All Forum Posts by: J. Martin

@Arlen Chou,

Thanks for all your help, and glad you came to drinks some of the Oakland Kool-Aid w/ me ;)
Happy I met that poor, paint-spattered asian contractor looking guy  in a beat-up pickup out in Oakland a couple years back :) hehe Working on my mini-me. So far, so good! Feb '18 Vietnam motorcycle trip! We'll visit the orphanage near @Account Closed, 
Thanks for the shout out from Dallas and New York City! Do you two have any tips to share that you've learned along the way? 

*** 1 YEAR UPDATE ***

Still alive and kickin!
Since I quit my job a year ago, I have been traveling the world, growing my furnished rental business, and enjoying life! Check out the updates here:

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/223/topics/43...

It's been 1 year since I quit my W2 job with the help of BP, and couldn't be happier!
As BP said, "Life isn't meant to be lived in a cubicle." 

I started the corporate world at $45k/yr, and left at $70K/yr. You don't have to be rich to quit the W2, but I sure as hell was frugal!

#1 piece of advice: Network early and often!

After starting a meetup group and partnering up to buy 4 properties in the SF Bay during the downtown with my modest government salary, and eventually growing my furnished rental business, I was able to quit my W2 job on my birthday in 2016, and pursue my dreams of traveling the world :) That's when I started hiring and really growing my furnished rental business. And I got to host another Summit and meet more BP greats! Love these!

Snorkeling in El Nido, Philippines. Feb 2017

As I was traveling, I was growing my furnished rental business, hired a business manager, 3 team members, and finally got started on some processes and procedures. (and a bookkeeper!) I'd been told this a million times, but have finally see it pay big time dividends after insistence to get my **** together by @Arlen Chou. Thanks Arlen! :)  The overhead is higher now, but I'm working a lot less :)

#2 Entrepreneur Piece of Advice: Get written processes and procedures in place! You'll thank yourself!

Street Scene in Oaxaca, Mexico. Dec 2016 

"The best things in life aren't things."
They are experiences, people, and enjoying your life. Don't put that off for too long!! If you're working your whole life to postpone the things you are working for, you're not living it! Don't be the ******* investment banker in the fisherman fable! ;)

#3 Piece of Advice: Enjoy your life!

Bonaroo Music Festival. US Cross-Country Road Trip. Summer 2016. Phoenix, Austin (thanks @Lynn Currie), Houston, New Orleans,Nashville,  Savannah, Atlanta, Jacksonville,  and more!

I hired all my new people on Upwork.com. You'd be surprised how many businesses mostly do NOT need their people in any particular location, so why not tap the global marketplace? Hiring more people was key to starting to focus more ON the business, rather than be wrapped up IN the day to day business. I haven't answered an inquiry in a few months! And growing more direct marketing to our clients to improve our margins through lower vacancy and better pricing. 

#4 Piece of Advise: Sacrifice the cash to hire someone and focus ON your business

Cocktails in Phuket, Thailand w/ my biz manager & friends. Jan 2017.

I am finally seeing the light of Silicon Valley. Expanding into San Jose, Mountain View, and now Redwood City has been an eye opener into the number of businesses down there. Same with San Francisco. My old stomping grounds of Oakland and Richmond are still doing well, but wish I would have followed @Account Closedundefined, and others into Silicon Valley back when the big deals were on the table. Hopefully there will be another opportunity down there! :)

#5 Piece of Advise - Keep your eyes open

You never know where opportunities will pop up! 

Taipei Night Market. March 2017.

Who else has some entrepreneurial advice for investors quitting their W2 jobs? Who else is living their dreams? Anyone enjoying traveling the world? :)

20 RSVP'd so far! THANKS EVERYONE FOR HELPING OUT! :)
*****RSVP BELOW!****

https://www.meetup.com/REmeetup/events/239064202/

@Katie P., @Merced, @Nick James, 

@Arlen Chou, looking forward to seeing you and the kids there (no golf clubs needed). 

@Kyle Zaylor, @Mel Selvidge, can you make it again this year?

@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.