All Forum Posts by: Chris Isaacson

Hi @Edwin W. on one of my development deals when I was the listing agent, we were working with two buyers a broker and a civil engineer. The engineer was very savvy when it came to land development and inspired me to reconsider going back to school for my engineering degree, he could vet property a lot quicker than I could and knew his way around the building and planning dept. I would suggest for development to add civil engineering to your list of considerations, with that said many developers do not have a degree and manage the whole thing very well.  

I saw a thread like this pop up a while back but instead of reviving it I want to hear if anyone has any fresh suggestions/opinions. As the title states, my wife and I want to leave CA. I feel as though even though I make decent money here we could do a lot better if we liquidated everything and moved to a less expensive area and could seriously invest.

Anytime I visit friends in different parts of the country (Memphis, Orlando for example) I can't help but look at real estate and their rents in the area. It is crazy how good of deals there are that you would never get here. In my area most investments are done off speculation and only in the scary areas do you start to see cash flow.

Anyways, has anyone who left or thinking about leaving CA have opinions or regrets?

Also, if you could choose a market to start over now which area would you choose?

@Jason Mak Yes, just be a broker with your own name it is pretty common.

I would either have an attorney or broker draw up everything and split the cost, you could probably find one to do it for a small fee. I don't know how litigious Michigan is but here in the great state of California it gets rather ugly even between "good friends/co-workers", so I would definitely make sure everything is disclosed and done correctly but that is up to you.

Great articles, pretty much confirms my impression. I believe you are right about the continued growth but I just don't see how it is sustainable looking at wages.

Hi Guys,

Guess I have should have started with a post here. I am not exactly new to real estate as my family has been in the business all my life and I started on my own when I got out of the Army a few years ago. I have been a long time lurker of these forums and like what you have going on here so I decided to join you all. Look forward to learning from the best and brightest. 

In my opinion Boise is way overinflated for the incomes in the area, I was looking in that area for a couple years but I couldn't make sense of it. I think it is due to the massive migration of equity rich Cali refugees.

All raw land was priced for development and they are holding out. Multi-fam's were priced with very low ROI and still selling. I don't think you can possibly get a return on single fam if you were to purchase there today.

I still have sellers in my area escaping Cali for greener pastures in Boise. Interested in what other locals say.

I laugh at realtors. Anyways, I am not in the Miami market but we have a lot of agents here who would do the same. Not a lot of agents really understand investing they just are buying, selling houses and building relationships. No fault to them that is their business. I would join a REI club, that is where the "knowledgeable" investor agents will be. I imagine there is no shortage of them in Miami.

Relaxin' Jackson, I was there for a bit. Nice to hear you are staying in for retirement I believe it will benefit you tremendously.

Just my 2 cents, if you have equity in the home then just sell when you pcs. I am all for buy and hold but in the military with deployments, tdy, etc. it is just another thing to deal with (even with a PM). This is what I would do, buy one dilapidated(ish) property per duty station live in flip and sell for tax free profit. Assuming you have three years each at the next two duty stations and one last four year, you could buy and flip 4 homes. Retire with a nest egg and now you can focus on building portfolio full time.