All Forum Posts by: Christina Mao

I agree with Sean on this.  Holding is the best way to build wealth here getting the cash flow by adding doors to the properties whenever possible.

Thank you John and Zachary.  I see the value of an IUL it can be use to enhance my real estate investing and pass on a much larger legacy to my beneficiary tax free.

I'm using the cash value IUL (Index Universal Life) Insurance to place my reserve requirement for my conventional loans.  This way it is not sitting idle and it serve as a high performance saving account by being supercharge with a whole life insurance  face value and my money grows tax free and I have access to use it during my life time if I need to do so.  To me it serves as another vehicle to grow wealth parallel to investing in real estate.  It's less costly and less work then real estate  because it does not require the huge down payment as real estate.  The legacy I would have built up to pass on to my beneficiary is going to out perform that of my real estate portfolio.  I am able to grow this legacy starting with using money I was holding on to as a reserve requirement for my real estate investment.  So for me, cash value life insurance is an enhancer to growing my wealth quicker.  Where I stand today, my beneficiaries will receive more than twice of what they would received if I only do real estate investing.  By investing both in real estate and cash value life insurance, I am able to build a larger legacy to leave behind to my beneficiaries by placing the reserve money I need to invest in real estate into an IUL policy.  Conventional lenders allow for it use as reserve but some hard money lender won't.

You are very welcome.  Good luck with your project.  I am going to tackle two more properties soon too.

I have one ADU application in process. It has been slow to get approval.

I'm in California.  My request is protected under the essential business activities.  I have called the sheriff to request for a civil stand by and they refuse to assist.  I since contacted a real estate attorney and has been advised that I can assert myself and enter the property if I have keys or get a locksmith.  I was just trying to see if anyone can advise how to approach the sheriff to assist.  As I do not want to get into a confrontational situation with my tenants.

I'm doing a cash-out refi on a rental and lender required a full appraisal. Tenant is refusing entry due to COVID-19 shelter in place even though this is considered an essential business activity.  And the sheriff will not assist with doing a civil stand by either.   Have any one run into this problem? Or know how I can go about this.

Hi David,

I did an attached garage conversion of one of my Castro Valley rentals under 400 sq ft permit came under $5K .

I own SFR properties in Castro Valley, San Leandro, and Hayward and house hack them to cover my numbers. I acquired them through conventional financing with standard 20-25% down for investment properties. I look for properties that I can easily house hack by being able to convert the existing spaces (spare family/living room and garage) to an ADU and then rental it out. Now that we have the new California ADU law in place for 2020, getting permit for it will be so much easier. I am also blessed being able to have a trusted and reliable contractor on my side to help me with this process. As a divorced single mom earning $80K a year working a 9-5 job and investing in real east using my method I have managed to purchase 5 new properties within the last five years. So yes, not only is house hacking possible it works great!

I live and own rental properties in Castro Valley, Hayward, and San Leandro. I have completed an ADU in Castro Valley with a garage conversion on one of my rental unit. Now that we have the new 2020 ADU law in place, I plan to max out my rental properties potential by adding more ADU units to each SFR property I own.