All Forum Posts by: Joanne Tsai

Hi All, 

My husband has a rental property in Oakland CA, where tenants are heavily protected by law. 

We recently hired a real estate agent to find a tenant. A lease contract was signed by both tenant and my husband already a week ago. The rental agreement starts in July 15th. 

So, after the contract was signed, this lady started making some "ridiculous" requests:  re-clean the whole place, repaint the whole property, and must  be with the paint that she approves. Then she wanted to replace all the blinds to the style she likes (she did say she can pay for it), and she tells us that she has lung disease (she is 65, retired and has a court order where her ex-husband paid her significant amount on monthly basis).

The realtor who has been on all the communication above told my husband she felt this woman would eventually bring a lawsuit to her and my husband. At first blush, I thought she was very demanding and clean freak, but now the contract was signed, what should we do to protect ourselves? any advice would be greatly appreciated.   

Joanne

• Do you live in California? No
• Have you lived in California in the past 5 years? Yes
• If so, where? The Bay Area
• Will you be staying or leaving? We left.
• Why? Taxes was high, everything was expensive, and the school system for kids in general is not great. The weather was good, but not worth it.  
• What is your full time income producing job? Data scientist in BioPharma.

My observation is that many CA natives can't picture themselves living anywhere else other than CA. I used to live in NYC, in my view, NYC is the only international city in the US. If you love diversity, love music, love visual arts, try NYC. 

Hi all, 

how to avoid getting into a bidding war? are there tips the users here can provide?

There have been a few incidence where we and seller has agreed on the price and term, but other much more aggressive offers come in. 

After all, the numbers have to make sense and we are usually not emotional about it, but are there anything that we can bind the sellers before attorney review is over?

Thanks!

Joanne

Hi All,

Here is my situation and I am hoping to get some insights here.
I am looking into buying a duplex right now, and my family is moving into one of the two units. The other unit is rented and tenants pay good rent.

I don’t see myself living in this duplex more than a year or two (it’s too small for us). I do see this as more of an investment property.

The reason we are moving in is that we just moved to the area and don’t particularly love our current rental. Also, we’d like to get a lower interest rate on that duplex as a primary home.

(we also have a relocation package that we need to use up in 6 months)

So if my goal is to move out of that duplex in two years after finding another permanent home, will I have trouble getting another substantial loan (I am on a W2)?

I know a bank typically asks you if the property has been rented for more than two years to treat it as an investment. What options will I have then?

This is not a cheap duplex, though cash on cash return is good when both units are rented. But I will need it to be treated as an investment property.

I also intend to buy and hold.

Thanks!

Joanne

Looking to buy multifamily homes (Duplex, Triplex, Fourplex) around Rutgers University New Brunswick NJ. Cash Investor.

[email protected]