All Forum Posts by: Cerwin Haynes

Hello. I'm reaching out to Los Angeles members on this one: I just relocated to the area for job and girlfriend purposes. I own a 2-unit back in Syracuse that I'm keeping (because it's helping me afford LA; Lord knows this job alone won't cut it, lol). I'd like to know the lay of the land here in terms of whether the you guys invest here or in cheaper markets (like Syracuse, lol).

I absolutely want to continue investing in Syracuse, but my girlfriend (aka my future wife) wants A. In on the action, and B. Wants us to get a house out here (her mom is an agent) and is working on improving her credit so she can go FHA or Freddie/Fannie. I've convinced her that our house here needs to be a duplex so we can have a tenant cover most or all of our PITI.

Should I wait to help her with getting a house here before continuing to invest? Should I try and find a way to do both at the same time (find a local partner in the Cuse)? 

Hey... I know the west side is taboo for a lot of folks (for good reason), but I'd say the area around Park AVE (not Park St, lol) going towards and around Genessee Plaza is decent. I bought my house in park Ave close to Frazier middle school. Outside of the kids when they get out of school, the block is pretty quiet. 

I have a property manager I use (one person, not a company) for my 2-unit on the west side. She works with many out of area owners. She's local in her approach, but she was recommended to me by another investor and has done a good job so far. Let me know if you're interested.

Hi Stephen. Welcome along.

I have a background in radio. In fact, I attended SU for grad school (Newhouse) back in '03-'04. I turned to REI because I was caught at a crossroads career-wise, and after reading RichDad and a few other books, this path now makes a heck of a lot more sense. Best wishes.

Oh by the way: since you're wholesaling in Syracuse, you may want to look up a colleague of mine who's on here by the name of Lee Amody. He started last summer, and he's a cool guy to chat with.

@Will ChamberlinHello Will I'm Cerwin. I'm an owner-occupant here in Syracuse of a two-unit (househacking), and it seems I have the opposite situation of yours in a sense. I'm from the NYC area originally; came to the Cuse in '03 for grad school, been back and forth btwn here, Albany, and home (NYC) until Dec '12 when I moved back here to buy. I'm about to relocate physically to Los Angeles for job and girlfriend-future wife, whom is interested in investing as well but isn't enamored with Syracuse because she doesn't want to travel back and forth (some of this is under-education on her part about investing, but I'm working on that, lol). For me personally, it'd be more financially feasible to continue investing here in the 'Cuse, but I'm approaching the point where I can't just think about myself.

 I screwed up the quoting thing. See my post above. My bad.

@Robert Orrigoni You have to be specific: if you're starting out to be an investor, you want an investor-minded (or friendly) agent for the reasons Mindy and Jesse stated. 

Quick story: the first agent I had was cool but over time we started to disagree on the type of houses we should be looking at. Sure enough, she was pushing me in a direction SHE thought I should go versus what I really wanted. So she dumped...errrr I mean assigned me to a new agent only a few months in from training... who was already a colleague of mines because she was an investor! 15 months after that, I closed in my first property with that agent, finding a good value duplex with a finished attic  (HOUSEBREAKING!).

Alexis Bliss of Keller Williams.

Friend and realtor, she's also an investor herself, which is what you want out of an agent. 

I'm house hacking right now myself. Hit me up and I'll fill you in.

Hey welcome...

I closed on my first property in September, a 2 unit with a finished attic. Had to fight and wade through a lot of twist and turns: my closing date got pushed back 7 weeks! But it's been awesome in many ways, a real life changer for me, as it will be for you. 

C