a real estate education will take you a long way.  Good luck and see you around the site

I always think wholesalers should be as honest as they can be.  If you don't intend to buy the property from them and are simply looking to assign the contract, let them know.  Being upfront and honest about what your plans are will set you apart from a lot of other wholesalers who tend to give a bad name to the business.

When I think of cash-flow markets I think of: 

Kansas City, Ohio markets like Cleveland, Cincy, and Toledo, Jacksonville, Fort Wayne, Upstate NY, Milwaukee, Omaha, and Memphis.  Of course lots of parts of Michigan too.   There's a lot of them out there.  

@Derek Gilbert Welcome to the site.  It took me a while myself to pull the trigger on an investment.  Lots of long nights with analysis paralysis.  Only advice I can give you is start small where you're comfortable.  Getting your feet wet at least puts you in the game.

I suppose it depends on the area.  If it's located in a city near a college or a city where there is more demand for 1 bedrooms, great.  Lots of people will want to rent those places.  On the flip side, let's say you are in a part of the country which is more family oriented such as Utah (excluding Salt Lake city), it may be harder to rent.  

@Bill Gulley I'm not in the military myself, but I have close relatives who served.  I can't even imagine all of the sacrifices and risks you guys have to make to serve our country.  Thanks to all those in uniform for protecting our freedoms.

@J. Martin

I actually think Richmond's central location in the bay area makes it a great spot for future appreciation and rental increases.  A few issues worry me though, which may explain my somewhat bullish outlook.  As we all know, we are undergoing a population boom in the bay area, and a lot of money is being infused.  Given Richmond's proximity to everything, it's going to be ground zero for the next wave of gentrification.  Twenty somethings with six figure salaries and all that, similar to the place you recently bought on the Oakland/Emeryville border.  I'm imagining it will be widespread here in Richmond, even below 23rd and all that.

Naturally, this will ignite a major spark in the low income people who grew up here.  They will demand rent control as they see rents climbing and the city council will oblige and it will be voted on and passed. The city council already discussed it last year.  Sure, they didn't decide on how to proceed with it, instead handing it off to the planning department to research the idea for one more year, but my gut tells me it's in the works.  

Seeing as how each year the government of Richmond becomes more activist, I wouldn't be surprised if the city becomes rent controlled within the five to ten years.  In fact i'd bet on it.  I also fear the insane amount of backlash towards Chevron (who's taxes pretty much keep the city running) may cause them to eventually relocate, decimating the city's budget and possibly causing bankruptcy.

That being said, I still predict Richmond real estate will appreciate.  Even if all the doom and gloom I predicted comes true, it's still the bay area.  I'm sure you will do fine and so will other investors.  Perhaps I just don't want to deal with all of it.  Spending the majority of the last decade dealing with rent control in Berkeley and Oakland as a manger has left me bitter and unmotivated to invest here.  Furthermore, it has left me paranoid that i'm not only going to have to deal with rent control all over again and the crap that goes with it, but now it's going to be my own investment.  Maybe I just don't have the stomach for it, kudos to those who do.

Right now, I'd rather invest in your typical bread and butter houses in the midwest which meet 2%.   I've found good neighborhoods, there's more landlord rights, less regulation, and at the very least I will have a steady income from it.  This way, if I ever decide to plunk down a lot of money to invest in the bay area, I will feel more comfortable taking the punches knowing that my risk is spread around.   I guess different strokes for different folks, right?

@Eduardo Lopez III Nice to see another local on here.  I live in Richmond myself, bought a house two years ago.  I grew up in neighboring El Cerrito and currently run a property management company out of my house.  

Right now I invest out of state and like you am trying to make the transition into full time investor.  Easier said then done, but i'm chipping away at it.  I would love to invest here in my home town but right now prices are just too high for me personally.  I'm glad you were able to find something that worked for you.  I'm curious to hear the numbers on that 4plex, I think I know exactly which property it is.

If you ever want to talk a bit more about real estate let me know, we are not too far away from each other.  Maybe one of these days you, I and @J. Martin can all meet up and speak more about the richmond real estate market.  We are all kind of insiders in this west contra costa county market which often is overlooked by a lot of bay area folk.