All Forum Posts by: Hedy Kromer

Thanks so much for your input @Hank Sacco.  Yes, I was looking at this through the eyes of a Californian.  We have annual inspections here & subsequent requests from the city for tree trimming, weed abatement, etc.  I'm glad to hear that you second @Jim Shoults opinion that it will likely not be a burden on me. :)

Thank you for your input.  Yes, it's in DeKalb County, and I'm glad to hear their code enforcement is fairly lax.

I'm in contract on a house in Atlanta (Stone Mountain).  I just noticed that the lot size is listed as .6 acre (25,000 sf), which is huge.  I looked at how it's parceled, and it has a regular sized back yard with backs into a richly forested area, which I had assumed was owned by the city/park.  However, it turns out, I would own it.  So my concern is, are there hidden expenses that I should be concerned about with owning so much land.  It's a forest, so I wouldn't do any landscaping to it.  But my concern is that the city may require that I do some sort of weed abatement every year or so.  Does anyone have any experience with this?  I'm hoping that there likely wouldn't be any additional expenses of owning that forest, although there's no guarantee.  But what's the likelihood?

Thanks everyone for all your helpful advice. I've gotten a lot of great ideas of what my options are. I'm leaning towards not selling the LA property since I do agree that it will continue to appreciate at a faster rate than an out of state turnkey.  As @Matt R. put it..,why kill the golden goose. :)

@Mike H. In your experience, how much higher is the interest rate for the 5th loan vs the 4th loan?

 Hi Brie, can you clarify on your post?  Are you saying that once you get past 4, you can't cash out on any of the investment properties?  So if I have 5 loans, I can't do a cash out refi on any of them?  The only way to pull out equity is to sell them?

@Matt R. Wow, that's interesting.  Hmmm...maybe I should keep it.  :)

Hey what does "Donor" mean?

@Matt R. Good point.  It just seems like the popular opinion on BP is that high priced areas like LA are not the ideal areas for real estate investors.  Because it's almost impossible to cash flow.  Which is true.  Someone would have to be crazy to buy a property for $450K that only generates $2300/mo in rent right?  But that's exactly what I have. 

My interest rate is 4.125%.  I refinanced a couple years ago.  The new loan was based on a lower loan amount because of principal paydown.  Plus with it being a single family house, they self-maintain for the most part, I don't pay utilities, lawn maintenance, etc.  Austin was one of the areas I was interested in.  Do you offer full service turnkey investment? 

Actually Studio City is the location of my house where I Iive.  The rental house I'm considering selling is located in Lake Balboa, near Encino/Van Nuys area.  The prices aren't quite as high there, but you have a good point.  That area will appreciate much faster than a turnkey out of state.  And rents would probably increase faster too.  I've never considered corporate rentals, that's an idea to look into.  Thanks!