All Forum Posts by: J. Martin

OK. That's fine. Thanks Josh.

Btw, this is the message I received, along with a posting explaining the BP decision, from Jon. Again, I appreciate the solution that was implemented by Josh, but I wanted to clarify the reason I made the statement I made regarding the meetup forums... Hopefully you understand why I wasn't real happy for the non-paying community by this decision, so again, I'm glad you addressed it Josh.. Thank you. And no hard feelings..

[PRIVATE CONVERSATION REMOVED BY ADMIN]

@Jimmy T , sorry you can't make it this time. To be notified next time, click on the link in the above post for the forum.

Then click "monitor this topic" at the top of the forum.

When I schedule the next meetup in the East Bay (sometime in February), I will post it on that thread. And you will see the forum update in your "monitored" forums.

Hope to see you there next time!

Thanks @Joshua Dorkin for notifying me of the change with the meetup forums. I think that's a more fair approach than what I understood from the prior email I received. I understand it's a balance, so I'm glad you guys found a solution that doesn't prevent non-paying members from joining the local discussion (saying this as a paying Pro member.) You must have realized why members might not be happy about moving local meetups to a paying-member-only space.. so thanks for addressing that.

"As to any suggestions that you or others make, we have a MASSIVE backlog of projects that we're working on. While we consider ALL ideas from our members, we can't just make a change anytime a user wants something -- that's not the way to run a business, especially an online one."

I of course don't expect you to make a change "anytime a user wants something" - and no need to be sarcastic; please don't be offended - but I really just said that I never received an acknowledgement of the suggestion. It would have been nice to get some sort of acknowledgement or response that a suggestion was submitted - even an auto-reply that it was sent somewhere and said someone was looking at it.. After paying for the Pro account to connect with local members (in addition to being an active member on the community, helping out a lot on the forums, and greeting people to the site..) - then not being able to connect effectively with local members - then not even getting an acknowledgement when I make a suggestion regarding it.. I was a little disspointed.

"Finally, as to your feedback on our PRO accounts, I'm sorry you don't see the value."

The reason I got it was so I could find local, active members on the site. But I cannot seem to do this (or maybe I still just can't figure it out? help..?) When I search locally, I see a bunch of pictures of members, and sort them, but I can't tell how many posts, colleagues, or any other piece of information that tells how active they are. So I click through dozens of profiles, to find they all have 1 or 2 posts, and are never on the forums.. Then buried down there, I see a local I am already colleagues with who posts actively, but I only know that because I personally know they are active..

Any advice Josh on how I can use the Pro features more effectively? I read some of the first postings about it, but didn't seem to be able to figure out how to find active people in my area..

I appreciate the site a lot, am happy to be a member of the community, and appreciate all the moderators' shared knowledge and work on the site. I guess we all get frustrated sometimes though by things that don't work the way we expected them too..

Thanks for any help Josh

Damn @Adam Hofmann ! You've been busy!

I wish I could give you some more feedback, but I mostly know the market from Richmond down to East Oakland, and some further out in the East Bay. But you're a little too far north and south for me to be educated on these ones..

The Hayward condo is probably worth a bit over $200K, just peeking around on nearby condos on the MLS, so not getting a great rental return at that rent.. May make a motivation for potential sale.. I'm sure the Raf house gets poor rents relative to its value also, but people don't realize what they could get when they are free and clear. Maybe you can wholesale this guy a cash-flowing property closer to my area in exchange for a first crack at marketing/wholesaling his free and clear property, so he can get some cash-out and higher cash flow at the same time, while you do 2 wholesale deals (He can buy the cash-flowing property with a HELOC on his free and clear, then pay off when you sell it for him - then he gets his cash out from the difference between the HELOC used to buy the cash flowing property.

This would probably be a huge PITA and maybe not realistic for the moment without the deal flow.. But just letting my mind wander..

Honestly though, I think there is a lot of opportunity for boomers who are getting older in the Bay, who have free and clear real estate worth a lot of money, to tap some of that equity (or for some who don't like debt, sell), and roll it into cash-flowing 2-4, multifamily, or commercial.. So many tie up so much equity renting their houses for nothing.. When they could be paying for retirement..

Anyway, good luck! And see you at the meetup!

Thanks for posting @Alan Malicse . You must at least have some IT skills to offer then! jk.. Always happy to network, and you probably have more knowledge and ideas to share than you think, even if they're not all necessarily strictly related to real estate.

@Kevin Auyong , So are you thinking inland like Stockton/Modesto area? Sac? (when you said 100mi..) A lot of people looking at Atlanta too.. Unfortunately, @Michaela G. said she wasn't coming because she didn't have anything to offer... Little did she know she's who's being asked for! I'm sure she can give you some tips on ATL area..

Hi @Sam McClellan ,

Yes, the meetup is still on, and here is the new link:

http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/521/topics/109953-east-bay-meetup---thurs-jan-16-2014-in-oakland?page=2

Unfortunately, it was moved by the moderators due to a new policy. I was notified by @Jon Holdman that they decided to put it in the "Marketplace" and restrict all non-paying members (like you) from posting on them, because some other people's meetup posting included sales pitches. So they decided to restrict all non-BP-paying members from posting on them.

I will post that you are coming. I'm not that impressed with the Pro account, to be honest. A lot of the local search for members doesn't work well because you can't tell who's active or posts a lot - and many other suggestions I've provided to the moderators through the recommendation section of the site that might make it worth it have never received an acknowledgement or response. I'll be reconsidering for next year.. But that won't stop up us from getting together locally (will just stop you from posting until you cough up the cash)! See you there Sam!

I posted previously about a 2% cap rate on a duplex in San Francisco I saw, which isn't the best example for such a small property. But here's an office tower around the corner from my office in SF, and is selling for a 3% cap rate, even at 90% current occupancy. Obviously, there's not a lot of upside on additional lease-up (assuming some options on space and almost full), so additional gains are going to have to come from rent increases and appreciation.. wow. Curious, what kind of cap rates are people seeing in other major metropolitan areas on Class A office? How about Class C out in rural areas..? I've seen beat-down properties in the inland empire & san joaquin valley sell for as low as $75/ft or lower in bad condition.. But prices going up.. wow. different world out here..

"At $750 a square foot, it’s San Francisco’s most expensive deal for a stabilized office property in the past year, the person said. The tower at Second and Mission streets, completed in 2000, is 90 percent leased. "

Here an article about a tower in SF around the corner from my office that is selling for a 3% cap rate, even at 90% current occupancy (not a lot of upside on lease-up, so has to come from rent increases and appreciation..). Obviously, this is a much bigger asset, but an example of investors willing to pay up for prime assets in prime areas with increasing rents and values. I bet the financing the buyer will put on it will be dirt cheap too..

"At $750 a square foot, it’s San Francisco’s most expensive deal for a stabilized office property in the past year, the person said. The tower at Second and Mission streets, completed in 2000, is 90 percent leased. "

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-07/invesco-said-to-pay-291-million-for-san-francisco-tower.html

@Waylon Themer , there's a lot of competition out here for high-quality CRE (& especially multifamily) with high-quality borrowers. With floods of deposits and few investment options besides loans that yield more than a percentage point or two (coupled with a hot local CRE market in Silicon Valley/South Bay), banks are fighting each other over lower-risk, variable-yield assets..