All Forum Posts by: Greta Tseng

Thank you Ray for the candid opinions! The trunk is about 3 to 4 feet from the neighbor's wall, which is basically right next to those pebbles in the photo. 

We have a 4' tall Magnolia soulangiana tree in the small front yard of our rental place. (see pic) The next door neighbor has been asking us to remove the tree as it is about 3-4 feet away from their wall and they are worried the wide spreading root will damage the house foundation and piping. I've been asking around and was told this particular type of magnolia tree (Magnolia soulangiana) is the petite type and therefore should not be too worried about it.  Would you spend $400 to remove it or keep it as it is? Any tips would be appreciated!

Sounds like a great event!

Count me in and thanks for putting this up!

@J. Martin : What a great relief to know that 2% rule is not applicable to the bay area. How about positive cash flow and 50% rule? It seems to me most of the bay area RE opportunities are speculating buy on future appreciation since the cash flow are mostly negative. I will be looking forward to your new article about the bay area dilemma!

And Yes I would love to join the meetup and summit!

@Jordan Thibodeau , thanks for sharing your experiences! Yeah...I found HOA very time-consuming to deal with as well.

@Paul Timmins , thank you for all the great info! I've finished the Ultimate Beginners' guide and working on Real Estate Rewind. Very informative!

@Brandon Lee , thanks for the tips! Do you have any group in meetup.com that you would recommend? I saw there were a couple BP meetup held in SF bay area a while ago and look forward to joining one in the future.

Hihi,

I am a RE newbie from the San Francisco bay area. Recently found BP online and have fallen in love with the podcast~! (Great job, Brendon and Josh!)

We got our first primary home in 2012 (good timing) but latter realized it’s not a good investment buy. (One of the best school district in the east bay but with comparatively low rental return and negative cash flow...ouch..)

I’ve heard a lot of successful stories that meet 2% rule and have positive cash flow with less than 20% down payment. However, I don’t quite see those deals in my neighborhood near Fremont/Union City. Condo/townhouses that produce $2000 rent/month will easily cost $400-500K and a single family house of $3000 monthly rent will be around $700K. I am interested in knowing what the investors’ perspective on a market like this? Given the strong momentum of housing demand in the bay area, is it still an attractive market to invest? How would you advice a newbie to start her RE investing (who can only afford $400K~ property) in the hot market like this?

Look forward to all your perspectives!

Cheers,

Greta