All Forum Posts by: J. Martin

James, I couldn't find your name to tag you. Not sure if we're not connected yet, or I couldn't find your picture.. Send me a colleague request, and I'd like to talk to you about potentially targeting my area. Sounds like you and Adam will be busy!! Lots of demand for bringing off-market deals around here!

Jim, Same thing. I couldn't find your name. Please post on here or send me a colleague request so we can stay in touch. As I said, I'll be posting future meetups on here to let everyone know, so stay tuned...

Hi @Sophie Mia ,

There will almost certainly be lower GRMs in Philly if that's what you're looking for, and many here have made money out of state. I have only invested in the Bay so far, and am still finding reasonable cash flow on the periphery. There are lots of low-downpayment options for owner-occupied units, so if you're willing to be flexible about where you purchase/live, the cash constraint isn't as big of a deal. But SF is very expensive - no doubt.

I haven't yet gotten comfortable with the idea of relying largely on someone else (out of state PM,etc) for my real estate success. But everyone's situation is different..

@Adam Hofmann ,

Don't let it stop you from getting started, but I can't make it during the weekdays next week. I'll be staying in Stockton for work, and will be meeting up with @Erin A. for a Stockton Meetup, along with anyone else who wants to join.. (free beer and snacks until 7/30ish!) We'll be meeting at the Residence Inn 3240 W March Ln, Stockton, in the evening, around 6 or 7PM. @Melvin Yuen or @Jessica Yau , fell free to join us, although it looks like just a meetup of two for now..

You have my cell. Email is [email protected] .

I'm traveling quite a bit in Q1 and Q2, so will be tough to make it for me on a lot of weeknights..

I know there are several people that I forgot to mention, especially those who didn't post on this forum yet, and/or are not colleagues with me yet.. but that doesn't mean I won't recognize you when I see you next time! And sorry I missed it on the post this time! (4AM!)Thank you everyone for coming and contributing to this awesome meetup. A lot of good connections, ideas exchanged, and some inspiration and motivation for the next deals..

I'll be posting the date for the next monthly East Bay meetup for February on this forum, so "monitor" this forum (at the top of the page), and check in by Feb 1 to see the next date. Until then, see you on the forums or sooner!

@Cory T. ,

Good seeing you again, and glad you can still make it out with your tennis (team) schedule! I wanted to ask you about your thoughts on "vacation" in-town rentals around the Bay (VRBO, AirBnB,etc). I know it's a different market than Palm Springs, but curious about your opinion.. Also curious what your potential targets are now in the vaca world.. I think Tahoe poperties still have some deals, but don't know how the numbers work out..

@Troy Fisher ,

I really appreciated your prior advice regarding meetups, and worked on getting a better venue than the last, although it can still improve.. Also, thanks for shouting out about trying to find a wholesaler.. Was a great smack upside my head to call everyone together to introduce each other. And I'll do that sooner in the meeting next time so everyone knows who they might want to focus on talking to. I like getting all kinds of different perspectives, but with 20 or so people, it's almost impossible to get in a deep conversation with everyone.. But I didn't even get to talk to you at all this time.. Hope to see you at next month's.. I think I also have a job down in Monterey sometime in the next few months, so I'll be in touch when I come down that direction..

Charles Ma,

We haven't connected yet, and you haven't posted on this forum, so I can't tag you. But it was nice meeting you face to face, and I'll be in touch on BP. Send me a colleague request so we can stay in touch and you can tag me if you have any questions when you're on the forums.. (and maybe I can send you link for a podcast some time..)

@Melvin Yuen

Thanks for all the kind words, and I’m happy to be able to share what I know and my experiences so far.. Good call on Vallejo at your entry point. When there is blood in the streets (figuratively), good time to buy.. The problem for me is that the rents and vacancy have never been relatively good enough for me to go out that way with prices versus my area. And it seems like prices are rising proportionately faster than rents, like most areas, so hard to get a lot of cash flow.

@Sam

Looking forward to talking to you more.. you sound a lot like me from a different lifetime…ended up on the bank regulation side instead of the private sector (which I never would have thought when I started econ & finance), but enjoying it a lot. There are 5% down owner-occupied loans for SFH, homepath 5% down for SFH and condo w/ no appraisal, FHA 5% down for 4plex w/ 75% of rents qualifying towards your DTI ratio, and that's just what you can do without any partners.. Whatever you decide, don't be afraid to pull the trigger when you get comfortable. The water's warm!

@Sam McClellan undefined

@Daniel

Was nice talking to you again, although like many, not as long as I would have liked.. Hope you got a chance to talk to Chris Music and some others interested in flips. Hopefully I’ll see you next time!

@Chris Music

Stoked to hear you’re in escrow, and looking forward to hearing closed! Either way, I think you’ll make out on it with increasing prices all around Oakland… it’s just a question of when, or waiting until families start moving in the summer.. Hope to hear the good news soon!

@Daniel S. undefined