All Forum Posts by: John Lazzarini

Thanks all, for your continued input.  @Chris Crosby it's a little early for me to partner with another investor yet at this stage, as adding an additional dimension of complexity to a still unfamiliar process probably isn't the right move for my very first investment.

@Susan Maneck I'd love to get to your level one of these days!  Per your earlier response, I can confirm that I'm (currently) able to work from wherever, but the future of my career will probably continue to be rooted in the Silicon Valley. 

UPDATE ON MY NEXT MOVES

After much thought, I've decided to try to find something within the Bay Area itself as my first move.  As I gain familiarity and develop a better understanding of what to look for, I would like to explore OOS investing, following in the footsteps of @Brian Garlington, Susan, and many others who have voiced their helpful and varied opinions so far.

I have gotten pre-approved for a loan through Chase!

@Joshua Durrin what a success story!  Big congrats to you and your client.  By comparison, this sounds like a more advantageous situation than buying out of state.  I'm going to heed @Arlen Chou's advice and bide my time in light of the recent pandemic, since it's hard to know which direction things are going to go in the coming months.

Thanks all!  Yes, I'd love to join you in searching for opportunities out of state.  Many of you are corroborating Ohio as a great market, which I'm going to do some research on today after work.  Thanks for your many helpful suggestions.

Brian, that's a very attractive alternative.  I would love to invest out-of-state!  However, I had previously consulted the opinion of a family member on this possibility, and he dissuaded me at the time based on a negative experience with a property manager (embezzlement of "late fees").

Anyway, have you been able to successfully use this approach yourself?  If so, may I ask which resources you've utilized to find success?  Eg, did you use a turnkey, work with an agent in those markets remotely, fly out there yourself and find your own property management company, etc?  Thanks in advance!

Sam and Derrick, thank you for your responses.

@Derrick Dill I'd love to hear about your experiences with looking for a FHA loan opportunity near Palo Alto, I think there are some interesting sliding variables in play here.

Jason, thanks for your detailed response.  Frankly, if I went all in on a 20% downpayment for a 500k home, losing my job would put me in deep trouble.  Thanks for pointing out that important possibility -- I'll scale back my down payment strategy accordingly.

Despite having driven through Sacramento a number of times, the only rental information that I'm familiar with is from browsing Craigslist listings and Zillow -- I haven't heard anything straight from the horse's mouth yet.  Not sure if the right way is to knock on doors, or find landlord emails and inquire that way.  Maybe one of Brandon Turner's videos will cover this and I just haven't gotten to it yet.  Part of my hopes in joining BiggerPockets is to potentially meet landlords in that and other areas, who could assist me with better understanding their markets.

I would love to house-hack as my initial investment, although I've had difficulty with finding an opportunity that is within commuting distance to Palo Alto without assuming some serious financial risks, per your earlier point.  Maybe this might change if my company allows me to continue to work remotely beyond the scope of the pandemic!  In the interim, I will read up on the turnkey term you mentioned, as I'm unfamiliar with it.

Are you by chance familiar with any turnkey companies that you recommend to others?  Brandon Turner recommends asking around here in this informative video.

I need a reality check from those in the business.  Is it feasible to begin with a multi family near the bay area?

I live in San Francisco, but work in Palo Alto.  I believe I'm priced out of purchasing in my high COL area for some time, but I've seen listings such as this one ($0.5M four plex in Sacramento) which seem feasible to manage from a driving distance of a couple of hours during the weekends.  A $100k downpayment would make me housebroke, but I might consider the risk for the right opportunity... I submitted a mortgage loan application via Chase yesterday, and their response may influence the range that I can explore either up or down.

Do you feel that this is a sensible beginning strategy?  Does any of the above raise any red-flags?

Any thoughts on the above would be greatly appreciated!  This is my first post on BiggerPockets ever.