All Forum Posts by: Charles Renn

Looking forward to it!

Hey @Alex C.,

Looking forward to it! Any plans to attend BPcon this year?

Hi @Jane Kim,

Welcome to Bigger Pockets! You have the right idea to get your investment portfolio off the ground. There are a number of questions I have for you but first, have you already been qualified for an FHA loan? Technically you can only have one FHA loan at a time, and you must live there for at least one year. Other thoughts are in reference to your expectation. You are correct that prices are high, it's also good to know that 2-4 unit properties are extremely popular at the moment. There are deals out there that roughly fit your price point, but I'd love to talk with you more to dig deeper. A better expectation is to find a 2 unit property, live in it a few years, then refinance and buy your next property here in SoCal. Of course, there are a ton of other options like out of state investing.

Hope this helps!

Hi @Catherine Scott,

Welcome to BP! It's great to hear you're interested in multi-family investing. It can seem daunting at first, but taking action will yield results. Aside from what's already been discussed here, I recommend writing down your goals so that the team you join or build eventually, can align with what you hope to achieve. You'll find there are a lot of people interested in multi-family investing, but have different short and long term goals. I imagine your goals may change and adapt over time, but before being influenced by others, I think this is a good place to start. Hope this helps!

Hey @Tristan Osborne,

Welcome to BP! You'll find a multitude of resources here not limited to those you mentioned in your list here. Some additional helpful tips include reading up on as many RE topics and strategies possible so you have a well rounded knowledge of how things work, lingo, and best practices when looking for your core 4 (deal finder aka agent, lender, prop manager, and contractor). @David Greene has a number of books I recommend. Look for meetups that fit your schedule also. My team hosts them, but you'll find a number posted here on BP as well as other online forums like meetup dot com. I can feel your enthusiasm and wish you luck. Let me know if you have any further questions! Hope this helps!

 Good call. Thank you Jay!

Hi @Jen Taylor,

Great question, and one that often intimidates buyers at first, but is an often used tool for sellers to confirm how serious buyers are when the subject property is tenant occupied. As you might imagine, sellers may not want to bother the tenants with window shoppers interested in a showing. While it's always recommended to seek an attorney in legal matters, writing an offer subject to inspection is a regular task for an experienced investor friendly agent, at least on my team. Hope this helps!

Hi @Diara Campbell, you have a lot of good advice here already, but if I can add anything, talk with an investor friendly lender. The good ones can setup a strategy for you long term so that you can put goals in place, ex. timeline for down payment, and fill you in on regulations, ex. stick to looking at 2 unit properties as 3-4 unit properties for FHA have strict guidelines that most LA County properties may not pass.

A last piece of advice, real estate investing always has some risk involved. Starting off accepting this fact will make the road toward financial freedom a lot more rewarding.

Hope this helps!

Hi @Lori Goldsmith,

Here in LA County it can be tricky. I like the tenant bonus idea and something similar is offering them a gift card to the local coffee shop, restaurant, etc., as an incentive to get them out for some time. Tenant laws for eviction at this time are still pretty grey, so even if they don't comply it could be a challenge to force them to allow the showing. One other thing, are they interested in cash-for-keys? Perhaps your broker has some other ideas, but best of luck!

Hi @Anna Mae Hanna,

Congrats on finding deals here in Los Angeles! For on market deals most listing agents are going to request proof of funds to cover down payment and some will also want to see funds to cover closings costs in addition to a "pre-approval." It sounds like you're looking at cash/hard money deals. Some agents may accept a hard money pre-approval letter as proof of funds if you don't have the cash. Your agent can look into this for you.

It's best to start talking to at least two lenders to compare their fees, rates, etc. Let me know if you'd like a referral.

Hope this helps!