All Forum Posts by: James Marin

Hello everyone, so after checking out David Greene's Multi Familiar webinar I went ahead and used the BP Rental Property calculator for a Triplex I saw on Zillow that fits in my budget just to practice. Below you can see the results and the numbers I plugged in.

So a few questions here, my first being, do my numbers seem at all accurate? For rent I went to Rentometer.com to get an estimate on rent. The average is $1500 and after checking out some of the other properties I think this can be rented for $1500 after its fixed up. I only put 10k for repair costs but that is just merely a guess. I don't know how to make that number more accurate since I have zero experience. I put 5% for Vacancy, CapEx, repairs/maintenance, and I put 8% for management fees. Again just sort of guessing here.

My second question is, what would you do next ?

My 3rd, is how much time does it usually take to fix up a place of this size? Again I did this to practice, but if I was seriously considering this property how do I find contractors to do the work and how do I make sure its getting done correctly and in a timely manner?

Lets say it took 2 months to get this place fixed and then another month to get this place rented. How much would I have to set aside ahead of time for those 3 months?

Thanks for your help!

@Michael Skoczylas is a 1031 exchange strictly for real estate investments? Or assets in general? 

Hello everyone! Im currently reading Rich Dad Poor Dad, and there is a sentence that I need a bit of clarification on. 

"On the other hand, my real estate strategy is to start small and keep trading up for bigger properties and, therefore, delay paying taxes on the gain."

What exactly does the author mean? How does one delay paying taxes by trading up for bigger properties? 

Thanks everyone!

@Rob Massopust Here are some answers to your questions...

1) I work in the film industry and for the most part I work just a few days a week. Traffic will always be an issue but at least its not M-F. Currently I live in long beach and will look into properties here as well. 

2) Whether I go SFH or a MF House Hack, I am budgeting 60k for my investment. Ideally the lower end so I can invest in other things once I gain more experience.

3) Credit score is in the mid 700s 

4)  Yearly income is 100k+

5) I intend to live there for a year

6) I need 1 bed 1 bath in terms of space. Even a studio might be fine if I take Lee's advice on a SFH and possibly live in the ADU

7) I know zero ha! But at one point a knew zero about my current career but with enough drive and interest I can learn. Luckily I have both

Thanks for your very detailed response. I really appreciate it! 

I have a few follow up questions for you Rob.

Is an FHA Rehab Loan different than an FHA loan, or are they the same thing?

What is "MI" 

Thanks again for all the useful information

Hey @Lee Ripma thanks for your response, really useful stuff. I have some follow up questions to your response. 

When you say "I really think that in LA house hacking is better with a SFH where you can rent out the rooms an add an ADU to the lot because of rent control" Can you elaborate on the part about rent control? I need to look into rent control laws as I'm not familiar 

Why would you advise on buying a small MF that is delivered vacant? Also why is it rare?

Buying a SFH in LA or even in Long Beach and living in the ADU does not sound too bad to do for a year. I'll give this some thought.

"Consider a 5% down conventional loan over an FHA loan"  

I thought typically I would need to do a 10% or 20% down payment when going the conventional route. How do I look into this 5% conventional loan?

Thank you so much Lee for your time and your answers. Really great feedback you gave me. Thanks again!

Hello everybody!

I would love to house hack as my first investment but everything is of course very expensive here in Southern California, specifically Los Angeles. 

Currently looking at some duplexes, and as amazing as living in a duplex while having someone else pay off the mortgage sounds, it doesn't seem quite realistic. I wouldn't mind having the majority of the mortgage paid off by someone living in one unit, and then having a roommate living with me in the other unit. It would get me closer to getting the mortgage fully covered but perhaps not 100% 

Here are some places that I browsed and wanted to get your thoughts on.

https://www.zillow.com/homes/155-S-Madison-Ave-Los-Angeles,-CA,-90004_rb/20773431_zpid/

https://www.zillow.com/homes/906-Parkman-Ave-Los-Angeles,-CA,-90026_rb/20745402_zpid/

https://www.zillow.com/homes/2276-Earl-Ave-Long-Beach,-CA,-90806_rb/21195978_zpid/

The last one of course being the most affordable but perhaps a good option for me.

My questions are really this.

1) Where would one even START, and is looking on zillow even a good way?

2) How difficult is it to obtain an FHA loan to put 3.5% down on a property?

3) Would having MOST of the mortgage paid for by other tenants still be a good idea if that means I'm paying less than what I am paying currently in renting an apartment, or is that a bad idea?

Thanks for looking!

@John D. Message me your phone number and email and I'll get in touch with you about it. Theres not a TON of filming out there but I'm at least somewhere out there every other month. If you have pictures of your properties I can definitely pass on the details to anyone asking for locations in the future. 

@Aaron K. thanks for all your responses, you've been really helpful!

@Aaron K. what does a larger down payment to you look like ? I just want to get an idea of how much you're talking about. I'm guessing  a lower grade property wont cash flow as easily or at all? 

As for handling a rehab in my spare time, what makes it difficult? I typically work about 10-15 days out of the month. 

@Aaron K. A bit optimistic?