All Forum Posts by: Manny Vasquez

Jorge - Welcome to the BP community! This is the best place for all things real estate related. This is what I recommend for you to get started in your real estate journey:

1. Read as many RE books as you can get your hands on. Here are a few I recommend: "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" by Roberto Kiyosaki; "Set for Life" by Scott Trench; "The Unofficial Guide to Real Estate Investing" by Spencer; "The BiggerPockets Ultimate Beginners Guide" found here on BP; "The Book on Rental Property Investing" by Brandon Tuner. This will give you a good starting point.

2. Buy a property as soon as you can. The earlier you start in your RE journey, the better off you will be in the future. Almost everyone here on BP will tell you that they wish they had started earlier, myself included.

3. House-hack, house-hack, house-hack (if possible, this might take some convincing of your spouse). This will give you several benefits. The most obvious is that you will be able to offset your mortgage with renting out a few rooms. You will then have a few options with that rent money....you can put it into principal or you can start saving it to purchase yet another property. House hacking will also give you some personal "property management" experience. This will come in handy as you begin to scale.

4. Decide which game you want to play. Do you want to be a house flipper? BRRRR? Real Estate Agent? General Contractor? Buy and Hold? Do you want to LTR, MTR, or STR? Or maybe you want to do a combination of the above?

5. Attend meetups and meet as many people in RE as you can. You will meet people from different walks of life that will give you different perspectives on real estate investing. You might also meet someone that could be a potential business partner. Or you could buy a property from another person at the meetup. Keep an open mind and try to meet everyone at these meetings. I've developed some great relationships and also a business partner from these meetings. As they say, your network will be your net-worth.

6. Timing the market does not work. However, time in the market makes all the difference in the world!

I hope this helps and good luck on your real estate journey!

Sean - Welcome to BP! I believe California does have some great opportunities. However, these properties won't be low hanging fruit. You will have to do a little more research, dig a little deeper and turn a few more stones. You may also have to get your "hands dirty" in order to make these properties cash flow. Just last year I expanded my property portfolio in California which now includes Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside and Kern counties. Depending on where the property is situated and the "local market conditions" I have them rented out as either long term, mid-term or short term. Some cash flow more than others, but they all cash flow pretty well. I don't agree with all of the local laws and politics in California, but its still a great place to invest. Property appreciation is second to none and rents always go up here. You get the best of both worlds.

You don't have to look out of state. Look at Riverside, San Bernardino, Kern, and Tulare counties. There may be some excellent opportunities there.  I am ALWAYS looking at properties up and down the state (besides looking for properties for my clients, I'm also looking for myself).  Again, you won't find "low hanging fruit" but deals are out there.

Since you mentioned that you are getting started, I highly suggest you house-hack (this is how I got started in Costa Mesa, Orange County). I did this for a few years and then I started to scale. If I did it, and I'm no one special, anyone can do it. You'll have to make some sacrifices, put in some work but I promise that its all worth it in the end.

Becareful with BRRRR-ing out of state. If you plan to be there at the property for the entire rehab process, then go for it. But if you plan to travel back and forth, just make sure that the people you have working on your property are highly reputable and trustworthy. Establish some "safeguards" to keep them honest and consistently check their work. I had a project bite me in the butt because I wasn't more diligent in "checking in" on the contractor.

If you need any help or additional advice, feel free to reach out I have helped a lot of my investor friends purchase properties in other counties in California. I hope this helps and good luck in your journey!

Tony - Its never too late to invest!  One of the single most important pieces of advice that I have ever received is that Timing the Market doesn't work, however, Time In the market does.  

I wouldn't wait at all to buy property. If you find a property and the numbers work out, then buy it.  Remember, when rates drop then you can refinance and benefit from owning the property and having a lower rate.

If you wait until "rates come down" then everyone will be in the same race and someone else with deeper pockets may beat you to the property. 

If there is one thing that EVERY member of BiggerPockets would agree on, is that EVERYONE wishes they bought properties sooner or earlier in life.  

Buy now my friend.

I hope this helps and good luck!

If their belongings were damaged or if food spoiled as a direct result of the leak, then I might consider reimbursing them for their losses. However, it would be a 1-time reimbursement/discount, not a permanent one. 

Secondly, I would get that leak fixed asap to prevent this happening again.

Ashton - Welcome to the BP community! This is the best place for all things real estate related. This is what I recommend for you to get started in your real estate journey:

1. Keep saving as much as you can. Depending how much you earn you can step up those savings by getting a side-hustle in any part of real estate....working for a top Real Estate office on weeknights and weekends, working for an RE Investor, working for a General Contractor and learning a few skills, etc. This way you can ramp up your savings AND learn some RE skills.

2. Read as many RE books as you can get your hands on. Here are a few I recommend: "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" by Roberto Kiyosaki; "Set for Life" by Scott Trench; "The Unofficial Guide to Real Estate Investing" by Spencer; "The BiggerPockets Ultimate Beginners Guide" found here on BP; "The Book on Rental Property Investing" by Brandon Tuner. This will give you a good starting point.

3. Buy a property as soon as you can. The earlier you start in your RE journey, the better off you will be in the future. Almost everyone here on BP will tell you that they wish they had started earlier, myself included.

4. House-hack, house-hack, house-hack. This will give you several benefits. The most obvious is that you will be able to offset your mortgage with renting out a few rooms. You will then have a few options with that rent money....you can put it into principal or you can start saving it to purchase yet another property. House hacking will also give you some personal "property management" experience. This will come in handy as you begin to scale.

