All Forum Posts by: David Najera

I've been posting the ad on craigslist daily and have been receiving 10 calls per day. Most of which are not quality tenants. However, thanks to the shear volume of calls, I already have the interest of two "very qualified" tenants. One is attending SDSU for grad school, the other is going to veterinary school. Of course they have other places to look at, but I believe my low price ($600 compared to an avg. of $650-750) keeps me competitive. 

$250 for utilities was just an arbitrary number I used as an estimate. What do you think might be a more accurate estimate for a 4 bedroom house with a gas line? $300? $400 maybe?

That's very true, but given how much additional income a studio would bring in, and the fact that the garage is relatively out of sight, I believe it's worth the risk. According to the inspector's report the house is in good condition (built in 1970's), so I can safely estimate the net total at $600/month after factoring in cap ex($200 for usual repairs). 

I put down 3.5% ($13,300). The building itself is a duplex, but each half is sold on it's own. I think multi family homes are usually a better option overall, good on you if you can afford one in SD(especially Coronado)! If you do decide on a single family, Id suggest looking for a house with living rooms that are easily convertible, that way you can maximize your monthly income weather you rent them out via Air-bnb or as long term, single-room rentals. 

My plan is to refinance in a few years to lower my monthly payment and get rid of PMI ($300/month). After that I'm looking to buy a multi family in Las Vegas where a fourplex goes for $250k-$300k. In Las vegas, and in many other markets other than SD, you can make considerably more profit from the difference in the mortgage and rental income.

Thanks for the input, let me know if you need an awesome RE agent/ loan officer! 

I am a 22 year old student attending SDSU and I'm 2 weeks away from closing escrow on a 4-bedroom house. I thought I'd share my journey and make updates as time progresses. The house is being sold at $380,000, which is very reasonable in San Diego's current market. This is primarily because the house has a shared wall with the neighbor and is in a low-income neighborhood. However, for the area it is on a quiet street and is only 10 minutes away from downtown (Market Street/Mt. Hope). 

It is move-in ready so I will only be upgrading the tile floors to to lament, adding a wall in the living room to make a fifth bedroom, and converting the garage into a studio. With myself living in one room, each other room bringing in $600 and the studio renting for approximately $850 I estimate I will bring in $800 monthly. 3,250 (gross income)-2,200 (mortgage)-250 (utilities)=800 (net monthly profit). 

I have been marketing the rooms for about 2 weeks, but currently I am having a tough time finding good potential tenants. I do screen applicants pretty strictly and have received a lot of inquiries, however the calls I have received have been less than Ideal (not terrible, just not what I'd prefer). I am wondering if I should be more lenient on the type of tenants intend to rent to (provided they pass a credit check), lower the rent (I'm open to suggestions from people familiar with the area), wait to hear from more potential tenants, or a combination of these options. 

I'd also love to hear any additional input or questions about my discussion,

Thank you!

-David 

Has anyone used Robinhood for stock trading? If so, i'd love to hear what you think about it on top of real estate investing. Iv'e been using it for 3 months and even though we had a huge correction in august, I've still managed to get a 5-7% return (about $600) since i started mostly because of zero trading fees.  

Hello, Im a 19 year old student who currently attends a junior college and am on my way to earn my bachelors degree in Business administration. I look forward to learning all I can from this site and it's members. I am curious to see if there any other users who are around my age and also getting prepared to invest in real estate. It will definitely be nice to have some help along the way in our investing journeys with this community :)