All Forum Posts by: Josie Roman

When you buy in California, you buy location, which in financial terms means you are buying liquidity and appreciation. Despite our prices went down in 2008, they are already back up over 50% and turnkeys sell in weeks in most areas.

I have seen some California investors purchasing SFRs rentals out of state in the $120k-$160k range, just to learn the seller, who was also an investor, had just purchased the house a few weeks prior for half price and, judging from the old online photos, the rehab was just paint and carpet. In addition, they've pushed the comps over the roof so our Californian investors paid top prices. Some out of state areas appreciate so slowly that, if you need to sell after such a purchase, you either have to sell at a lost or wait for years to break even after selling costs. Even selling under value, the time on the market is months, up to 6 months. On the positive side, you're getting cash flow - you better do!

Those LA county cities you mentioned are good for owner-occupied 3-4plexes. You could consider also: South Gate, Downey, Pico Rivera, Long Beach, Montebello, Baldwin Park, and El Monte. As an owner-occupied you could get an FHA loan and other low down payment financing. As always, that is the first step: get pre-approved so that you know your price range, then you can figure out where.

Please update!

Would love to see if we can bring you up North for a large SFR subdivision project near Los Angeles.

I think you have a significant advantage being a lawyer and having a partner that is a real estate lawyer. I find investors running into problems because their JV partnership was poorly structure and, all of the sudden, there are no provisions as to how to cover the need for extra capital to complete the project.

Make sure your numbers are well-rounded. That is a constant challenge for wholesalers. It won't help your reputation if you start off by sending out a seemingly good deal that is actually not so good and an investor would have a hard time breaking even when they look at the property. 

Take into account that prices in the South Bay are high to begin with, so an investor has to put more on the table per deal. Some of us look carefully at high end deals because we like to spread our risk.

Totally agree @Manolo D, but they are retiring many of those old guys and bringing new blood. They already have a new Data Officer and a new Innovation Officer. We shall see!

I have the same problem!

It is not uncommon in LA to see areas where you can gain $300K-400K in value by adding 1000 sq ft or even less. You do have to look careful at your comps and time on the market, as well as calculate your holding costs to see if it makes sense for you.

The mayor and his staff are working hard at getting the City of LA up to speed with technology, which is NOT an easy task considering the very old computer systems running in all 80+ departments and sub-departments in this city. As far as construction permits is concern, they have a Express Permit system online, but I believe additions are not yet included so you would not be able to price your permits using the fee calculator linked above. You need to take your plans down to City Hall and apply. You may get some answers and an approximate calculation over the phone - worth trying.

The first thing you should do is to talk to lenders and get qualified for loans: owner occupied and non-owner occupied, SFR and residential 2-4. Every type of loan has different requirements that will determine your maximum purchase price. Until you do that, you do not know how much you can afford. For instance, you will not be able to use FHA financing for a property unless you occupy it.

Then you can start looking into where you can buy at the price you can afford! The other way around is a waste of time.

There are areas in LA where a triplex or a fourplex are a good way to get into buy and hold investment, as the price per door is more affordable than SFR/condos. We have properties where you can live in one unit and the rent from the other units will more than pay for the mortgage. We also have programs that would allow you to buy with as little as 1/2% down and might not be available in every state.

As far as buying out of state and continue living in California, you need to consider factors such as the management expenses and the fact that you may not know the market well enough to make a property purchasing decision. There are areas in other states where you can buy a house with a credit card, but historically, they have not appreciated much. You need to be careful and do due diligence.

So what if someone connects with you to get your email information and send you spam?? Is BiggerPockets making itself responsible for that????

How do we remove a connection??

I think looking at one single month does give much perspective. For instance, earlier this year, Los Angeles home values were announced to be average 50% back up from the bottom. The entire county has seen the highest number of sales since 2008 this year. 

LA's Population is growing by 8-11% each year and we are only adding about 3% of growth to inventory.