All Forum Posts by: Leon Lai

How do you structure it to get the best price ? What tips do you have for OOS investors to help get the best price ?

Do you normally do it through your PM ? In my case, it seems like my PM has to pretend like she is the owner of the house for these companies to come out. What should I tell my PM to not sound like I offend her but ,at the same time, to make her try harder ?

Thank you in advance

Hello all,

I've been looking for window contractors in zipcode 48235 for a big project to prepare my home for city inspection. Basically, I just need to replace 5 double-hung windows. I have a property manager on the ground but her findings are only a couple of contractors whose bids are out of my budget. Most bids come around $4500 to $5000 which is almost $1000 a window. Is this the norm in this zipcode ? My business partner recently renovated one of his properties in San Diego and installed new windows at his house. His cost came out to be roughly $600 per window. These are double paneled windows. I know I am comparing orange to apple but I am curious to know if any local investor have any input to this.  To be honest, I feel like my property manager has not tried hard enough. 

I used yelp and it yields few businesses whose reviews are few to none to really help me make a decision. In addition, I use homeadvisor app to help me find contractors but all the pros I contacted say they deal directly with owner and refused to meet my property manager to do a quote. Is this a trend with local businesses in Detroit, MI ? I know they are doing it to protect themselves from scam. If everyone is doing it, it is difficult for me to find a good trustful business to partner with because I am an out of state investor. What do you think ?

Lastly, I am asking if you know any good window contractor that you could kindly refer me to. I am looking to stay in this market for a long time and I am still looking to create my own team of professional. 

Best regards,

Thank you @Nathan Gesner,@Greg Dickerson, @Bruce May, @Steve Vaughan, @Justin R. @Will Barnard for your inputs. Based on your recommendations, I think the next step for me is to consult with a real estate attorney to make sure I am not breaking any laws. CA is known for having strict laws compared to other states, so I don't want my first deal to ruin my career. 

A little more details about this seller, they are a married couple who are doing real estate in south east asia, they told me they needed to sell this house to get some cash for their business. so they are willing to sell it for cheap. I asked a friend of mine ( who is a new real estate agent) to pull a report on this house I found their name on the title. I am pulling records from the county tax assessor to confirm their names and look for any liens or obligations. Then when I meet them to negotiation, I will try to confirm if they are the people on the records I found.Is there anything else that I can do to help me identify if  I am dealing with the real seller ?

I also found that this house is coded as Zone R2 which is mix commercial and residential use. I went over to look at the house on the outside ( I was not able to see the inside). Here is what I found.

 The house used to be a typical residential property 3bed 2 bad. However, a few years ago, the seller rehabbed it and converted it into (what look like) a medical office. This is confirmed when I found pictures of the inside on loopnet. The floor plan clearly looks like it is a medical office but pictures look like this office was not fully built yet.

My back-up plan is to borrow hard money to close the deal with cash then immediately  turn around and sell it for cash to a flipper. I am willing to have a small margin as I am not familiar with this neighborhood and I live too far to manage it If I want to keep it. What are the pros and cons of this strategy ? Is there anything I need to watch out for in terms of real estate laws ? 

Because of this weird floor plan, will it have any implications on when I advertise it to buyers ? I plan on using a broker to help me sell it but am I gonna advertise it as residential or commercial property ? 

Hello all,

I am a fairly new buy-and-hold investor based in Orange County. I consider myself new because I've been investing for over a year and have own three properties so far with my business partner. Long story short, I stumble across a deal that I found on facebook in the zip code 92105 San Diego, CA ( I will post details on how I found it if I successfully execute the deal). Due to my current situation, limited time and capital, I plan to wholesale this deal. The seller and I are going to sign purchase agreement in less than 2 weeks. The seller is an out-of-state investor who wants to sell his house to invest somewhere else and can only stay for 2 weeks in San Diego to complete the transaction. Needless to say, I have to close the deal in two weeks.  However, I am completely new to wholesaling as I have never done this before. I generally know what it is but I don't know what steps to take, what kind of paperwork I need to prepare. I plan to assign the contract but I have not found a cash buyer yet at this moment. Here are the questions I've been pondering:

1) Where do I go to find cash buyers ? ( local fb real estate groups, forums ...etc )

2) Once I find a good title company that has experience with wholesaler, do I let the title company guide me on the paperwork during the transaction ?

3) This question gears toward experienced wholesalers, what tips do you have to communicate with both seller and buyer to ensure a smooth transaction that makes both parties happy ?

4) What resources (books, podcast, blogs, forums) do you recommend me read to supercharge my knowledge as I have less than two weeks to prepare for this deal ?

I thank you kindly in advance and look forward to connecting with other like-minded investors.

Best,

Leon

@David Edwards: Thank you so much for your tip. I will give the planning department a call to see what their requirements are. 

Hello all,

I am fairly new to real estate and owns only a couple of properties in CA or another state. I am helping my parents build an ADU on their lot in Santa Ana, CA and I plan to manage the project from out-of-state because I am working in a different state. I am new to the local ordinances regarding getting a permit for ADU in Santa Ana and steps to take to complete the project. I am asking if anyone could break down the process for me or provide any tips about this project. I'd greatly appreciate it. On a side note, my uncle who is an architect is helping us draw up a floor plan but he is not savvy with the application process.

Thank you all for your time and consideration,

Leon Lai

Hi Shiloh,

Thank you for introducing me to this group. I am new to the group and would love to attend this month's group meeting. However, due to work schedule conflict, I won't be able to attend it this month. Will you considering hosting it on the weekend in the future ? 

Best regards,

Leon Lai