All Forum Posts by: Max Gradowitz

It is 60 days starting the next calendar day of posting the notice.  So, if you post the notice on May 15th, count down EXACTLY 60 days starting from May 16th as the first day.  Some months have 27 days, 31 days, etc so just count it exactly.  The day after that 60th day (assuming its a weekday) you can file the unlawful detainer in court.

How do you structure the deal when using a hard money lender?  It's just like any other lender.  You get prequalified with the hard money lender, they give you a letter saying you are qualified for a loan for X amount, and then you use that letter to make offers.  The escrow/transaction is the same pretty much, except usually hard money lenders require less red tape and so they can close considerably faster than big box lenders most of the time.

Can a buy/hold property cash flow when using a hard money lender?  Probably not.  Hard money is used more often for flips.  They charge high interest, prefer short amortization, and are very liberal in charging various fees.  So, 99% of the time, no you can't cash flow with hard money on buy and hold.  Just use cash or conventional financing for rentals, trust me.

Can I use a hard money lender to purchase more than 1 buy/hold property?  Yeah, of course you can use the same lender for several purchases.  They probably would want separate loans though, which means separate loan fees, separate down payments, etc so they can foreclose on separate properties in the event of default.

It depends on how complex your will/trust situation is, but I would say that there's a 90% chance any investor-friendly attorney that knows their way around LLCs will also be fit to draft a will or trust.  Unless you have a very complex estate situation, drafting and advising on common estate stuff is pretty straightforward.  Estate law is one of the few practical things they actually teach you in law school in California, unlike taxes.  So yes, I would say that most of the time you can use the same attorney for these things. 

For tax questions, you want to consult a CPA. CPAs are trained in the complexities of taxes.  Attorneys do not know any more about taxes than the average person.  Even "tax attorneys" are typically attorneys that defend you against IRS audits and lawsuits, not typically people you want to go to for specific tax advice.

As @Logan Allec said, you want an attorney for forming business entities like LLCs for asset protection, or for drafting any contracts or agreements necessary for your flip business (partnership agreements, etc).

If you are evicting them, you include a claim for property damage with proof of the cost of the repairs (in addition to whatever else you want from the tenant, like unpaid rent).  If you aren't evicting and an otherwise cooperating tenant causes property damage then you simply provide them 24 hour notice that someone will be entering the property to perform repairs, you pay that person yourself to perform the repairs while taking before and after pictures, then you send the tenant notice to pay for the repairs with a copy of the bill/invoice.  If the tenant does not pay within a reasonable time, send one more notice stating that damage to the property is a breach of lease terms (it SHOULD be in your lease, make sure it is) and you will have to sue or evict if they don't pay.  If they still don't pay, you sue in small claims.

Now, proving it?  That's the easy part usually!  You want to provide the judge with evidence: before and after pictures are really good, and affidavits from contractors/handymen are useful too if the judge allows that in.  ALWAYS take timestamped pictures of the property BEFORE you rent it out.  Then, if your tenant substantially damages the property beyond normal wear and tear (the one's I've dealt with were broken windows, ripping out the flooring, removing wiring from the walls, etc) it's easy to prove with timestamped pictures.

Bakersfield is a great place for what you're looking for. I know you've had good luck before with condos, but the HOA fees can be high and during vacancies you still have to pay it, so I'm not a big fan myself. You can find SFRs and duplexes in that price range in Bakersfield.

You should contact a few attorneys and vet out the one who seems to have the most knowledge/experience with cotenancy disputes.  California courts have a legal process whereby the court can force a sale of co-owned property where the cotenants are disputing (common in divorces and family disputes with co-owned property).  It's costly and time consuming, but may be your only practical option to sell the property depending on the situation.

Nice to meet a fellow Bakersfieldian.  It's nice here in the smallest big city in Cali - and it's a popular place to invest in.  My clients that choose to buy "in state" as opposed to "out of state" love buying here and around Kern County because the prices are low and cap rates are high, which you just don't really see anymore in most of California.

The rental market is great here, so rentals tend to do really well here as an investment.  Appreciation in general is also very steady, even for multi-unit rental properties.  I will say that I and over 90% of my clients have exited the flip game entirely because the market for that has been over-saturated with investors the last year or two and there is very little money to be made now (for the amount of work flip projects are).  For every person I see selling a successful and profitable flip, I see 4 or 5 people who can't sell their flips right now.  Many of my clients end up renting those properties out as a backup strategy and inadvertently getting into the rental game, which is why pretty much all I see now is investing in rentals.  Stick with where the money is, that's what I say...

Just my observations!  Good luck with whatever your investment goals are!

For seller financing, you would want a real estate attorney to draft a promissory note which would detail the terms of the financing, and in California it should include a trust deed as security for the lender/seller.

Oildale is good for multi-units, as is the Northeast part of town in general.  There are also good multi-unit rentals near downtown and Oleander.

The flip market is over-saturated with mail marketers taking all the off-market leads for that, so it's proven tough for me and my clients when it comes to flips.  The best areas are generally the older neighborhoods in town: Oildale, La Cresta and College Heights, Oleander, etc.  Newer communities here tend to not have dilapidated homes that make for good flips, generally speaking.

In general, buy and hold has been raking in the best profits lately here, from what I've seen.