All Forum Posts by: J. Martin

If you have to ask the question.. that's probably when it's time to go..

Interview some new realtors, tell them exactly what you need/want, and tell them you don't want to waste either of your time if they can't achieve that. Good realtors will appreciate that you mean business, are straight-forward, and know what you want.

If you're looking to do the wood-like individual panels (rather than rolled laminate), I paid about $1.50/ft for installation, but that included prepping underneath and thick pad/underlayment/whatever - AND in the Bay Area, CA. I would think you could get it at $1/ft there, but I wouldn't mind paying a few cents more per foot for someone good.

As J Scott points out, the rolled laminate is much less to purchase, and much easier to install (so very cheap overall). some of the newer ones look good too, but can't attest to their durability.. I assume good if an experienced investor is using them...

@Waylon Themer , that sounds about right based on most of what I've seen. Maybe they don't tweak expenses because they figure the rest of those stresses adequately gives you an idea of the range of risks they face..

Sounds like your terms are even tighter than out here in CA though.. Multifamily can often get 30yr am with 1.15-1.20X DSCR. Little less cash flow out here and competitive market, so that might be one reason why...

Seems like lots of Houston/texas investors on here (many from CA), so you might be able to drum up quite a bit of business if you connect with them.. (if you are not already).. You can start with Johnson, above. lol

@Bill Gulley and @Amit M. , I think you two hit it on the head that this purchase is probably an owner-occupant or some other specific situation beyond income production. Maybe he owns the place next door.. Or wants to move there in 10 years and wants to lock in the price now.. Unfortunately, I don't know all the details, because I am curious what it was..

The person who purchased this building has very deep pockets, so wouldn't be surprised if there is something going on with the motivations beyond what can be seen in the cap rate.. Even as low as cap rates get in SF, you are right Amit - this is especially low..

@Erin A. , glad we'll be able to meet up at this event.. I was going to propose a meetup with Stockton folks since I'll be working out there in January.. but this will be good ;)

@Ralph E. , sorry you can't make it this time.. Keep monitoring this forum, and I'll post the next meetup on here..

@Michaela G. , can you come out and say hi again..?

@Account Closed ,

The cookies are the replacement for the 30-pack in this instance, since they are families instead of college students.. (probably still wouldn't do the beer for tenants due to liability issues nowadays.. sucks!)

@Steve Babiak , I give gifts back to BP almost each and every day by staying active on the forums ;) But I'd be happy to give out a little slice of some bitcoin as a gift to anyone on this post who'd like some, to continue on the holiday spirit...

Go on blockchain.info and click on wallet to sign up for a bitcoin wallet easily..

@Patrick Connell ,

I don't use a realtor (negotiate my own deals with listing agent), and haven't engaged with neighbors to look after properties yet.. But thinking that's a good idea.. Wonder how much I'll have to bribe them with..

Now that you mention it, I will at least send something to my loan broker, because he does bust @ss to get deals closed when we get to crunch time..

@Nicole A. , I think you have a good point regarding how variable profit might be from year to year.. While I decided to give $500 after thinking about what he did for me this year, and even worked more than that for free because he is almost TOO nice, I'm going to make sure I tell him that this is based on how easy he made my life AND how well I did in 2013. So that might not be around every year.. It's true. It's just like a business. Sometimes there's bonuses when times are good. But those may not be around in times of belt-tightening. I'm going to make sure I tell him this when I give him his bonus..

@Levi F. and @Troy Sheets , I'm with both of you. It's hard to find someone good to make your life easy, and this guy has it in spades.. Trustworthy, good.. Can't say enough good things.

After taking that into consideration, I decided I'm going to give him $500.. It was a good year, and he's worth it.. On top of that, he has done more than a week of work for free, which he really deserves anyway..