All Forum Posts by: Brian D.

"next gen" is the term Lennar uses, which is a major builder in this area putting up a lot of new development.

River Village, The Classics, Capri, and Mosaic are some communities where Lennar has built Next Gen models (not saying there are any for sale right now), so maybe a search for those will turn something up - or more likely working with a good local realtor that knows how to find what you're looking for.

ref: https://valencia.com/13-new-home-neighborhoods-now-selling/

This one's not currently for sale, but it's a listing that specifies "Next Gen" and may help you:

https://www.trulia.com/p/ca/valencia/28877-silversmith-dr-valencia-ca-91354--2078579125


Good luck in your search!

@Paul Wolfson, in Valencia there are a few communities with "next gen" homes (attached mother-in-law suite) which would be ideal for a renter (private entrance, kitchen, laundry, etc.).  
I'm not sure if you could rent these for enough to offset the added purchase price of the houses that have this feature and still have enough left over to make much of a dent in your own mortgage (the traditional goal of house-hacking being to reduce your own living expense).  
But I thought I'd throw it out there as an option.

It looks like the OP has been updated to show the next scheduled meetup is 6 months from now.
If anyone knows of any other meetups in SCV (formal or just a couple ppl meeting for coffee), I'd love to be included.
(P.S. If anyone needs even part-time help with any part of RE investing in SCV, I really want to start taking action and start the hands-on doing and learning.)

@tarquinn curry, 

You don't mention what your methods/sources are now, but especially due to A) (nearly) topped out market, and B) likely loss of potential buyers due to the approved law to cap rental rates, wholesalers will need to find/negotiate even deeper discounts (likely a fix-n-flip) to make it more attractive to buyers.

It will take more time and money to buy lists and find off-market deals, and more time and money marketing the property to buyers. It would also be prudent to have pre-approval for a loan (HML/PML/traditional) to close on the property yourself to give you more time, as some buyers are hesitant to do a big flip now in case the market turns downward mid-flip. Then again, this is why you have to find deeper discounts up front to offset this, and make sure you're marketing that padding to comfort the flip investor.

The market forces that allowed a person uneducated and unskilled in real estate (not at all suggesting that's you) to make money in RE with a couple hours of weekend work are probably over.  If you want to stay in it, you'll have to treat it like a job and put in the time to learn the tricks of the trade and hussle.

But therein also lies the potential.  The current market is pushing out the casual wholesaler/investor, and the greater barrier to entry means less competition.

Do what others are not willing to do; do whatever it takes, and you will make it.

Good Luck!

@o'neal brown,

Sounds like you might want to look into house-hacking a duplex/triplex.  If part of the goal of living in a truck is to avoid/minimize housing costs, you might still be able to get away with $0 rent if the other unit(s) pay for the full mortgage.

@Josh Miller,

Thank you for sharing your story.  

Have you found a way to help those sellers that RE Investors make their living off of?  

I have been giving a lot of thought to my Why and how to make my mission statement reflect in my daily choices - specifically dealing with sellers.  I hope to base my business on solving problems and win/win deals, but if I'm consistently getting more out of the deal than the seller, then my conscience will eat at me and the money in my bank account will be a weight and burden rather than an achievement.

Giving to charities is still paying from the money out of the original seller's pocket.

Is the answer simply to accept smaller margins of profit and leave more on the table for the seller, or am I failing to achieve my own potential by intentionally limiting myself?

I don't believe success needs to be a zero-sum game.  If full-time RE investors are already rejecting the industrial-age game of life with the prescribed formula of 'college-->job-->family-->house-->retire', then shall I likewise reject the mantra "Play to win" and make my own rules for the game of RE investing?  

Has anyone done this and felt ethically, spiritually, and financially content at the end of the game?

I wanted to share this great glossary of terminology, "rules", and calculation formulas:
https://app.dealcheck.io/#!/app/glossary/list

Yes, you do have to make an account, but it's free and takes 2 seconds (and I use a separate "SPAM" email address dedicated to signing up for this stuff so it doesn't take up screen space from important emails in my main Inbox, like BP's).  I'm not affiliated with them in any way, but I've seen the BP glossary and other sites and personally I prefer the clear, concise explanation - and especially the inclusion of formulas - that dealcheck.io provides.

I'm still in a pre-first-deal phase of my REI journey, but I'm starting to create/customize my own spreadsheets and information cheat-sheets to have at the ready as I feel I'm now sufficiently informed to get off the bench and into the game.

I hope you find it useful in your journey as well.

Welcome, @Juan Gutierrez.

I'm only a step ahead of you, and the road is long, but I think we're all here because we all believe it's worth it.

Stumbled across this click-bait article that I actually enjoyed, and thought I'd share, since it can apply to we n00bs who have trouble converting our interest in real estate into action:
theladders.com

How it applies to real estate:

1. Do less - then obsess

Don't try to read about macro-economics, deal-making, DIY electrical, property management and landlord/tenant laws all at the same time.  Choose the one that will make the biggest impact on your right-now situation and put the rest aside.

2. Use "The Learning Loop"

Learn and Practice one new skill, e.g. deal analysis.

Have someone else review your analysis and see if they come to the same conclusion, or have recommendations to adjust your calculus.

Take time to review your analysis process.  Is there a component of it you can do better - e.g. rehab cost estimation ?

3. Feel Passion & Purpose

This has been discussed in numerous BP podcasts and articles and I agree that this really is the single most important differentiating factor.

People use different terms like grit, dedication, perseverance, overcoming obstacles, etc.  But they all are behaviors driven by your passion...your purpose...your Why.

Connect with that, and the results will be inevitable.

tl;dr

1. There's a lot to learn.  Focus on one thing at a time.  

2. Small improvements build over time and contribute to greater success in the end

3. Find your Why

@Andrew Smith (and anyone else in LA interested in joining a fledgling monthly meetup group), the next meetup in Northridge is on Nov 16th:

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/521/topics/502944-san-fernando-valley-networking-meetup-northridge