All Forum Posts by: Jay Orlauski

As far as dealing with this landlord, its probably too late for advice now, however - when dealing with landlords that seem non committal or a little flakey - its a good idea to verify what day the cleaning crew will be arriving and what they will be cleaning. You might consider witholding the check until the cleaning has been finished as the unit is ' not suitable' move in condition. You have raised a good question about the legality of renting out a dirty apt. I know that sometimes deals are made so that someone gets a discount on the rent for cleaning up the place - but absent any pre-existing conditions of the contract, I'm not sure where the law stands on this.I will look it it up and try to find out. P.S. - what ever happened with that place?

Hi there - are you still birdogging? I am looking for someone in the central valley and coastal areas near silicon valley - thanks

for example, if you have done all the math and now know what the deal is going to cost - you could just ASSUME the the market price will decline ( based on local markets) say maybe 3% decline ( per month) in home values - if you work that into the equation than you can assume that if you have to hold onto the house for six months - you have already figured on that price drop and would have determined from the very beginning if that margin still leaves any meat in the deal. Just a thought on it.

any word on sellers list?? other than the MLS? would love to connect with people before they take their goods to the market.

Welcome to the site - there is a lot of info here so it can be overwhelming - but the first step is to just get in and start meeting people. I am in Fresno, just south of you. I am looking for a live-in multiplex situation myself. I am looking to expand in a few years so I may end up looking for property north of Fresno in the future. we should definitely stay in touch. Are you looking to do anything outside of Sac? looking forward to chatting with you in the future.

Hello, , purchasing SFR is going to present quite a challenge i think - in terms of positive cash flow. I started with duplexes and had pretty good cash flow. I have been looking at houses recently and even with the market the way it is , the cashflow is just not quite there unless you can afford to put more money down - but then you have to look at your over return on investment. Recently I have started looking for at fourplexes - we are only looking at 3 1/2 % but that is because we will be owner occupied - but normally there is 20% down on anything over 4 units. with that in mind , you may want to consider getting as many units as you can afford - i.e a 4-plex , a 6plex, 8plex or 10plex. Obviuosly the price per unit goes down when you purchase like this , so your cash flow will be nicer. As far as hard money lending goes - someone can correct me on this , but you might be better served using hard money to flip houses rather than try to get cash flow from it, considering how much it cost to service hard money. You may want to consider flipping a property first , then using the profit from that to pick up a rental property. Even some of the best deals I've calculated with fourplexes will barely yield $50 - $300 a month profit - not too shabby but the numbers look a lot better when you start looking at 10 plus units. depending on what you are trying to achieve - buy and hold may be better deal for now if you can only get an SFR - it is a little difficult i think to unload a flipper right now unless you can find a really cheap fixer upper or know how to work the foreclosure market.

excellent advice - I have worked with my wife for almost ten years now - it is a very rewarding experience when you can share the passion of your life with the person you most cherish. We both come from financial backgrounds and can trust each others judgement - we know each other well enough to know what we would like or dislike about something. If I could add anything to it , I would say to make sure that you MAKE time for the bedroom and other family life - having a spouse as a partner can make it seem like we are running full throttle all the time - so recognize, that you both need to step away from the business from time to time to gain perspective on life.

I would never want to work as closely with anybody else - even it was more profitable - I cringe when I see stories of people who spend so much time on the job that they cant see their family - being able to share it with my wife is the most rewarding perk of all. :lol:

Thanks guys. Charles .. I'm looking for fourplexes or bigger in the Fresno area.

Hi , everyone - I am glad to be here. I'm looking forward to discussing my favorite subject - real estate! I'm in Fresno , Ca and hoping to meet people near my area and hope to pick up some insight from some of you more experienced investors. I also develop financial software for Android mobile devices. Want to know your cash flow potential - Theres an app for that !! lol ... in any case, I've invested in rental units in the past and am looking for more - at the same time , I am trying to market a new mobile app I just developed called FlowCast Pro. I would like to make it an ever better and more useful program that it already is. Perhaps , if I get any feedback at this site, I can improve it. Right now it is only available for android - sorry. I am still working on finding an iPhone guy.

In any case - I'm here for than that - I have a genuine interest in buying real estate. I am hoping to find a partner in the area that is interested in cash deals since that is what is being accepted first these days . I am looking for a 4-plex or bigger. I prefer rehab situations , since I have experience and tools for fixing up places.