All Forum Posts by: Keith Torsen

Victor D., 

Credit repair companies are not necessary, like others have mentioned.

Some advice that was given to me, just today actually, is that it's easier and cheaper to to do it yourself by using Google and YouTube to research ways to get your credit score up on your own. Not sure about your exact situation, but there are definitely enough resources out there that will help you more than paying someone would.

@Habbak Burs

Greetings from Sacramento! Riverside is a little down the way there.

I've been looking in Sac for my first deal, and something up here you dont do is offer below listing. Market is so tight on the MLS up here that homes can easily go for above asking, with multiple offers.

Not sure how it works in the south part of the state, but California seems to be a buyer's market as a whole right now.

As others have mentioned, going for off-market deals is going to give you a much better deal. Your numbers look okay to me, but that's it. Just okay.

I'd pass and keep looking if it were me and I wasnt going to owner occupy.

@Dametrius Clark

Honestly, I'm living in Sacramento, so I'm wanting to invest in my own backyard. I havent tried looking elsewhere for my needs, but two things that I've noticed about the Sacramento market is that we are seeing a lot of Bay Area transplants trying to get away from the high cost of housing, and Sacramento's housing market seems to be going up exponentially, so it seems lik e a great long term buy-and-hold situation, based on location and market values of homes and rents.

I'm just going off of what people tell me, along with my own experiences. I've been analyzing properties with BP's four square method to get my numbers.

I figure I'll be in this market for the next 5+ years for personal growth, and maybe college, but yeah. I live here, I might as well start here. Market is strong, but the one snag is the dollar amounts on a property. If I want to go with a first-time purchase for a multi-unit, I still need between $15,000 and $20,000 for the down payment. High dollar amounts for the house, but also strong numbers all around. One other thing I'm considering is homes do not seem to stay on the market long here, which means a strong market to me.

High dollar amounts isnt necessarily a "barrier," just an obstacle to overcome for me, and I have no interest in long distance investing right now.

@Dametrius Clark

Welcome to the Bigger Pockets community! Its great that you made the choice to join the site. It's a great crowd here, and dont feel shy to ask questions on the forums.

House hacking is a great way to get started. I'm looking to get it done in Sacrameto, CA.

Not sure how your market is, but for my situation, the numbers are difficult to even break even on just a duplex. I'm really looking for something with at least three units here in Sac. Something to think about, especially if you have friends. Maybe a triplex would be a good place to start for you? Whatever you decide is fine, and just keep educating yourself and getting connected to lenders, realtors, etc., both in person and here.

@Calvin Smith

This sounds like a great idea, and as others have mentioned, it is possible to start with multi family. Just examine your situation closely. Something that keeps getting mentioned over and over on this site is know your "why" for real estate investing, and work towards that.

My situation has me looking for a decent house hack opportunity in my city, but unless I get a killer deal on a duplex, I'm hoping to find a tri or quad that's in my price range.

Best of luck to you on your journey!

@Wes Blackwell

Funny enough, I moved from Arizona to California for college. I never planned on moving back, but the Cottonwood/Sedona/Verde Valley area is my old stomping grounds as a kid and teenager. About an hour and a half north of Phoenix. I thought it was a terrible place, but as an adult, I now see the appeal, and that area is exploding too. My little hometown of Cottonwood has seen huge population growth from when I was a baby until now. Phoenix has never been anything special to me, but I've had several people mention it, saying it's a great market right now. I dont wish to move back, but when the time is right for my situation, AZ is looking promising if I ever go out of state.

Benefits are definitely good there.

@Wes Blackwell

You always have amazing responses, really dig deep down into the numbers and the details, and rationalize your talking points very logically. I love it.

As far as Stockton goes, that's new on the radar for me. I'm a millenial, and at that 28 year old age where I'm starting to think about family and living in a larger house. You and I have talked a little bit personally about my situation, but minus the pregnant girlfriend (her and I are making sure that doesnt happen until we want it to), I have had several thoughts going back and forth whether or not to invest in Sacramento, or leave it behind for something more affordable. Both my gf and I started school in our mid-20s, and that's the one thing keeping us tied to the city. She has transferred colleges several times in the past few years, and would love to stay with ARC in Sac.

However, you are right. Its definitely not affordable, and I can only afford around a 300k house with the way my finances are right now.

Finding a house that fits my criteria for $350k in Sacramento is hard enough, let alone 50k less. (Looking for small multi-family. I know I could maybe find a better deal in SFR, but that's not my niche ) and all of the "good" deals dry up quickly in this city anyways. At least from my perspective.

Anyways, just wanted to say thank you Wes for your thoughtful and well balanced posts and replies, as always. And also share a little bit of my thoughts.

Stockton was not on my radar, but now it definitely is once both my gf and I are out of school.

Thank you for the informative posts.

@Wes Blackwell

Yes, I've seen that property on the market, and was thinking about pursuing it. I never thought about house hacking like that. I guess I simply got lost in the idea of cash flow.

Yes, I simply want to house hack to get my foot in the door of real estate investing, and I'm going to go back and properly look at that triplex and see if I can find the number that works for me. Thanks for the insight.

Thank you all for the great answers and insights.

This individual definitely deals better as an employee, being told where to go, what to do, and is happy bringing home the weekly checks. (our employer pays weekly, which is beneficial in it's own way. Makes saving money look like its building really fast)

To bring something personal into it, I am dealing with the classic "I dont have time" excuse. I keep having to remind myself that if if it's worth the outcome, then it's worth the time and effort. Putting aside 30 minutes a day to properly analyze a deal, right now, is the best thing I can do. Especially when my time-wasting is spent "hanging out" with the coworkers.

So I've been busy looking at deals, talking with people about my real estate journey so far, am 100% open about it to everyone I meet, pretty much.

Today, I had a conversation with a coworker.

"I want that one house that pays you a ton of money every month." His cash flow number was $2,000 per month... I'm still pretty new at this, but I've got some general knowledge on options he can have to go that route. We get to talking, and his number 1 excuse:

"I don't want a lot of houses, because I dont want to deal with Fair Housing tenants. I want just one or two houses with really great tenants."

He then goes on to talk himself out of THAT because his mom had a bad time owning houses.

This is a guy who spent years watching his mom landlord, spending 5 years in his 20s as a loan officer (I'm guessing broker), and now drives big rigs for our employer)

I'm honestly just wondering how common such a specific excuse like this is, and why someone wouldnt be open to ideas that give him exactly what he's looking for?