All Forum Posts by: Kurtis Foster

Hi all,

Looking at Huntsville as a potential OOS opportunity and came across this crime map. Wondering how accurate it is. Probably Looking for at least "B" neighborhoods. Which colors in this map would correspond to B neighborhoods?

https://www.neighborhoodscout....

Also How does Madison crime compare to these other Huntsville areas? Looks like it's considered a separate city on this map so wondering how it compares to the shaded areas.

Thanks!

Hi All,

I've got 3 properties in Southern California that have been appreciation-plays as they essentially net zero cash flow, but they've accumulated significant equity for me. Now I'm looking to move to more of a cash flow portfolio and unfortunately cash flow and California don't go together so I'd like to start looking out of state.

I'd like to analyze zip codes across the country for rent-to-price ratios to narrow down potential areas to invest in, but haven't been able to find a source that has comprehensive data that I can analyze on a large scale. The closest I've found is the Zillow Housing Data page (https://www.zillow.com/researc...) but I have a few issues with the "Rentals" data. 

1) The rental data does not breakdown by property type (SFR, condos, etc.)

2) There are a lot of zip codes that aren't populated with rent prices

The "Home Values" data on the the other hand is very comprehensive as you can pull data for SFR, 1 bd condo, 2 bd condo, etc., and it has way more zip codes populated with prices than the rental data does. Unfortunately having the Home Value data without reliable and comprehensive rentals data doesn't do much good for me.

Does anyone have a resource or a way to pull rents and prices of all zip codes (or at least all cities) across the country without researching them one by one?

Thanks!

@Joel Castaneda I've been meaning to drive around Lake Balboa and Encino Village as the prices seem cheap compared to the surrounding area. 

I like Thousand Oaks but it seems like all of the properties are SFR's so I haven't been compelled to invest out there yet, although I'd consider buying a SFR in the future to live there. Are you planning to house hack a SFR or multi-family?

I'm in this same position. I'm located in LA, have about 80k for a down payment, and will be looking to buy a property in LA in 4-6 months.

I'm leaning towards house hacking a duplex. Trying to narrow down areas now and the trick is finding a reasonably priced duplex (maybe ~$800k) in an area I'm ok living in. If I'm not able to find a duplex I like for the price my second option is a sfh possibly in San Pedro or Long Beach in the $600k range.

@Derek Carroll thanks for the reply. I have not done a transaction before. Just the couple I've done with an agent.

From what you're saying it sounds like I'd want an agent. The seller typically pays the agent fees though, right? Are you suggesting I could offer to pay the buyer agent fee? So the buyer and seller would both pay 2.5% instead of the seller paying 5%?

Hi All,

Newbie here looking for some direction and advice on potentially purchasing an off-market property.

About a year back I toured a SFR in the Los Angeles area and was close to making an offer but ended up purchasing a different property. The seller listed the property on and off multiple times, dropped the price a bit and eventually took it off the market. Since then, the the area has appreciated about 5%, and I'm thinking it might be a good opportunity to try and purchase the property off-market at the old listing price.

People don't use real estate agents in these situations, right? I figure the benefit of an off-market sale for the seller is that they wouldn't need to 1) pay commission to agents and 2) don't need to go through showing and listing the place. So I'm thinking for them, even though I'd be making an offer below market value, they would have a couple reasons to accept the offer as they'd be saving on commission, and time/effort. Is my thought process correct on this?

On previous purchases I've always used agents to purchase listed properties. They've walked buyer and seller through the whole purchase process, so although there is no reason to use an agent for finding a property in this case, it seems like they add value in holding both parties' hands. In an off-market with no realtor, what is the process I'd follow? How can I reassure the seller that the process will go smoothly without an agent guiding either of us?

Thanks!

Kurtis

@Jon Schwartz good point about keeping an eye on the neighboring areas. So although maybe an orange area had a lot of growth in the last 5 years, if it's right next to a bunch of green neighbors, there's likely still room for growth in the future. Makes sense!

Also checking out your YouTube channel as we chat here. Good stuff!

@Jon Schwartz Thanks for the excellent response. I see your posts on these forums a lot and always find them to be very informative. I like your logical/data driven approach. 

Based on your maps it looks like the South Wrigley area should be on my radar as well (just north of the 1 as you mentioned), in addition to East Village (basically downtown) and Carroll Park/Rose Park South. Although I suspect the Carroll Park/Rose Park South area is a bit pricier as it's getting pretty far East.

How do you create those maps from the Census data? It looks like the territory borders are even more granular than zip code? 

Do you find that looking at the income growth over the past 5 years is a good predictor of future trends? I wonder if there has been significant growth over the last 5 years that the growth might start to diminish in those areas, and more growth might start to happen in some other areas that have smaller arrows on that chart?

@Derrick Dill Yes after driving around Long Beach a few times I was surprised at how large it was and how drastically different all of the areas were. In general the more east and south you go the nicer and more expensive it gets. It seems finding a balance of quality of the area and price is the trick in Long Beach (as it is anywhere).

I think the most attractive area to me investment-wise is near downtown. Prices are still very reasonable, safety doesn't seem to be a major concern, and there has been significant growth there in recent years. 

Also of interest is California Heights and Bixby Knolls, but there are mostly SFR's there whereas downtown as more multi-family properties. The garage ADU is a good suggestion though; that might make California Heights or Bixby knolls a possible house hack area with a SFR.

Hi Everyone,

Pretty new to to RE investing and brand new to Bigger Pockets. Been reading a lot on here and Reddit and I'm trying to dial in my strategy for my next property. I've been looking into various areas and property types around LA and I'm starting to focusing in on duplex's in Downtown Long Beach. I'm curious if anyone else has their eye on Long Beach, as it seems like there is appreciation potential and not terrible rent to purchase price ratio (at least by LA standards).

My overall plan:

Just did a cash-out refi on a SFR in San Pedro that I bought a year and a half ago. Refinanced from 3.875% to 2.875%, kept 20% equity in and pulled out 40k. Was able to keep the same monthly payment with the decrease in interest rate and pulling out the 40k appreciation. I'd like to use the cash and possibly additional savings to buy a duplex in Downtown Long Beach likely in the 700k range - live in one unit, rent the other unit out. Seems like it will be a little bit cash flow negative, but that's the price you pay for SoCal real estate and potential appreciation I guess.

Anyone have their eye on Long Beach for house hacking? Downtown LB seems like a pretty good value to me. Significant improvement in recent years and relatively affordable for the quality of life I think.

Any tips for a newbie? Does it seem like I'm on the right track here?

Thanks!

Kurtis