All Forum Posts by: Gilbert Dominguez

I still own property around the country that I would be oblivious to if not for the cities sending me my notice to pay my property taxes on them, not all but some. Some I do not even remember if I still own them or not. Back in the day without knowing it I was a wholesaler but I did not even know what a wholesaler was. I just bought properties anywhere I could if they were cheap enough. I honestly cannot say where they all are. Sometimes I do forget, hehehehehehe. 

@Kevin Quang Nguyen,

I would agree. You need to live, pay ongoing living expenses. You should wait to have a job and replace whatever money you are most certainly going to need to spend just to keep going on a daily basis. To attempt to push things just so, hurry to get an owner financing deal, hurry to get a tenant it, hurry to have food on the table. That will just prove futile I think. 

You need time to relax, to evaluate, to seek out, interview and select a proper tenant and you need time to build up your cash reserves to deal with property taxes, maintenance, Property management if you are not going to manage your property yourself and insurance. As yourself are well aware you will also have to have transaction money to pay for your share of escrow fees, a HML will be charging you points most likely.

You are not ready yet. Take a little more time. Where will the money come from should the property you buy be in need of immediate repairs?

@Account Closed,

You see guys no body wants to see who is right or who is wrong. What people are after is knowing the San Francisco Bay Area Market and how to work it. That is what I am after. What can be done today not 2 years ago and not 10 years ago. The first one bedroom I rented went for $60.00/ Mo in San Jose and today its renting for $1,300.00/Mo. 

When I first came to California in the late 50's you could buy a home in San Jose for $4,000.00 and today that same house goes for about $1.2M

We are not really interested in the dynamics of the San Francisco Bay Area over the last few or many years. What people want to know is how to work this market today, 2015. 

If there is way as there most certainly is a way how do people go about it?

@Account Closed, 

Like I said , there is no debate going on here Minh. My question is are these properties entry level?

Right now if you had no experience whatsoever in real estate investing and getting started with little to no money or established credit could you get into these properties?

hehehehe ok Matt, we got it now. Huuumm? Interesting then !

I would still say if you signed something saying you would move in within 60 days and then could not or did not for some reason you might be in for some difficulty but I do not know what that would be. Jean Bolger seems to have hit on something, worth looking into that may help ease your mind. Without knowing for sure I would simply suggest you still move in as soon as possible like yesterday. This does not seem to be a common occurrence so really I do not know what I would have to offer that would help you. Guess I am not answering your question. I simply do not know. 

Maybe consult an attorney savvy on Fannie Mae policies. Sorry Matt

@Arlen 

Obviously someone one is doing it now Arlen otherwise properties would not be selling and the selling is hot right now prices being as high as they are someone is still bidding above asking price so of course it can be done, is being done, and always will be done by someone. 

Nothing wrong with your posts I love them. However I wanted to present more clarity for those that do not have exposure to our market and realize its difficulties before thinking they would get on the next bus headed here. Just expanding on the topic a bit. I too would not have the money I have now were it not for my start in the Bay Area. I became a millionaire by the age of 30 because of being in the Bay Area and because of real estate investing. 

The one point I wanted to focus on is that the Bay Area is not very good for cash flow but luckily it has been great of appreciation. I have never been able to cash flow very well in the Bay Area needing to keep up with 3 jobs at a time just to make my mortgage payments and had to make it through times when I was negative on properties. I was lucky the properties appreciated and I was able to come out of properties with a good profit in the end. 

I hope you do not mind I have chosen to expand on the topic a bit. Yes its possible to house hack but not just in the San Francisco Bay Area but in Chicago, Certain high end cities in Florida and other places around the USA. 

It happens that house hacking has been introduced here on Bigger Pockets as a way to get started generating cash flow and in that I feel the San Francisco Bay Area is not conducive. People are looking at house hacking as a way to get started. 

Why do you have and why do you need a partner Arlen?

There is no debate going on Arlen there is simply an effort to present the San Francisco Market as it is and give examples of how this market can be worked. 

If the house and general property is on a public street then things should be more easy to work with. Still you should check with a soils engineer, an architect and a structural engineer. Have each make a site visit if possible

An architect will be the first to give you an indication of the expected costs of the project

then you will take your plans to the city for review and approval of a building permit. Once you have that then you can start getting bids from contractors and comps as well as future value appraisal (s)

Somehow it will all star to fall into place for you and you will know how to organize yourself and plan our expenditures and do your financial planning as well as your construction schedules. 

There are allot of ways to get started in Real estate;

. Working for a material supply house

. Working for a General Contractor Business

. Working in a real estate sales office

. Working for a lender

. Working with note buying and selling businesses

. Working for an Architectural firm or a Structural engineering firm

. Simply buying your own home

. Purchase, fix, and flip

. Wholesaling or Bird Dogging

. Buying a house and start your landlord Career

. Working with a local housing department

. Working for a Property Management Company

. Working for a Property Maintenance Company

. Working for and with a local Building and Planning Department

. Working for a Public Works department

You can use basically anything related to real estate work as an entry point and then work your way to becoming a real estate investor. 

It just occurred to me that you might have had what seemed to be a good idea at the time and that is to take the money from your FHA 203K loan and used it to fix your other property up. I hope for your sake you did not do this because if you did OH BOY !!!!!!!

Mortgage fraud is not a joke. If I were you I would really take this as a serious matter. No one can say what any party will do but you are setting yourself up and I would not play games with it.