All Forum Posts by: Justin Brin

According to the US census data Los Angeles, CA county population declined 3.5% in the last few years as you can see here:

(Data from April 2020 - July 2023).

But Real Estate prices went up in that period 25% according to Zillow (From $665,868 to $834,772).

Rents went up 18% (From $2,380 to $2,827).

How that can be?

If more people are leaving then coming in, prices should go down?

Unless there is a big increase in undocumented immigrants and then there is really an undocumented population increase and that's why prices are going up?

Can there be any other reason?

What do you do if your tenant is 2-3 days late on the rent?

What do you do if he is one week late? 

Do you always charge late fees or for a good tenant you will not charge? 

I see that HUD has historical data per zip code here (40th percentile of the rent prices in the area used for section 8):

https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/fmr/smallarea/index....

I'm not sure how accurate is their data in some of the zip codes.

Here data data is broken down by bedroom count so you can get and idea if it's a house or an apartment depending on the area and room count.

Zillow data is limited depending on the zip code. For some zip codes there is not much data.

They also mix in apartments data with houses data.

Does it also provide historical data?

How to find single family house historical rent prices for a specific area?

Zillow data only gives you historical data for SFR in the metro level but not city or zip code level.

Where else can I find historical rental data for a city/zip?

I'm trying to compare 2 cities to see how the rents go up there year over year.

Will you allow your tenant to paint the walls of your house?

What if your tenant ask you if he can paint the walls of the house and will restore the original color once he decides to move out.

What will you tell him?

 Most likely relying just on real estate income at the beginning will not be a good idea. Most likely in the first few years you will not see much income.

Most people get reach from real estate from the appreciation not from the cashflow.

I do think that time equals lots of money so if you go into a job that gives you more time it will be easier to invest in real estate. Better work smart than hard.

 What other closing costs are there usually with hard money loans? Title, Escrow? Notary?