All Forum Posts by: James M.

It’s tough to say how much it would cost to replace windows without seeing pictures, but I can tell you that it will be very expensive and when doing it on a brick building it does add a lot more labor. With that being said, I have done remodels on 100+ year old homes and I can tell you that I avoid at all cost owning old homes simply because of the time and labor required to work on an older home. Plumbing, electrical, lath and plaster, foundations without mortar all cause headaches in my opinion.

Hey guys, I know we planned a meet up tonight at 7 and can't find the discussion to confirm we are still on. Let me know if it's still on. Thanks !

Hey guys, I know we planned a meet up tonight at 7 and can't find the discussion to confirm we are still on. Let me know if it's still on. Thanks !

I was mainly looking in Long Beach, But I had my eye open in San Clemente and Dana point as well.

Like Max Gradowitz said, Bakersfield actually does have some descent areas which cash flow. If you do decide to go this route, let me know for I lived there for 3 years.

Sorry I wasn't very clear. I actually live in my rear unit right now and I will be moving out around the 1st of the year. I was very fortunate to inherit a great tenant who virtually lets me do anything I want on his unit any time. I have a good friend who has been in the real estate game for a bit, so he was just sending me listings off the MLS. At the time I don't think my property was super attractive to most investors because the margins were too small if you were paying to get all the work done, but I've done everything for about 25% of what a contractor would have done it for. I did a lot of negotiating while in contract to get the seller to give me money back for repairs, which helped. I'll be honest when I bought the property it was hard to see the upside, but looking back it was well worth it. In retrospect, I probably could have got a better deal, but because of how my units are set up, I knew they would bring great rental value. My biggest piece of advice would be to buy something distressed so the property is discounted, ensure your rents can be raised once you are done with your rehab. Obviously there are many other important factors like location, but I knew that even if I wasn't getting a killer deal, I could put some love into the property (while uses tax benefits to get money back, house hacking, etc), and raise the rents at the end. And I didn't mention that because of how multi families are appraised, once you raise those rents, your property values, jump way up, allowing you to refi and grab some cash for your next property. I am still new to all this, but I'm learning along the way!

Hey what's going on hector?! I did the same thing about a year ago. I bought a place in 2 on 1 in Long Beach. It was a pretty distressed property but I have been working my *** off to get it all done. I can tell you that when I bought the property, the cash flow was essentially 0, with my intentions of being long term growth and knowing that eventually it would cash flow. When I bought, rentometer stated avg rent was about 1800 for by 2bd 1bths, although they were renting for 1900 at the time. Well as of today, the avg rent in my area is now up to 2200 and each of my units will bring about 2500 -2600 a piece which means I cash flow roughly 1000 a month. With all that. Wing said the journey for me was scary as hell and a ton do work, but I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel now. Pull the trigger and you won't regret it! Also, I was under the impression you could only get a conventional loan with a minimum of 15% down. That's what I had to do anyway and it was tough to find banks to finance 15% bc most wanted 20%. Anyway, good luck!

Wow, that is awesome Jim McCabe . I am looking to do the same in the near future, so this is inspiring. Do you have experience with home remodeling, or did you just go for it and learn as you went? Congrats on your success!

I don't have experience from thumbtack, but what I can tell you is that I find it's tough to find good contractors, or any other labor for that matter. It may be because I have a background in construction so I am very anal about my quality of work, but I have always found that if you are a good contractor you probably aren't on thumbtack because you get all your work through word of mouth and you aren't looking for new work. I have built a goood network guys for all the various trades and I am found all of them through word of mouth. I am not saying that they aren't out there, but do your research, get multiple quotes and ask around to other guys in your area.

I love your train of thoughts and I am right there with you. I am a new investor as well, so I'm interested to see what some of the experienced guys have to say.