All Forum Posts by: J. Martin

@Johnson H.,

Looking forward to seeing everyone there again!
I should be staying in Mountain View next week, so should be able to arrive early.
Hopefully @Account Closed again too :)

Also, Minh and Johnson, you should come to Oakland on Earth Day the next day to join us to volunteer and clean up! Bring the kids Minh :)

***VOLUNTEER IN OAKLAND SAT, 4/22***
https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/521/topics/43...

I'm back from a few months in Asia! www.jmartintravels.com

So let's meet up and chat about furnished rentals, real estate in general, and enjoy some pizza and beer :) (along with salad, gluten free stuff..) 

I own a furnished rental business, have purchased foreclosures, a wholesale deal, probate deal, own property in the East Bay, operate in SF and Silicon Valley, and am familiar with rent control, financing, and investing in the SF Bay Area. Come share your thoughts and ideas with other investors! I have nothing to sell :) If you can't make it, we'll be volunteering in Oakland for Earth Day (see bottom of email). I'm where I am today because of networking, so get off your *** and come have fun!

We'll meet up on Monday, April 17th @ 6:30PM-8:30PM+ @ Eagle Pizzeria in the Sunset at Taraval and 28th Ave. The L Outbound Muni train stops right outside the restaurant. Walk in the door and we'll be immediately on the left. There is also typically free parking within a block, or possibly 2. Come rain or shine!

Look for my face and the other real estate investors! I'll have a sign most likely also, and some name tags and a sharpie if I'm extra organized ;)

Note that this location is in the Sunset - and not our normal downtown office building, so come to the correct address! There's parking and transit, so if you're in San Francisco, Oakland, Daly City, San Mateo, or Redwood City, come say hello!

And if you haven't already RSVP'd for our volunteer clean up day in Oakland, come join us helping out the community!  We have 14 Real Estate Investor RSVP's so far. Let's double that!
https://www.meetup.com/REmeetup/events/239064202/

Looking forward to seeing a bunch of you soon!

- J Martin

@Emily Garcia,

Hopefully you will be traveling the world like me in a few years when you make all your money on real estate ;) By the time you're graduating, the market should be soft again! Wait for the dips!

Normally, you would be able to get a 75% Loan to Value (LTV) loan on a multifamily building. However, for this property by beautiful Lake Merritt, under rent control, it will not generate enough income to support a 75% LTV. Lenders generally want about 1.15X Debt Service Coverage Ratio (DSCR) right now for multifamily. Possibly 1.20X in Oakland. That means the net income from the property needs to be about 115% of, or 1.15X the annual debt service. To find the net income, use about 40% of the revenue as expenses, or look at the marketing sheet for the property and calculate it by that. Try both. Probably a 25yr amortization, variable rate around prime rate (depending on your well-heeled sponsor), fixed rate for a few years, 5, 10 or 15yr maturity, and prepayment penalties. You can look up all these terms for basic commercial multifamily loans.

The best thing to do would be to contact the listing agent on the bottom of the listing link you provided, and ask them what kind of financing they can get. They will already have an idea of the rate, amortization, and monthly payment, and you can use that to calculate the net income and DSCR for various loan sizes. Or ask what LTV it would support (calculating yourself will "learn you" more..

Good luck! ;)

@Brian Garlington,

You are correct that Section 8 is exempt from rent control. But there's a little hole in your plan...

Section 8 has specified levels of rent they will pay for each area of the city, and last time I checked, the rent Section 8 was willing to pay for the total rent was below market rents. So not only can you not increase rent by 10% per year, but you may not even be able to get market rent today. You do not dictate the rent price to Section 8. Just a heads' up. Good luck!

@Jeremy Moura and @Vincent Townsend,

We're meeting on the weekend to volunteer and talk about real estate in Oakland if the two of you want to join us! 

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/521/topics/43...

