All Forum Posts by: Jeff T.

I see @Aaron Norris chimed in, great to see that. He has a good suggestion.  If you can see Bruce give his talk on "Stay Put, Cash Out, Or Change Seats?" he discusses what to do in the current market. What to do depends on your goals, also, and your age and timeline.  You are on the right track by asking the questions, though.  I'm not sure exactly what I would do in your situation, but long term, decent areas in the places you mentioned will do well, as long as you can make the payments.

Stay Put, Cash Out, Or Change Seats? - IVAR

Stay Put, Cash Out, Or Change Seats? - IVAR

If you want to know where the market is in southern California relative to the top, go to see Bruce Norris talk. He studies it in depth and give talks at local investment clubs. He is also presenting at the Apartment Owners Association convention May 19 in Long Beach (free).  Google the Norris Group to see his calendar. 

Also if you decide to invest locally, check out David Schumacher's Buy and Hold. I agree with @David Faulkner that if you buy in the areas in LA that you described, you want to look long term.

Good luck with everything.

Hi @Guy Azta, I also have properties in that general area.  Taxes for rentals in FL are tough, they can go up as much as 10% a year if property values are going up. I went through that the last boom.  This year I raised rents what I thought the tenants could handle, 3-4%, so not much, but overall bumped up my income a bit and then I'll do it again next year.  I'm not sure that's the best way to do it, but it seems to be working so far.

It seems there aren't many small multifamilies in those areas, but I picked up a couple over a year ago.  I'm not sure about what you should do as far as 1031, but try to make sure whatever you do fits into your overall goals.  For me this means better cashflow and fewer FL properties longterm.  I think Florida still has a lot of upside, but I think it will be cyclical too.  So I want to sell some to pay off others at some point.  So it all depends on your goals and where you would buy if you sold and did a 1031 and the tax implications of selling.

Also, I haven't done this for my SFRs, but I think you can have the property appraiser value the property based on the income approach. I know you can for 2-4 units, but not sure about SFR rentals. Good luck with everything.

@Hae-Yuan Chang  I'm not sure about the water damage limit, but leaks do happen, although maybe not always that high cost.  I would look at other companies that write in Florida, I'm familiar with most of them because who gives the best coverage depends on where the house is, what it is (block or frame, roofing, etc..) and when you happen to call. Next month might be a whole different set of insurance quotes.  I can give you the name of my broker if you want, but a list of Insurance companies I've used is:  American Integrity, Tower Hill, Florida Family, Security First, Gulfstream.  I don't have claims experience with all of them though.  Florida Family is a good company but has higher rates. I also have State Farm, but they don't write policies in Florida anymore.

So I would try to get quotes through all of those to see what you get. And try a different broker if they don't use all of those companies. And let me know if you have questions.  Those quotes aren't bad, depending on the total coverage (liability) and deductible.  Consider raising your deductible also like @Derek Lacy said. It can significantly affect the price.

• @Zena McCoy I would try to ask them how they did your income and figured the numbers.  I was denied earlier this year and they just had the numbers all messed up for my rentals.   I can give more details if you are interested . I had to go through the supervisor and went from denied to a pretty big number. 

Nice lists. I think @Ingrid J.s question about where you are in your investor life cycle is important. I am sorting that out myself right now and what my goals are now are changing from what they were 10 years ago.

Buy and Hold by David Schumacher is a great book for long term buy and hold strategies. Basically he says buy in an area that you know will appreciate over time (he bought beach front property in Los Angeles in the 60's) and hold it forever.  Even if you don't do that exactly, he teaches you to look at the long term prospects for an area. He was an appraiser as well as an investor.

Excellent, I'll be getting a copy, thanks for putting something together just for real estate investors, Amanda.

Well, I will give some books that have been useful to me.  They are not new but you may not have read them.

The Power of Habit - great book for understanding your own and other peoples habits.

Hmm, most of the books I can think of have been mentioned on the BP podcasts.

Buy and Hold by David Schumacher is great.

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing - great for getting your own house in order.

not a book, but a blog - Mr Money Mustache - great for getting your own life focused if Financial freedom is your thing.  Check out the blog for his own book recommendations he has a number of good ones.

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/the-mmm-reading-lis...

Hopefully you can find something in there :)

Jeff

I like that idea also, but it depends on the real estate location. If you have property in an area that has long term potential (like SF).

I had this idea too 20 years ago ( see David Schumachers Buy and Hold books). It worked well for me in coastal Los Angeles, but not so much in inland areas and Florida, where there is less density and more land. 

I plan to never sell my house in LA, but plan to sell some rentals in FL near the peak (hopefully). Also check out Bruce Norris and his Southern California market timing. He works out of inland Ca where land is more plentiful and there are boom bust cycles that are more severe than area more dense and near jobs. 

Hi @Simon W.. It's under contract now. (aka Pending, seems they have different terms in different places).  5th times a charm, hopefully. It's been under contract 4 other times and fell out for financing every time, we never even got to the inspection the first 4.  If you still want more info, you can PM me. 

Thanks,

Jeff