5. Decide which game you want to play. Do you want to be a house flipper? BRRRR? Real Estate Agent? General Contractor? Buy and Hold? Do you want to LTR, MTR, or STR? Or maybe you want to do a combination of the above?

6. Attend meetups and meet as many people in RE as you can. You will meet people from different walks of life that will give you different perspectives on real estate investing. You might also meet someone that could be a potential business partner. Or you could buy a property from another person at the meetup.  Keep an open mind and try to meet everyone at these meetings.  I've developed some great relationships and also a business partner from these meetings.  As they say, your network will be your net-worth.

7. Timing the market does not work. However, time in the market makes all the difference in the world!

I hope this helps and good luck on your real estate journey!

Rich- Welcome to the BP community! This is the best place for all things real estate related. This is what I recommend for you to continue on your real estate journey:

1. Keep saving as much as you can. Depending how much you earn you and how much extra time you have available you can step up those savings by getting a side-hustle in any part of real estate....working for a top Real Estate office on weeknights and weekends, working for an RE Investor, working for a General Contractor and learning a few skills, etc. This way you can ramp up your savings AND learn some RE skills.

2. Read as many RE books as you can get your hands on. Here are a few I recommend: "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" by Roberto Kiyosaki; "Set for Life" by Scott Trench; "The Unofficial Guide to Real Estate Investing" by Spencer; "The BiggerPockets Ultimate Beginners Guide" found here on BP; "The Book on Rental Property Investing" by Brandon Tuner. This will give you a good starting point.

3. House-hack, house-hack, house-hack (if possible). This will give you several benefits. The most obvious is that you will be able to offset your mortgage with renting out a few rooms. You will then have a few options with that rent money....you can put it into principal or you can start saving it to purchase yet another property. House hacking will also give you some personal "property management" experience. This will come in handy as you begin to scale.

4. Decide which game you want to play. Do you want to be a house flipper? BRRRR? Real Estate Agent? General Contractor? Buy and Hold? Do you want to LTR, MTR, or STR? Or maybe you want to do a combination of the above?

5. Attend meetups and meet as many people in RE as you can. You will meet people from different walks of life that will give you different perspectives.  You may also meet someone  that could be a potential business partner.  Or you could buy a property from another person at the meetup.  As they say, your network will be your net-worth.

6. Timing the market does not work. However, time in the market makes all the difference in the world!

I hope this helps and good luck on your real estate journey!

Kent - Since you're breaking even with a Long Term rental, have you considered doing MTR or STR? Either of these strategies might yield you some more $$$$.

Jennifer - If you have vetted the prospective tenant thouroughly (i.e. credit check, income qualifications, etc.), you shouldn't have to worry whether or not you sign them up for a 1-year lease or a month-to-month.  Typically, in A-Class neighborhoods you end with a prospective tenants that are a little better off financially than most.

I also own an LTR in Orange County (Costa Mesa) and I have had good tenants thus far. 

For a true month-to-month tenant, you should be able to charge a lot more than what you would normally charge for a 1-year lease. The reason for this is that the month-to-month tenant will leave the property sooner and thus you will have to come out of pocket to prep the property for the next tenant (i.e. clean it up, repairs, paint, etc.) You also have to take into consideration any length of time that that property will sit vacant while the next tenant moves in (although in OC properties never sit vacant for long). 

I hope this helps and good luck!

Justin - I would do the following to determine whether or not to charge a cleaning fee and if yes, how much.  

Look at your competition, that is, other Airbnb properties that are similar to your in your city/area.  If your competition is charging a cleaning fee, find out how much for similar properties like yours.  

Using the above info, you can determine how much you want to charge. If your city/area has STR's that are charging a cleaning fee, so should you. Don't leave any money on the table that could be sitting in your pocket instead!

I hope this helps and good luck on your STR journey!

Darrell - Welcome to the BP community! This is the best place for all things real estate related. This is what I recommend for you to get started in your real estate journey:

1. Start saving as much as you can. Depending how much you earn you can step up those savings by getting a side-hustle in any part of real estate....working for a top Real Estate office on weeknights and weekends, working for an RE Investor, working for a General Contractor and learning a few skills, etc. This way you can ramp up your savings AND learn some RE skills.

2. Read as many RE books as you can get your hands on. Here are a few I recommend: "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" by Roberto Kiyosaki; "Set for Life" by Scott Trench; "The Unofficial Guide to Real Estate Investing" by Spencer; "The BiggerPockets Ultimate Beginners Guide" found here on BP; "The Book on Rental Property Investing" by Brandon Tuner. This will give you a good starting point.

3. Buy a property as soon as you can. The earlier you start in your RE journey, the better off you will be in the future. Almost everyone here on BP will tell you that they wish they had started earlier, myself included.

4. House-hack, house-hack, house-hack. This will give you several benefits. The most obvious is that you will be able to offset your mortgage with renting out a few rooms. You will then have a few options with that rent money....you can put it into principal or you can start saving it to purchase yet another property. House hacking will also give you some personal "property management" experience. This will come in handy as you begin to scale.

5. Decide which game you want to play. Do you want to be a house flipper? BRRRR? Real Estate Agent? General Contractor? Buy and Hold? Do you want to LTR, MTR, or STR? Or maybe you want to do a combination of the above?

6. Attend meetups and meet as many people in RE as you can. Since you are just graduating college you may already realize that it's not what you know, but who you know (as a personal note, I had college friends that were barely passing their classes however they ended up with really good paying jobs due to "who they knew"). As they say, your network will be your net-worth.

7. Timing the market does not work. However, time in the market makes all the difference in the world!

I hope this helps and good luck on your real estate journey!