You're right that most meetups are on weekdays. We'll do some occasional weekend ones also. Or start your own! Put on the events section in BP after you get your pro membership or put it on Meetup.com :) 

Come out and say hi to some other investors! 

@Account Closed has dipped his toes into that water. But a lot of these companies want to lease. So someone needs to own and can lease at a higher rate. There are some new MMJ real estate meetup groups popping up and some local commercial RE agents specializing in this market.

4/22 @ 10AM -  ***VOLUNTEERING FOR EARTH DAY!***

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/521/topics/43...

This is the third year I've organized a clean-up event for real estate investors, and we've had a great time helping clean up the community together :) Bring your friend, spouse, children, and anyone else you can bring to come together, enjoy the time with, and lend a helping hand :) Check out the link above, and come join us! :)

Hey Real Estate Investors! 

Let's help clean up Oakland!
** RSVP and get final details at this link:**
https://www.meetup.com/REmeetup/events/239064202/

This is the third year I've organized a clean-up event for real estate investors, and we've had a great time helping clean up the community together :) Bring your friend, spouse, children, and anyone else you can bring to come together, enjoy the time with, and lend a helping hand :)

Check out some prior year volunteer pics here: 
https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/223/topics/18...

I've been gone for several months traveling the world 

www.jmartintravels.com

But I'm coming back to hang out in Oakland and help organize some volunteering while I'm in the US! Bring some money for food and drink after, and a great attitude to help volunteer :) See the link below on the map for projects around Lake Merritt.. Let me know what you're interested in on a post below, and I'll post the final details here before the event! :) It will be around Lake Merritt in Oakland either way :)

http://www2.oaklandnet.com/Government/o/PWA/o/FE/s/ID/OAK026214#volunteer

We'll grab some drinks and food after and chat about real estate :)

Hopefully some prior attendees like @Arlen Chou , @Mel Selvidge , @Kyle Zaylor and others can make it back out :) If you're in the East Bay somewhere in Richmond, Berkeley, Emeryville, Hayward, Fremont, or San Francisco, come on over and help us out! :) And tag a friend! See you soon!

- J

@Eric Upchurch,

Books in hand. LLC fees paid. Now what?

I agree with @David Faulkner. Typically better to get conforming mortgage (Fannie Mae guaranteed) outside of an LLC. Yes, they can evoke the due on sale clause if you transfer to an LLC. Happens occasionally, but not frequently. Don't get caught with your pants down! I agree, just buy in your own name, and get an umbrella.

Other option for LLC is if you're buying multifamily (5+ units) or commercial properties. All the commercial lenders allow (and frankly, expect) you to finance the property in an LLC.

*Specific strategy #1: Most multifamily investors find a building with rents that are below market, then increase rents and rehab to get to a higher rent level, then do cash-out financing on that new income. 

If you're buying 1-4 units, the financing is better outside of an LLC. But if you get a commercial loan on your 1-4 units instead, you can use an LLC. Just don't try to jam all your properties through the LLC because it's the hole you already have to jam something through. Do what makes sense..

@Arlen Chou is right that you can still hit 1% in the Bay Area if you're going to work on some sort of transition type play. Usually there is some issue that needs to be solved. You can still get it in Richmond if you get to market rents. And Arlen gave you some specific examples. Generally, same story as the multifamily. Need to get to market rents. 

Good luck with whatever you choose! Go to some local meetups and see what others are doing! :)

Daniel,

Unfortunately, you're in a sticky situation, because the 2.0% rate will no longer be valid as of the effective date of the rent increase, July 1, 2017. You can see from my copy and paste from the Oakland RAP website that this is the case with the July 2016 cutoff. I'm not sure what date they make the CPI announcement for rent increases from July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2017. But at least wanted to give you the info, even if it's not fun :-/

"The annual CPI rate for rent increases effective July 1, 2016 through June 30, 2017, is 2.0%. The rate is not applied to rent increases that take effect earlier than July 1, 2016."
http://rapwp.oaklandnet.com/issues/rent-increase/