All Forum Posts by: James Yoo

Hi @Steve Jones, thx for the quick response. We've reported it to 311, the Mayor's office, the department of sanitation. Our case has been pending since June, with little to no action. 

We do have a secured solid wrought iron fence/gate to the alley, so the tenants are secure as long as they remember to lock the gate.

I will go ahead and try to contact our council member and see if anything sticks there.

Title pretty much says it all. There are a few homeless tents in the back alley behind our property, a duplex rented out to two families. 

It is well known that the city of LA has a severe homelessness problem, and the city has completely turned its back on the homeowners that this affects. 

Does anyone here have any experience with removing said tents/encampments from their vicinity? 

I just talked to the tenants today, they reported:

• Homeless people urinating, defecating in public
• Awful stench coming from the tents 
• Sketchy/mentally ill people roaming around

This especially bad since this is a duplex, and both units are rented to large families with small children. They are concerned for their safety, and frankly so am I. 

Any helpful suggestions would be extremely appreciated!

Side note: I think it would be cool to have a small meetup for landlords / wannabe landlords to discuss and share tips on all the peculiarities that come with this unique territory. Thoughts?

@alex shin yes, all 30 or so properties are in LA City/County. All are currently being rented out.

Thanks @Anthony Rosas, appreciate the welcome. I'll at this meetup in Long Beach on Sep 12th: https://www.meetup.com/Out-of-State-Multifamily-Apartment-Investors-Meetup/events/250364203 so if you're there, let's say hi and chat! 

@Jeffrey Isenberg thanks for the warm welcome Jeff, I'm very excited to be involved in RE. I will not be able to attend that meetup in Sherman Oaks, as there is another one on the same date/time in Long Beach that I've already committed to. But i'll be on the lookout for more in the future, and I'm sure I'll run into you at some point soon. 

Hey BiggerPockets, thought I'd give a quick intro. 

I left my rat race job in Wall Street about 6 months ago to become a fulltime RE Investor. 

I'm rather fortunate as my parents have been doing this for about a decade, and have about ~30 homes in the portfolio. So I'm thankfully not going into this completely blind. I'm currently doing an intensive learning of RE Investing, property management and construction. While my folks have done very well for themselves using as little risk as possible, I know that we can do much better with the appropriate amount of leverage as well as out of state opportunities.

I spend about 2-3 hours a day educating myself/reading/listening to RE podcasts, and try to analyze about 2-3 properties each day. I've taken over about 90% of all landlording duties of the family portfolio. We (our family) have our own RE agent license/brokerage, as well as a background in construction/general contracting. So access to MLS as well as good contractors/subcontractors, GC license, and general know-how regarding repairs/maintenance/building things.

My goal is to buy & rehab my first property within the next 2-3 months, and another two deals hopefully before the summer of 2019. Longterm strategy is to buy and hold, and eventually move into commercial properties.

If you're in the area I'd love to connect and talk shop! 

FYI we have most of our investment properties specifically in South LA / Watts district. It's rather hood tbh (although MUCH better than it was 5-10 years ago), but generates good cashflow. Two of our friends just bought a house each - both in Watts off of Wilmington. One for $360K, other for $380K, with 30% down . Both will have monthly cash flow of between 500-700. 

We tried to advise other friends/investors to buy in this area and nobody seems to want to own property in a ghetto neighborhood. You really need to follow the money. Had they invested even two years ago, the appreciation alone would be up 15-20%.

@Ricardo Murph II I'm generally reading two different types of advice. 1) "Put your business first, get rid of the dog/tenant, move on". And 2) "Pitbulls are great pets, you should allow them! I have two pitbulls myself and they're wonderful dogs. Be compassionate!" First of all, these pitbull owners are speaking anecdotally so take all that with a grain of salt. Further, it really doesn't matter if pits really are amazing dogs. The general perception in the insurance industry, as well as general population, is that they are dangerous and aggressive. Is this image a bit exaggerated? Probably. But it doesn't matter to you (or at least it shouldn't). You're not an animal activist, you're a businessman who cares about having good tenants that are easy to deal with. I agree with your statement - that there is nothing wrong with caring about people. I always try to be kind to my tenants, ask them about their family/kids/etc. What I will never ever do, is take on any additional risk due to a tenant. Stay kind and compassionate - but within the confines of running a good business. You're not running a non-profit shelter, you're running a business.

This sounds great, I'll be there!