All Forum Posts by: Manny Vasquez

Hello @Nina Mzykyan and welcome to BP! I have been a Realtor for over 17+ years. I have bought and sold many properties in Los Angeles and Orange counties and I also own an STR company and we own/manage over 24 properties. I would love to connect! Let me know how I can help out.

YES!!!!  That is should be the first step in the home buying process. ALWAYS.  Getting pre-approved first will save you so much time, money and effort.  Make sure you run your credit and provide your financials to a reputable mortgage broker.  First of all, you will know exactly what your FICO scores are.  Second, you will know exactly HOW MUCH you are approved for.  Third, you will also find out what loans you qualify for.  By getting pre-approved you will know what properties to look at, what neighborhoods to look in, and where to spend your time looking. Last but not least, it may take you 1 or 2 or 5 months to find a property you would like to put an offer on. During this time, if there is room for improvement, you can be working to improve your credit, which in turn, may allow you to qualify for a lower interest rate or a more favorable loan or both!  So, the answer to your question is YES!!....Get Pre-Approved first before you begin your property search.  

I have plenty of experience doing flips in OC and Los Angeles counties.  Feel free to DM for any questions!

@Michael Hunt - I would totally recommend that you purchase a rental income property first, and then your personal home. Obviously, you would want to purchase a positive "cash-flowing" rental so that when it comes time to purchase your personal residence, you will have enough DTI to qualify for the mortgage. Heck, if your rental property is cash-flowing significantly, the extra cash may help you qualify for a higher-priced home.

Welcome to BP @Huy Duc Tran! Lenders will only use 75% of the market rental income to count towards your total DTI. If I may suggest, I would highly suggest that you "spread your wealth" across multiple properties. If you plan and finance correctly, you may buy 2 or 3 investment properties with the nest egg that you have. If you have any questions or if you would like to discuss investment strategies, feel free to DM me at your convenience....or if you would like to meet up, I'm local in Costa Mesa.

Welcome to BP @Oscar Angeles! I'd love to help out...I spend time between Orange County and Bakersfield. I have a 4-plex and an STR that I manage, both in Bakersfield. We can meet up any one of these days! Let me know!

A "cleaner" is without doubt the most important person in your STR business. Whatever you do, do not go cheap with the cleaner. If you are looking to get a "discount cleaner" or an "affordable cleaner" then I would recommend that you do it yourself. We prefer to work directly with our cleaners and we pay them well. Remember, you live and die with your STR reviews.

Having worked on plenty of residential + commercial loans in y 17+ years as a Realtor, I totally recommend what @Stephanie P. mentioned above.  I always recommend to work with a Broker as they will always have more "lending options" to choose from.  A Broker works with multiple banks offering multiple products that they can choose from that will best fit your needs.   If you go with a direct lender, your options are limited as they will only offer you the very few products they offer. 

Emotional support dogs are not considered service dogs under the ADA. They may be trained for a specific owner, but they are not trained for specific tasks or duties to aid a person with a disability, and this is the main difference between ESAs and service dogs. 

This doesn’t minimize the support these dogs provide for people with a psychological disorder. They’re considered companion animals and ease anxiety, depression, some phobias, and loneliness. In order to be considered an emotional support dog, it must be prescribed by a mental health professional for a patient with a diagnosed psychological or emotional disorder, such as anxiety disorder, major depression, or panic attacks  

Unlike service dogs owners, ESA owners have only limited legal rights and those typically require a letter of diagnosis from the owner’s doctor or psychiatrist. While they don’t have unlimited access to public spaces, the Fair Housing Act mandates “reasonable accommodations” for emotional support animals even in buildings that don’t allow pets.

If the dog is truly an ESA, I would request a medical letter from the doctor that told her it was ok to have an ESA.

I have used both Airdna and Mashvisor before. Both are great tools and I"ve used both to asses whether or not I want to do an STR in specific area. However, if I had to choose just one, I would probably choose Airdna. I would also recommend that you cross-check the information on Airdna with the actual listings on Airbnb or VRBO or both. This is just one more step I take when doing my analysis.