All Forum Posts by: Mario F.

@Adam P  What is the minimum cash flow you require when buying a rental?  Have the long distance investments in Denver worked out for you?  I'm assuming you had everything worked out to keep them maintained before you left for chicago.  I've thought about long distance investing but some members here in this forum have made me think twice about it.

@Jolene Blazey  Haha, yea it doesn't seem to get much better than this deal, does it?  It's sad but true.  It's the reality here in LA!  

The property is gone now so both of us are out of luck on this one!

Damn!  I grew up in Chicago. Wow that's a horror story for sure.  But I'm assuming that you're far enough along with your portfolio that a situation like this can be absorbed by your other investments.  Was your very first investment a good cash flowing property?  I heard Chicago is filled with cash flowing opportunities.  It's not so much the case here in Los Angeles. Everything that might come close to breaking even gets bought up extremely quickly. Most are grabbed by cash buyers.  So I'm having a damn hard time getting a property like the one mentioned in this thread, let alone one that would come close to cash flowing 250+ per month!  Pretty frustrating!

@Adam P The HOA is 266 and I planned on putting down the 20 percent to avoid mortgage insurance but that's it. What do u think?

@Adam P I see, the situation with this unit was a bit different. My mortgage including HOA and taxes/insurance was around 1250 per month. It could have potentially made some money with a 1700 per month rent, right? even if you factor in the vacancy rate, etc. Regardless, it looks like the property sold to another bidder. damn!

@Adam P  For 225k, I would expect 1950 per month to cashflow.  What happened?  How did this not cashflow at least a little?  I'm not looking for appreciation at this point because it definitely is  a peak market.  But I am just trying to get into something to shelter my money until the next cycle starts.  My goal right now is to reduce expenses and stop renting.  Ideally, I'd like to find something that might cash flow at least a little bit.  I thought I found that with this place.

@Thomas S. Hey Greg. so you're saying that when interest rates rise, taxes and HOA will rise as well? What if lock in this mortgage with the 3.6 rate that I qualify for right now. Won't that be a good deal? Especially if/when interest rates rise? Or perhaps I should wait until they rise so prices can finally fall?

@John Thedford  I wish I could but this is already really low. The seller if very motivated and needs to sell fast. This condo is getting a lot of interest and will go fast. I already submitted an offer for the amount he is asking for because he's sure to get it.  Other condos in this complex are going for 250k.  I wonder if prices are just inflating out of control leading up to the election. It's unbelievable how much these condos are going up in price!

@John Thedford So you don't think there is any value at all in it considering I'm currently renting?  It would reduce my expenses by 200 bucks and also allow me to take advantage of tax benefits of owning a property.  When I leave after  a year, I could get around 100-200 in cash flow. In California, the market is insane and I've been struggling to find anything better. Should I just wait until prices come down?

thanks

mario

@Brent Coombs Hey Brent, I would be using 20 percent down so it would cashflow only if I managed the property myself. Which I am willing to do. The goal of this first purchase is to simply get out of paying rent and into a property that I coudl rent out in a year and make some kind of cash flow from. I wish I had that 200k in cash to buy a property in the midwest but I don't! I noticed that alot of investors don't recommend investing outside of your market because it's risky and tough to manage. Would you recommend that to someone living in the LA market? It's really hard to find cash flowing properties out here. This 2 bedroom is one of the only ones that I've managed to find so far and it doesn't cash flow unless I manage it. Getting 20% off is really tough. I'm assuming that relying on the MLS is pointless. Do you do direct mail to get these discounted deals?

@John Thedford Sorry John, my mistake.  The rent I am approximating on this property is 1700 and the cashflow from it after mortage, taxes, HoA, insurance, vacancy, and maintenance would be somewhere around 100 a month.  There are units in this building that are renting for 2k a month, which I am not going to expect, but I'm thinking there might be room for more cash flow.