All Forum Posts by: Ben Wakefield

I'm very bummed I couldn't make it; it sounds like it was a big success (and they need a new venue because so many people came). Looking forward to the next one, which is all about investing out of state (and exactly what I want to know about!).

Welcome to BP! The great thing about RE is that if you go find a deal, do all of your homework on it, and estimate everything conservatively, you should be able to tell before you ever sign on the dotted line if you're going to make money or not. "You profit when you buy."

And if a deal doesn't feel right or doesn't add up to profit, then you can walk away. But I'm glad to see other nervous people here. I have a candle on my desk that says "Life begins at the end of your comfort zone." :)

MUCH thanks to everybody for their great responses. I do have some family in the area that have no RE experience, but might be able to help me show the unit to prospective tenants. Perhaps the idea of finding a deal that works with the 12% (thanks @James Wise for the suggestion to assume 12%) built in seems so unlikely here in LA, but maybe in Michigan it's realistic! It seems to me that the common issues in Michigan might be different than the common issues in California, especially with the several feet of snow and -20 degree temps they've been having (@Scott McMahan , stay safe!).

I'm hoping to start with some SFH's or small MFH's to build my team and the process, and then hopefully move to larger apartment buildings. I'm from Ann Arbor and my brother and Mom both still live there, and I might even have a good Realtor contact there, which would be a great start.

@Phillip Dwyer , thanks for the tip on checking the local laws; I didn't know that was a potential requirement.

I'm not yet ready to start investing in Detroit, but I do want to be poised to go there soon; I think it's going to be a hot spot once the community there has figured out which neighborhoods are going to be viable. There aren't any big obvious areas yet, but my Mom is constantly watching it to help me find out. :)

I live in Los Angeles, and every day I read things on BP and elsewhere that it is very very difficult to find deals here when you're just starting out and don't have a really solid team working for you. So I have been considering looking out of state in the state I grew up (Michigan) and really like some of the typical rates I'm seeing.

But if I invest out of state, is my only option to hire a property management company to take care of my tenants/units? Losing 10% off the top would make it even harder for a first-time deal...

Any advice on how to rent out of state for your FIRST property? Or is it a pipe dream?

Thanks for the tip @Kimberly T. ! I will check the AOA out. I have a potential Property Management mentor who might be able to show me the ropes in that field, since it seems like a core part of the Buy and Hold strategy.

Here in El Segundo (near LAX) SFHs with 3/1 or 3/2 rent for about $2400-3200/mo which sounds great, but they cost about $800k to buy (excluding short sales if they come around). Which is about 0.4% of purchase price per month of rent...

Seems like a lot of folks are underwater in the nicer neighborhoods, which might be cool for flipping, but makes cash flowing pretty tough. I haven't looked at much larger complexes yet.

There are so many different neighborhoods in the LA area it's hard to say where a nice neighborhood starts and the ghetto begins. Sometimes it's only a couple blocks away...

@Brandon Pearsons I've been wondering this as well. I'm in SoCal and the math I've seen so far hasn't really pointed towards much cash flow. Granted I'm just starting out. But I don't want to give up. There's gotta be opportunities out there.

Hi everybody,

I'm starting out from scratch in this crazy RE world in Los Angeles, and I've heard from many people that before I go out trying to find a deal that I should first become an expert on (or at least be familiar with) the local market so I know the comps. I live in the Los Angeles area and there are a TON of different municipalities and neighborhoods here; it's the Land of Endless Sprawl.

I doubt it's feasible to be an expert in all neighborhoods in LA, but how wide of a net do I need to cast? Is my little 16,000-person suburb enough? A larger area like "the South Bay"?

Any advice from LA-area folks would be aweome, or anybody with experience doing REI in big cities. I'm looking more at the Buy and Hold side, if that makes a difference.

I'm battling with the same decision. I want to start a Buy and Hold portfolio from scratch, and I was thinking of looking for properties on the MLS, but I've heard several people say the days of finding deals on the MLS are gone...

Hi @Mark Hall ! Welcome to BP; I'm in El Segundo and also new to these forums. I have the same goal you do of getting my living expenses (especially rent) paid for by passive income from rentals. Good luck to both of us!

-Ben