All Forum Posts by: James Hunt

Hey BiggerPockets,

I'm currently on the market for my first multi-family property in San Diego, California. I've recently seen a few properties for sale in which all units are occupied by tenants which prompted a few questions about the prospect of inheriting tenants. 

In the case that tenants in all units have just re-signed 1-year leases, can one not use an FHA loan to purchase the property? Would one have to potentially negotiate a renter out of their lease agreement?

Can one place an offer contingent on the seller selling the property vacant? 

How does inheriting a tenant's lease mid-term work?

What strategies have any of you used when purchasing occupied units that are currently rented far below market rates? In San Diego I believe rents can only be raised by 10% per year (or 5% + local rate of inflation, whichever is lower)

The idea of evicting a long-time tenant is awful, but I realize being a landlord involves difficult decisions and the real estate business is a business.

Thank you for your thoughts!

 This is extremely helpful. I appreciate you sharing your expertise Rick!

Thank you all so much for your feedback everyone! It is greatly appreciated

@Becca F. Thank you for your insight Becca. I understand there's quite a bit of risk involved in investing where you don't have the ability to be onsite. Are you able to share what turnkey company you used to purchase your properties in Indy? How long you've had the properties and what the biggest issues were? property crime? tenant issues? unexpected issues with the repairs? etc

Thank you both for providing your feedback!

@Min Zhang I am actually reading that book now, and have found it to be quite helpful in starting to build an understanding of what it takes to succeed in investing out of state! I also appreciate you offering to share your contacts, I'll reach out and dm you!

@V.G Jason Appreciate your thoughts as well! Could you elaborate a bit more on your first sentence? Where do you expect to see potential cash flows vanish? and is this your thought on my situation specifically, being a total beginner? Or more general? As I do tend to see quite a few OOS real estate investors posting on this forum. The idea of having a cash flowing portfolio large enough to reduce or even fully step away from my regular work is obviously very attractive, but as a total beginner I don't want to set my sights too high without first gaining some experience in REI. So for now I would say my goals in REI are to learn as much as possible, build my net worth, and put myself in a position where I can decide whether this would be a viable business for me to focus my efforts in. I enjoy my work, but don't want to be tied down to my W2 forever.

Hi Bigger Pockets!

I've been here for a while reading up and am excited to make my first post.

A bit about me, I am 30 currently making a great salary in a W2 contract role that I will likely remain at through this year, after which I expect to look for a more permanent role with a lower base salary, however likely similar overall once benefits are accounted for. I have about 50k liquid and plan to get closer to 80-90k by the end of this contract. Currently living with my girlfriend/no kids in San Diego. I was born and raised here, and have an elderly father who lives nearby, so I know I don't want to leave. However, this is a very difficult real estate market to get into due to the high price to buy.

I'm currently bouncing back and forth between the thought of investing out of state into a turnkey property that cash flows (still whittling down the markets, but have been researching a few), versus house hacking a duplex here in San Diego. I do really love my apartment/neighborhood and would certainly have to move to a less desirable part of town if I were to house hack, but I also know that if that's the best route, it's better to do it now, rather than when I may have kids to think about.

What are your thoughts?