All Forum Posts by: Anthony Marin

I'm glad I bought a brand new 3 family house for my first property but I wish someone would have told me not to be too friendly with our tenants.  When you live there its easy to become friendly with your tenants and go to their kids parties and stuff like that.  Things got so comfortable they felt they could pay rent late then that led to them falling behind a month.  At that point we had to have a serious conversation and let them know rent is priority one and if they can't pay we would evict.  They paid and moved out at the end of the lease.  From that point we are friendly but never become friends with our tenants.

@Theresa Amouzou 

I hope this makes things a little easier but you will never and should NEVER feel comfortable. Once you feel comfortable its time to challenge yourself again.  Start looking at properties and putting in offers and all the information you've gathered to this point will show itself and you should build a team to help you.  Get a real estate attorney, accountant and property manager as soon as possible.  Good luck

@Zack Reyes

Congrats on deciding to get in the real estate game.  I know it can be overwhelming but what has worked for me is to ONLY worry about the next thing to do.  If your just starting, start looking at properties you are interested in and get comfortable with prices and potential renovation.  Take one step at a time.

@Stanley Grayson 

I agree with @Jonathan Soto.  Have one of the tenants handle these jobs and give them a discount on the rent.  Ensure you put it in the lease that they are responsible for these things because you want to have recourse if they decide no to do it.

@Lamont Chen

Yes we did apply for a variance and it was a risk that they could deny but we felt it really did add value to the neighborhood and city.  It does take a long time but its worth it.  Good luck with your deal.

Investment Info:

Large multi-family (5+ units) buy & hold investment in Newark.

Purchase price: $186,000
Cash invested: $110,000

We bought at the county auction. We renovated the entire building and filled vacancies. Then we applied to subdivide to build a 3 family on new lot created.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

The large lot

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

We saw it on the county auction list. We went to the auction and outbid everyone.

How did you finance this deal?

We paid cash then refinanced it once it was stabilized.

How did you add value to the deal?

Renovating the building initially then we added more equity once we subdivided it.

What was the outcome?

The outcome will be a brand new 3 family property along with a 3 unit mixed use property.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Being that this was our first venture into development, we didn't realize how long it would take and much it actually cost to get finalized plans before we can actually begin building.

@Steve K. Or she can be the fox and the other side can be the hen.  Or the agent can do their job correctly and work for both sides equitably.  I've been the buyer side on a dual agency and those have been some of my best deals.  if you know your numbers and are willing to walk if you don't get them then you will be fine.

@Steve Bullock 

Congrats on your purchase and the beginning of your real estate investing career.  What part of Newark did you buy in?  PM me and I'm pretty sure my company can help you with the work you need done.  Good luck!!

@Devin Monroe No, you do not have to pay all cash for an off market deal.  Depends the situation but I do think you should talk to a few hard money lenders to understand their terms and get pre-approved with them.  This will allow you to put in offers on off market deals and have the ability to close quick.  Once you close and pay back a hard money lender once they will lend to you much easier and quicker.  Please do your homework and make sure the HM lender can perform.  Good luck

@Maya Gorski This will be more work but you will have to identify the property then find out who the listing agent is and contact them.  If they're going to get both sides of the commission they will work harder for you.  If you contact enough listing agents in that market one or 2 of them will realize you're serious & find you something.  This will take time but it takes a while to build a base in a new location.  Good luck