All Forum Posts by: Chrystal T.

I am new to BiggerPockets, and like many others, I have fallen in love with the lively community and wealth of information. Everyone seems to be very helpful and I hope I can pay it forward! After paying off lots of debt and establishing myself financially, I began exploring the stock market last year, and I quickly found out that the stock market enables the rich to get richer, yet does not service those looking to build wealth nearly as well as I thought.

Aside from my own tech entrepreneurial adventures (I am a web developer), I wanted to give real estate a shot and see what it was all about. A month ago, I stumbled upon the Vegas AirBnB article that went viral and I became even more intrigued (http://mashable.com/2013/11/04/bought-apartment-rent-airbnb/).

I ended up finding bigger pockets through google and I immediately read the beginner's guide to real estate investing. From there, I created a plan, and my goal is to purchase rental properties in order to implement a buy & hold strategy in secondary and tertiary cities that are rapidly growing.

Being from Los Angeles, there are not many great buy & hold properties in my immediate area, and I am open to doing heavy research on out-of-area properties. Although I am not opposed to areas like Charlotte, Dallas, Houston or Memphis, I would prefer somewhere closer, if possible, such Phoenix, Las Vegas or Bakersfield.

Not sure if it is inappropriate to share finances here, but I have 40k saved up and another 15k in retirement accounts at my disposal. I also have 780+ credit. Can anyone suggest markets to explore? My research has been limited to Zillow thus far since I don't have access to the MLS. Also, can anyone suggest ways for discovering properties? I believe I will start contacting real estate agents in a few markets to see what is out there, but any referrals to reputable ones would be more than welcomed!

Also, I would be happy to exchange expertise as I am heavily involved in the tech space and can offer quite a bit of advice in that area. Thanks in advance!

Cheers,

Daniel

Coming from a family that invests in both Las Vegas and Bakersfield, I personally prefer Bakersfield. Numbers definitely look a lot better, and Vegas seems to be a market entirely created by investors.

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@Gaurav M. , cap rates can be really high in bakersfield depending on how you invest and with how much money down. it's not difficult at all to find properties there with at least several hundred dollars positive cash flow per month -- assuming you don't have problematic tenants that require frequent maintenance repairs. there's a tremendous supply of homes in east bakersfield with high cap rates, only thing is repairs/evictions might be a concern. we're talking about 80-100k homes that might be able to rent for 700-1100. On the west side, a good deal might be something like a 160k home that gets about 1400-1500/month

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@Gene Hacker , do you know any contractors in Bakersfield? I have a major fixer in Oildale that will be ready to and desperately in need of rehab in about a week or two.

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@Cameron Mahoney , do you have a property manager to recommend? I have a fixer in Oildale that I'll need to rent out once it's done rehabbing. Do you know any good contractors in town by any chance? County should be approving permits in a week or so, and I'll need someone to help rehab it.

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Nick and Brian, did you guys end up finding good contractors? I should be getting permits from the county in about a week and will need a contractor to work on rehabbing a pretty big beater. Any recommendations? Thanks!

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@C. Timothy Murphy III

Thanks! Admittedly, Cleveland does look a lot better based on what I've researched so far, but Columbus seems to have more properties with tenants already and higher cap rates (approximately $1100 for properties in the $40s range). I'm wondering, though, if the long-term expenses of these properties in Columbus will offset the initial cap rate that the properties allegedly promise to generate. I'm more interested in the financial well-being of these two cities, and how (re)developments are panning out for them - which one poses as a more solid investment and why.

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Hi everyone,

I'm looking to invest in some rental properties in Ohio because of the affordable prices and high cap rates. There's a lot of talk about both Cleveland and Columbus, but I'm wondering if anyone has studied/invested in both markets and come to a solid conclusion of which one is better/preferred, and why?

Would love to hear about any and all related experiences, knowledge, etc.

Thanks!

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All Forum Posts by: Chrystal T.

Chrystal T. has started 2 posts and replied 28 times.

Post: Hello BP, my name is Miguel….

Post: Vegas, Bakersfield or Phoenix for Buy & Hold?

Post: ANYONE FROM BAKERSFIELD, CA

Post: New Member - Bakersfield, CA

Post: Bakersfield Property Managers

Post: Bakersfield Contractor Recommendations?

Post: Columbus versus Cleveland

Post: Columbus versus Cleveland