All Forum Posts by: Ben Johnson

I'm trying to close my first deal. I've found a seller who is willing to finance the loan and work with me on terms using a land contract.

Wondering if I should pull the trigger. Any input appreciated.

Here's the deal:

Santa Clarita/Southern California

Purchase price: $799k (that's about market rate--maybe a touch higher, but with a small amount of work could build equity of about $20k higher than asking)

Down payment: 5% payable over the first 6-8 months (he's looking for about $35k, but might take less, and won't require it up front)

Interest Rate: 4.25 (on the high side of current rates)

Term: He's flexible and has indicated that he will go out to 40 years. That's necessary for me to make the property cash flow.

Essentially, I think I can find renters that would allow me to cashflow about $100/month after expenses if I do a 40 year term. Market rate for renters appears to be about $3,600/month.

Idea is to keep the seller financing in place until I get 20% equity and then refinance. But, will take 10-12 years to get there on a 40 year term depending on appreciation during that time. 

Seems like a good deal to me, but what do I know? I'm basically paying market rate for the property, but if it cash flows, does that matter as much? Would you take the term out longer than 40 years if he would agree?

Also, he's just redone the kitchen and all the bathrooms.

@Sammy Lyon

This is really inspiring to me. I'm in LA too, and just getting started on my RE journey. Would love to meet up sometime to talk real estate, and about your experiences--assuming that your wife is tired of hearing it. lol. I'm up in Santa Clarita valley and work in the San Fernando Valley, so either place is good, or we could meet somewhere else convenient or you. Looking forward to connecting. 

@Will Barnard

Thanks for the tips Will. You’re in Santa Clarita? That’s where I live. I just work in SFV so I thought it might be easier to start there. Maybe we’ll bump into each other at a meetup. Do you know of any here in Santa Clarita?

@John Koster

Thanks John. Good to be here.

Notice you're in Valley Village. I work in Chatsworth. Maybe we can meet up some time.

@Dmitriy Fomichenko

Thanks so much for the welcome. I’ll be sure to check out the links and tips you gave me.

@Aaron K 

Thanks for the advice. Really appreciated. Still trying to figure this whole thing out and you may be right about how my time might be better spent. The goal is certainly to move into BRRRR investing in the future, but for now I thought I would try to learn the ropes a bit before I bite off more than I can chew.

Hi everyone!

My name is Ben Johnson.I'm a litigation attorney in Los Angeles, but don't let that fool you--I'm a pretty nice guy, at least my kids think so, most of the time. I've always had a strong desire to get into real estate investing, and decided to just take the plunge after watching one of Brandon's webinars, and listening to dozens of episodes of the excellent Bigger Pockets podcast. I'm really interested in wholesaling properties at this stage, and then moving on to BRRRR investing once I've learned the ropes a little bit.

Excited to be a part of this community.

I'm new at all this. Looking forward to meeting some investors on these boards that invest in properties in the San Fernando Valley, California.

I want to wholesale properties in the area, but would like to know what investors are looking for in the area. What numbers work for them? That way I can further target properties that I can bring to them to close.

Thanks!