All Forum Posts by: Jason Malabute

LA Southern REIA is a great place to start. You're able to just purchase a one day ticket (usually about $20) and they have a speaker as well as networking. You'll meet all kinds of investors, wholesalers, realtors, etc. You can decide if you like the group before becoming a member.

If you're interested in the Long Beach area for meetings, there's a meetup at The Grand in Long Beach by a group called FIBI (For Investors By Investors).  They meet once a month and you can buy tickets for just a day.  They discuss a topic in real estate and you get to network.  You can look them up on Facebook too, I believe they have a page with more information.  

Hope that helps!

@Jason Malabute

If you are relying on a realtor and MLS properties as your source for leads in Southern California, you probably are going to have to adjust your expectations. I'm about 40 miles north of you, so I'm going to assume your market is similar to mine. Any "lead" from your realtor is also going to be seen by every other "investor" who watches flip or flop and attended a seminar. From what we seen, any "fixer upper" on the MLS is going to have 20 offers and be bid up to a price that has super slim margins.

Instead of waiting on him to bring you the leads, I would suggest having him set you up with a search that automatically sends you all new listings.  That way, you can go through them and tell him which properties you want to view instead of waiting for him to contact you with leads.

@Jason Malabute

Why would you need to show your agent your analysis?  He/she is supposed to be representing you and should be submitting your offers.  Obviously they can offer you advice, but in my opinion, you shouldn't have to be "proving" anything to them for them to submit the offer. 

Have you talked to this agent about your strategy? If so, they should understand what type of properties you are trying to buy and know that you are buying based off of your numbers. 

1. Depends if an appraiser calls it out or not. I'm pretty dang sure that people throw furniture and wheel barrows in front of clear health and safety issues, before the appraiser shows up, on a routine basis.

2. Depends. 

3. LOL. Completely depends. Do a CMA on the property, and on the listing agent (direct MLS access required, zillow/redfin/etc will not cut it). Base your offer on that, period. Listing price holds zero value in hot West Coast markets. List price is the FIRST number you throw in the garbage.

You should have an idea of cost. 

For instance, what does a roof cost to replace or to have a new HVAC installed or repaired? You can find out by calling local businesses and talking to them about their labor rates and standard material. 

I have called roofers and given them the sq ft of a roof to get a verbal quote, realizing I really just need a ballpark figure. Now of course they would need to go out and look at the property to give an actual accurate quote but that should not be far off.

Over time you get the hang of what things cost to repair and can do the analysis based on those numbers.

For other repairs like windows you can do the same thing. By calling a window company to get labor rates for a standard window you can multiple that out by the number of windows that may need replacing. We walked a home that had all very very old windows. Based on already knowing cost for what needed to be replaced we could get an idea of cost.

My local REI has a contractor member that has given out a cheat sheet of sorts that has material cost (updated as cost changes) and typical labor charges (also updated as needed) for several things like roof, flooring, appliances, cabinets and counters, windows, painting, etc.

I don't think there is any substitute to short cut the process. The more familiar you become with price on labor and materials the quicker you can analyze what your repairs will be.

I have found it typical for Owner's to pay for landscaping ($60-$100/mo) if they care about the curb-appeal of their rentals. Other than that in SFRs i think it is normal for tenants to pay for their utilities. 

I would scour Craiglist and look at their rental section and see what property managements are offering. It's very easy to get an idea of what to expect