All Forum Posts by: Erik B.

@Gino Barbaro Thanks! We'll look into a HELOC. Thanks again for the response!

Hi there,

I have some newbie questions for everyone. I currently own a four-unit property in Los Angeles County. I'm living in one of the units and renting out the others. I purchased the property in 2022 with my VA Home Loan, so I have a very low interest rate of 2.75%.

Long story short, we've finished renovating and stabilizing rents (for the most part). If we were to rent out the unit we live in the place would cashflow, even if it were slightly bellow market rent.  We'd like to purchase another property but are not sure how to capture some of the equity we have in the current property to start making offers. Refinancing seems to be out of the question given our current rate. Am I missing something here, or should I be considering other ways besides pulling from our four-unit property?

Thanks so much! 

Awesome! Congrats!  House-hacking is definitely the way to go here in County of Los Angeles.  This is how my wife and I are building up our portfolio.  

Hey Kevin,

Yeah this is a tough one.  Can you demo the bathroom and/or kitchen and have maybe a bid from a contractor to remodel which (I would think) would truly make it unavailable? 

I have properties in Gardena so close to you but haven't run into this issue yet. 

My wife and I actually pulled this off here in Los Angeles County.  We purchased a 4 unit property that was extremely outdated and moved into one of the units.  We did a ton of work ourselves to make it livable and rent ready while living in it. We're actually looking as we speak for our next multi-fam to do this again. 

It's challenging and will test your patience but it's worth it.  Some of the best parts about this strategy is that we pay less living here then living in a single family home (rents increase every year) and when do decide to move out the place will cash flow and we've been here for 2 years.  

When you do find a place you're interested in make sure to really understand who the current tenants are and what the rent control laws are for the city/county. Know how much you can anticipate raising the rents to each year as you're probably going to find listings that have rents that are way under market.   You don't want to get into a situation where you move in and one unit has a nightmare tenant in it.  Highly recommend Los Angeles County over City of Los Angeles. 

Hope this helps!

Sounds like your place is vacant?  This is good. Now you can raise the rent to market.  Keep in mind, that most tenants are good people just trying to find a safe place to live and raise their family.  Make sure you set high standards for your applicants in terms of credit score, background, and referral checks.  Verify everything.  Go the extra mile.  Also, charge high application fee and security deposit. 

I'm not a lawyer but I'd definitely check with one.  Joining the California Apartment Association and Apartment Owners Association and network with the landlords and investors in the 60s and 70s who have huge portfolios and real experience that really understand your market and how to navigate it's challenges. Latch on to them.  

Hi Ma'am,

@Jade Stobbe I'm also an Airman. I did what you're trying to do. I used my VA home loan to purchase a 4 unit in Gardena which we closed in January of this year. I purchased my property off market by building good relationships with the best realtors that matched up with what I was trying to accomplish in the neighborhood I was targeting. I would also mention that you'd want to probably focus on rental properties outside of City of Los Angeles and looking more in the County of Los Angeles. There is a Covid Moritorium in effect that you'll want to familiarize yourself with and the City of Los Angeles is very strict with what you can and can't do. Feel free to reach out if you need any guidance. PS, I'm not an agent or lawyer or anything like that. Just an enlisted guy.

You're good for STR's in Long Beach. As others have mentioned, be extra careful with properties with HOAs

Nice!  I'm actively hunting down multifamily deals in certain parts of Gardena, Torrance, and Long Beach specifically.  Los Angeles County vs City of Los Angeles moratoriums are keeping us from wandering into City of Los Angeles. 

@Account Closed mentioned things are looking very positive.