All Forum Posts by: Brian Ploszay

I see you are from Santa Maria.  I used to live in Santa Barbara during college.   Real estate works differently in your area than most areas of the country.

One of the main reasons that real estate is so expensive in California, and especially your Central Coast, is the supply of real estate cannot keep up with the demand.   

The Central Coast has tight building restrictions because it wants to curtail growth and water supply is limited.  Outside wealthy capital also floods into these areas, causing prices rise beyond the local demand for properties.  It makes it very difficult to provide housing to people with modest incomes.  

My gut feeling is that prices can't go up forever.   Also, prices seem to already be reaching heights. This has happened in California before and a slowdown or crash occurs.  

Are prices at a peak?  Possibly yes.

The smaller properties can be found right on the MLS. Possibly you can get a realtor to help you. These properties are often not super deals, but they probably will suit you for your first property. You might want to live in a unit and self manage the building. If you grow your business, you'll look for properties from many sources, especially off-market properties. Create a local network in the long run..

I agree to a point.  Hard money has really grown the last few years.  There unfortunately is growth in defaults as well.  Make sure you understand the worst case scenario if a loan becomes delinquent.  Your losses might be significant especially if you are in a state where the foreclosure process is lengthy.

Asbestos siding is extremely common for older frame buildings.  In my city, it takes at least $5K to remove it properly.  

Is the siding dangerous?   Not really.  The danger is when you remove it.   

For a fix and flip, the laws may state that you have to disclose that your building has asbestos.

Alon,

I read that you are from Israel.  Have you ever been to Detroit?   I actually think a portion of Detroit is making a big comeback.  But it is a small portion.   A large part of the city is still blighted.  Prices of properties in these areas are inexpensive.  These properties can be renovated for low income housing - but I'd leave it to local investors.   Not a great strategy for out of area investors or passive income.   

Basically, the older the property, the more you'll spend to bring it to modernity.   Orange California has some older properties, that were built before 1950.  These are the ones that have higher expenditures.  On the whole, Orange County has newer housing stock, so the renovation is fairly straight forward.

For lower income tenants, it is always a struggle to collect rent.   Here is what I do:  If a tenant is two months behind in rent, I evict.

If it is dog or cat pee, there is a solution that breaks it down.    I think you can buy it a major pet store.

Sounds like a perfect Airbnb property.  You can probably do some reserach on airbnb properties located near airports to see if there is any competition or demand for those type of properties.   Probably most crew members just use hotels.

Today, there are lots of tools that allow you to manage properties from a distance.  I use a service that collects rent and takes repair calls.  

You can get the grass cut on an application called Task Easy.   You can get repairs from Angie's list or Task Rabbit.

You can hire a property manager.  I find that property managers usually do a below average job.  If you find a good one, stick with it.

Last, you can hire a real estate agent or rental agent to lease your vacant properties.   Look online which agents are doing this business locally - and phone interview them.

I happen to live in the city where my properties are located.  But I can disappear a few weeks easily.