All Forum Posts by: Lawrence Leung

@Darwin D Wu You should absolutely start looking for roommates sooner rather than later regardless of the condition of the property. A bad analogy that comes to mind is when my daughter was selling girl scout cookies. Many other girl scouts wanted only to deal in cash. I told my daughter to take advertise ALL forms of payment method (credit card, paypal, venmo, etc.) because if you don't you already have lost that potential sale.

In your case, if you don't advertise early and often you are already losing out on potential roommates. Just realize that anyone that can't wait to move in or can't imagine what the property looks like when its clean and updated are likely not good fits.

Having a robust, detailed, comprehensive and thorough application screening process will address all the concerns related to choosing the wrong people.

In addition to @Johnson H. recommendations for Craiglist and Zillow, I also recommend Zumper as posting there will syndicate out to walkscore, hotpads and facebook.

Assuming it is in San Francisco and not Daly City @Patrice Pominville is correct in that in order for you to get approved for your ADU application and permit you would have to acknowledge that ADUs are not permissible for short term rentals. More info on ADu's can be found here.

@Aileen Mitchell I don't see any issue with "partnering up" as long as the investment goals and strategies are aligned. Trust of course if a huge factor in any relationship when investing together. If you do proceed, I would recommend to 1) lawyer up so your investor is best protected in whatever arrangement you decide to create, 2) walk the site and speak to planning to confirm that your strategy is sound, 3) work with Sirkin or G3MH to draft a TIC agreement that favors the agreed upon strategy and lastly 4) Purchase more than a majority % to have more control.

@Jack Reid  Welcome to the community! Great job on reading all those wonderful books. Continue to educate yourself with podcasts, audiobooks, webinars and begin to apply what you are learning to the real world. Don't fall into the trap of analysis paralysis and don't be afraid to get started especially with your mother as a close mentor. Remember that making mistakes is part of the learning process and the best thing you can do is to embrace "failing forward" as all successful investors have done the same.

@Brendan O. If you're look for financing, you really need to go non-traditional as was suggested by @Eric Goldman but you may need to look further into private financing through your network. Hard money lending is also an option if you can limit the hold period, your cash flow can help you pay it back quickly.

I can only speculate what you're trying to do to be able to generate $20k on a SFR, but just be careful because San Francisco is not a friendly to landlords and investors.

@Barry Wang I think SIP has definitely tested the good nature and will of neighbors because we are all at home 24x7 working, playing and trying to enjoy our time both indoors and outdoors through this pandemic.

It's a bit of a blessing/silver lining that because you are moving into the building it will afford you an opportunity to be able to verify the complaints from the neighbors real time and also be intimately hands on involved in developing a building community and understanding. It may be the case that once you move in, much of the tension that you have been hearing so much about will vanish.

@Amit M. and @Nathan Gesner Great advice as always!

@Brian Garlington LMAO on your first comment about the two rules. I couldn't agree with you more about Section 8 Tenants. In theory, I absolutely love the program giving folks that normally cannot afford market rent an opportunity to live in areas with a subsidy. In practice, it drives me batty every day dealing with the SFHA. The Tenants are wonderful because violating any lease obligations would risk their voucher.

@Negar P. The 3x rent is really telling you that a prospective tenant's rent should "ideally" not be more than a third of their income. But as @Nathan Gesner eloquently explained, it is just a rule. You can have exceptions to whatever your process is as long as you consistently apply those exceptions.  A third of someone's income in the middle of their lives is a great barometer whereas someone in retirement you can use a different rule.

@Brendan O. How are you numbers reconciling? The median home price in SF is well north of $1M which means that any property you are purchasing at $1M is a class C or lower neighborhood and this is SFH. To cash flow at $10k the rent must be incredibly high because property tax and insurance is already more than $1k/month not including mortgage payments.

Mark Z. made sure to qualify his company's policy and said that you may be able to work form anywhere, but your salary will be adjusted to the cost of living commensurate with the area you live. So don't expect a Silicon Valley wage in Montana. They also added another caveat that it was not a blanket policy and it would be or available for high performers, tenured employees or management level.