All Forum Posts by: Daniel Lee

@Arlen Chou Hi Arlen, you can DM me for the PM's. I know one was a local startup and the first management company was a bigger local company. 

Aloha BP members! I am a resident in Honolulu but my friend has a triplex in Oakland, CA and is in need of a good property manager there. This is his 4th company in the past 3 years. The reason for the last firing? The management company had a unit vacant for an entire month before notifying my friend that they would START advertising his unit the following week. If you have any recommendations please feel free to share!

Jonita Ovalles-Pecjo welcome to BP Jonita! Thank you for sharing your story and we’re excited to see you succeed on your path in RE Investing. I recently became a homeowner on Oahu, a lifelong dream of my wife and I...we’re originally from Los Angeles, CA. It takes planning but it’s definitely achievable. I’m a licensed broker and investor so feel free to reach out to me or any one of the amazing members on this forum. Good luck! Beautiful family pic also!

@Isi Nau dropping helpful knowledge as always ;)

@Nick FrostbutterIf you are interested in a leasehold property there are some options which you may want to consider, if it makes sense for your situation. One is that you buy it now as a leasehold and later on wait to refinance and then buy the fee. Alternately if the lease is long enough you could buy it and then resell it in the future – although leasehold buildings typically do not increase in value, a long lease normally insulates the depreciation.

Just some things to note from a lending side for leasehold buildings, condotels (like the Executive Center, Ilikai Apt Building), and investment properties; please bear with me if you know this already and its already been mentioned in this post:

• -Any loan you get for a leasehold building will need to have a 5 year cushion built in before the end of the lease. So if the lease is up in 2048 (30 years from now) the longest loan you can get is a 25 year loan.

• -Lease fees are not always available for purchase. Of those that are available for purchase, some are restricted to “open seasons” where the fee is available while others are offered continuously.

• -Condotels require a 40% down payemnt.

• -For any investor properties (leasehold or fee simple), depending on your downpayment amount, the building will need to meet certain owner occupancy requirements – this sometimes varies by lender.

• If the owner occupancy is too low you may have to portfolio the loan which will likely result in a higher interest rate. 

Those are some tips based on conversations with my lender. Hope its useful and good luck!

@Jeffery Guerra Hey Jeff! Welcome to BP. Good luck on your real estate investing journey. There's tons of free info on here and helpful members that are always willing to share. 

Regarding your condo, you made a great decision to buy and house hack when you did. If you're looking to sell and your condo is on Oahu, I can definitely help you out and give you info on the process. Is keeping the condo as a long-term rental not an option? Its hard to cash-flow here and if your unit is even close to break-even there's arguments to be made for trying to keep it. I can give you a breakdown for both scenarios if you're interested. Feel free to message me directly. Thanks and good luck!

Hey Junior, I’m a Realtor and investor on Oahu. We sold a property in Kapolei Knolls last year. Market is still hot especially under the 1M price point. There’s also a lot of new development like you mentioned. Castle & Cooke, Haseko both have large projects in the works. DR Horton also has their Ho’opili project fully underway but I see all the development as a good thing. If you need the proceeds from the sale to purchase a primary residence or if you can generate a higher return than it may make sense to sell while the market is doing well. Otherwise, I would advise holding on if you can stomach the negative cash flow. Either way, if you would like some more info on the market feel free to shoot me a message!

@Ben Cochran Hey Ben, shout out to the 209! I grew up in Lodi and my wife is from Stockton ;) 

Your wife and her friend must be REALLY close if she is willing to be the primary lien holder, even if it is just on paper. If you were to secure financing for her that would also seriously hamper your future real estate goals. If you are ok with all that, the next step would be to talk to a loan officer/lender to see exactly what you and your wife could qualify for. 

The other issue is that it would not be owner-occupant financing since you and your wife are still on the Mainland I'm guessing. Therefore, down payment and income requirements would be higher. If you were to all go in together then you may consider forming an LLC or partnership to hold title while having your names on the lien.

If you have more questions feel free to message me directly. Good luck! 

@Christie Salvador Hey Christie! Welcome to BP, you'll find a wealth of info on the forums and through podcasts. I just sold my investment property on the mainland and will be deploying it within a year here also. I'm a Investor/Realtor who's done private money lending, flips, and buy/holds. Feel free to message me directly if you would like to chat sometime!

My two recommendations are Getting to Yes and Bargaining for Advantage. The former introduces the concept of 'BATNA' which will simplify your decision making. The latter goes into depth about uncovering the other side's interests which may be completely different from what is initially being negotiated. I've used the knowledge in both books in personal business dealings and have found them extremely useful. Good luck!

@Rechung Fujihira I built up a 45k sqft assisted living facility that housed up to 80 residents at one point. Its a family business that's still running. More recently, I built up a real-life escape room business from the ground up that's also currently running in Irvine, CA.

At the moment, my partner and I are focusing on residential fix and flip deals on Oahu. I noticed in another post that you're looking for commercial space to expand BoxJelly and be on the ownership side of the RE? If I come across anything or anyone who may be of help I'll be sure to let you know!