All Forum Posts by: Bjorn Ahlblad

@Jon Horton congrats on your portfolio to date and you have cash to get further. Small apartment complexes are a great investment; I have a 12 unit that is an ATM machine. I would take some of the 450k and use that as a DP on a MF-10-12 units, that gets the per door price to a reasonable level and lots of cash flow potential. Keep some cash on hand for maintenance and CAPEX. The very worst thing that can happen to an investor is to not have access to ready capital.

If you run short of money or run out of time the vultures start circling!

@Chris Nash Welcome to the area and BP! I too have s GSD-wonderful dog most of the time! ;<) If you intend to invest locally I highly recommend the Washington Landlords Association. Have a look at their web site, there is a meeting tmrw night. Where did you move here from?

My circle of friends are into fishing and are not an ideal group to have REI conversations with; so I don't. BP provides me an outlet/inlet where I can pick up new angles and feelings about deals and what is happening. When we talk about closing a great deal there is no feeling of bragging, envy etc-it is an event-it is what we do!

Here I can feel comfortable surrounded by like minded folk, who are moving at their own pace and want to be successful and make money.

It is also very enlightening and comforting to me anyway, to see so many different cultures and ethnicities represented here on this platform, and we are all here with pretty common goals, learn, network, interact and if we are lucky we also get to help someone out.

Stuff can get crazy out there, I hate reading the news and listening to bi-partisan discussions about today's issues or non issues made into issues.

Here it is peaceful, we all want to better our lives, interact and have successful investments! 

Washington Landlords Association has helped me with leases, legal stuff and tenant screening. Meetings are a bonus.

 ................damn that is well put!

@Thibe in my experience selling or buying without a realtor is like dentistry without novocaine! It is a complex transaction and realtors have the necessary training and expertise to get you through the deal safely and profitably. Owners typically like their properties too much and over price and under disclose. At least that's my experience and others may have had different ones.

@Kusum Chanrai My wife and I only invest within driving distance (fed up with security lines and unpredictable airline schedules) for us that means an hour away-we enjoy looking at our investments too. If you scour your area you might be in for some surprises-yes even an hour away from San Francisco; get a map and draw a circle staying within your time tolerance; 60 mins, maybe a little more. I would not rule out partnering-especially given your upcoming family fun; and you may wish to keep your activities local. Set aside lots of time to enjoy your twins! BTW my wife and I left Silicon Valley last year and we had investments there too-always an easy 60 minutes away.

Talk to the neighbors, get police reports. Often by keying in an address into a browser unexpected stuff pops up-and not just RE stuff.

Looks like a radiant heat set up, in floor heating most likely.

 If you PM me will put you in contact with my CPA contact in Sunnyvale, he has been doing my stuff for 30 years and is a 3rd generation CPA. I don't want to post his contact info out in the open.