All Forum Posts by: Brandon Foken

I'm in the process of negotiating on a 4plex on Ashby (further west from campus) that is miraculously not under rent control. Is there any easy way to see the amount of rentals that are under rent control vs. those that aren't? I could probably just pull up a heat map based upon year built to give me a solid guess, but does anyone else have a more scientific approach?

Good replies on here. Above all else, just be honest with your intentions for the property. When people are emotionally attached to the property, I offer them a private open house once construction is done so they can see the care and craftsmanship we used in fixing up their place. People respond really well to that so I use it every time someone has that level of attachment to the house.

Why would you want to pay for, collect or administer the test? If people can beat UAs from the police, doctors, etc. they will have no problem providing a fake sample. If any landlord requested that of me, I'd thank them for their time and run away as fast as possible. Your job is to provide them a safe, secure place to live, not monitor their day-to-day life decisions. 

While I don't live in San Diego, I do live in San Francisco where parking is always at a premium. While all of the houses in my neighborhood have at least a 1-car garage, that is usually insufficient for a family living in a 3,000 sqft 4-bed house. So while I think it's definitely a variable to consider, I think that if there are other benefits to the place people will be able to overlook them. I, along with many others in my apartment building, spending 10-15 minutes a day looking for parking. Just a cost of living in the city. Hope that helps.

Nice find, @Anson Young !! I really like the additional storage you get on top of the refrigerator cabinet! Or the ability to hang art from the back of your fridge - now that's the hot new trend.

I liked both of J's books, but actually got more value out of the full soup-to-nuts book. I've used the estimating rehab expenses as more of a guide/hand-book when evaluating deals. I really liked Building Wealth as a way to build some fundamental knowledge on why RE is such a great vehicle for, well, building wealth.

Another book you may find of use (although slightly similar to J's books) is the FLIP book put out by the same guys who did the Millionaire RE Investor.  Be sure to move away from books about "theory" to specifics as you get more knowledgeable/comfortable in real estate. Cheers!

Very interesting, @J. Martin 

While this focuses on Oakland, are you seeing/finding the same to be true for the cities surrounding Oakland - Berkeley, El Cerrito, San Leandro, etc.?? I'm focused on flips at this time so not sure what rental rates are doing in those areas. Speaking of flips, the last two projects I was invovled with, we sold to people moving out of SF and wanting more space/outdoor area. There seems to be plenty of pent-up demand still from people wanting to get out of the city and into a SFH. Thanks for sharing the article!

I've negotiated over phone, email and in-person. While this won't be the most helpful answer, I try to see what "realm" the seller is most comfortable with. For instance, I'm dealing with an old man right now and I've found it best to meet face-to-face with him. In another deal, I called the seller multiple times only to have her respond via email each time so I finally took the hint and only communicated via email for the rest of the negotiations. So, my advice would be to understand how the seller wants to communicate and go from there.

@Yu L. - your profile says you are in the Bay Area. Can I ask what city this deal was in? And congrats!!

I don't have anything to add, but I'm negotiating with a seller right now that has a reverse mortgage so this was all really good information. Helps me know what questions I need to ask and what information I need to know before I can present an offer (if one makes sense). Hopefully they haven't got to their maximum credit limit. I'm lucky here in the Bay that even though she took out a RM in 2008, values are back to those levels or even above them.