All Forum Posts by: Ewa Reza

@Kayla W. Very cool. I just started using Cozy. How do tenants activate this option?

@Ariel Goldenberg how did you get out of this situation? I'm going through similar thing now...

Not sure what you mean by "ALL monies"... If the project is not finished or bad quality of finishes, can you get all $ back? Or just enough to have someone else finish it right?

I got a very basic contract with general contractor from Los Angeles. The work promised to be completed in 6 weeks. I did not believe that and estimated for myself it will probably take 10 weeks max. It's been taking already over 5 months! With no timeline on paper I've been more than patient and understanding and let him keep working. The contractors has a very hard time scheduling and organizing and even remembering what we agreed on. Can't keep his sub contractors working for him either. I had 4 different electricians! 3 different tile guys! I have a list of 40 things for him to complete. His response is that it's either completed, either it's not in a contract (it was verbally agreed on). The "completed" items are poor quality. The house obviously looks like it has been remodeled but more like 5 years ago and by a handyman, instead of newly renovated by a professional. My legal counsel tells me to cease all communication with the contractor but I'm curious what you guys think? I'd like to get a discount, get rid of this guy already out of my life and be able to hire someone else to finish. The contractor does not want to discount the price based on quality of the work, or unreasonably long time he's taking to complete this project; despite him knowing he cost me a lot of $$$ in lost rent.

@Donna Arrogante Do you have any FHA loans already? If not, you can get FHA financing for a duplex pretty easily. It's much harder these days to find a property that makes sense and actually get it in contract. A lot of overbidding is going on right now.

@Dan L.

Why don't you look into 2-4 unit properties? One of my clients right now is getting really cool duplex in North East LA at $505K. He'll be $20K out of pocket to close (FHA loan) and the rents right now are at $3000/month. He'll be out of pocket $200 a month ($3200 mortgage - $3000 in rents). But that's without doing much to the property. At this point he just needs to put one wall up and relocate laundry room (<$2000 in total). If he chooses to renovate a bit both units he will actually cash flow.

Hi @Bill Baldwin ! How's the market in Japan? I lived in Shibuya back in 2007/2008. It was very hard to find decent rental that wouldn't cost an arm and a leg. I imagine it's great for landlords! What kind of cash flow are you getting? What kind of down payment? Any special rules for buying real estate as a foreigner?

@Nick Coonis you spent $288K on construction and it appraised at $450K? How much was the land though?

Which company (modular builder) did you use?

I wonder if this would be a viable option if one had to build in hilly area of LA...

@David Le you can get a duplex with FHA financing up to $800K limit in LA county. Most probably it will not cash flow immediately but you can certainly bring it to cash flowing state either with little rehab or just getting the right tenants. Trick is to find the right property and that takes time and the right team in your corner.

Last Thursday I closed escrow for great non-rent controlled duplex in Los Angeles (West Adams area). Now negotiating a deal for another client but this time it's 4 unit building in Echo Park. The good properties do not come on a market too often though. I usually find only 1-2/month that are worth interest.  

FHA requires you to have minimum 580 Fico score. If you do not, you can still use FHA financing but you'd need to raise your down payment to 10%.

I think you're more realistic than your partner. No way that with $35K rehab you'll be able to sell it for $490K. Even if your partner is a contractor it would be very hard. Looks like this place needs addition or at the very least reconfiguring of the layout to add 2nd bathroom.