All Forum Posts by: Kwon Do Lee

Oh wow thanks for those graphs, I've never seen that before.

I'm leaning heavily towards buying and haven't heard anyone against the idea!

I would be buying as a primary residence for a few years as I don't really see myself leaving LA anytime soon. My goal is to buy a property near my job (West Hollywood) that is around 425k because PITI+PMI+HOA(estimated around 350/month)+insurance comes out to about half my monthly income from my W-2 and I only have enough down payment cash for a home around that price.

Currently I have a SFH rental in Indiana with a partner that is cashflowing about $300 after refinance and are planning to buy another. This SFH costed me about 35k (and my partner 35k) which is about $8000 more than the down payment I would be shelling out for a condo here. Would it be a better idea to buy a condo here and build equity or throw my money at rent (probably around 1700) and buy another rental out in Indiana?

I have heard condos do not appreciate too well though I am not sure of how it is in LA. Thank you for reading and your insight!

Thank you all for your responses! I am Josh's partner for this little venture here and we were both very involved in this whole process together and can answer any questions about this deal anyone might have. Please feel free to reach out!

@Nick Marrs Thank you! This investor is on the higher end as he is looking at Bel-Air only. I'm not sure what kind of profit ratio he is looking for but I will take into consideration for about $400/SF as you said.

@Account Closed Thank you for the warning. He does seem to know what he is doing and as for cash he definitely has that. I think I may have to speak to the investor more about his numbers. 

I am currently studying to become a RE agent in LA mainly to gain experience in real estate and make connections and I tagged along with my RE agent friend to a meeting with an investor in the LA area who is looking to take down old houses, do a new construction then sell for profit.  

The investor wants my agent friend and me to bring potential deals with numbers laid out for him to look at. I get that it's not quite possible to get an accurate new construction price since it depends on his contractor's prices but I was wondering if any of you have had any experience in new construction and things to look out for when dealing with new constructions.

My goal is to bring him a potential deal with a booklet full of necessary numbers and attention to detail on a deal to try and impress him. I, however, have zero experience in any of this and my knowledge is just from podcasts and books. What are some things, as an investor, would you like to see from an agent that would impress you?

Thank you for reading and any criticism, related to this topic or not, is welcome.

- Kwon Do Lee

Thank you all for the tips and sorry for the delayed response. I did not have internet for a few days! I will take into consideration to all the advice all of you good people have given!

Hi @Tom Ott  do you have any other markets in the midwest you would recommend me looking at?

Hi @Larry Fried thanks for the welcome. I have read about that on Indianapolis. Would you recommend my main focus be finding a trusted team that is reliable?

@Jerryll Noorden haha yes that is my name. First time hearing that it's a superhero name! That is gonna be hard to live up to.

Thank you for the welcome @James Martin. What are your thoughts on a newbie investing out of state in Memphis?

@Mike D'Arrigo that is a very good point on Amazon considering Indianapolis in their top 20 list. Kind of like the Starbucks or Whole Foods effect but on a larger scale. Thanks for the sharing chart, it helps visualize what is going on in these various markets pretty easily. May I ask where you got the chart from or what the source is?

Wow thats a great guide for Cleveland. I will ask around and see if they have some kind of guide or list like yours. Thank you.

I have heard and read great things about these markets like @Ryan Moeller has mentioned about Indianapolis. I looked more into Memphis because it is landlord friendly and I have a few friends who know the area a little bit. I must admit I really don't have more of a reason than that on why I looked more into Memphis than Indianapolis.

@James Wise Thanks for those tips! I will make sure to go through this list. I must say all of this is quite intimidating but I figure it won't be as intimidating as I think it is as soon as I get my feet wet.

Do you have any tips on identifying a solid B-Class suburban area out of state? I've been looking through google street view and trying to determine what kind of area it would be.

@Harris Dy

@Harris Dy@Grant Rothenburger Thanks for the welcome!

Thank you Stephen! I'll reach out and see if we can figure out a win win. 

Hello BP!

My name is Kwon Do and I am a healthcare professional in Los Angeles, California. I have been lurking in the forums, reading blogs/books, and listening to podcasts in the LA traffic. I have been reading up on out of state investing and am eager to get my first property. Like many others on BP, my goal is to achieve early FI through real estate and other modes investments. My real estate goals for this year is to get my first property, read more, and be more active on BP.

Currently I am aggressively saving so that when I do buy my first rental unit, I have enough reserve cash cushion for potentially unseen pitfalls. Hopefully I do my due diligence well enough to prevent them but as a newbie with zero experience, I want to be on the safer side! 

Would you recommend Memphis and/or Indianapolis for a newbie to invest out of state?

I would love to learn and gain some experience by helping any of you guys in any way that I can! 

Thank you for reading.