All Forum Posts by: Michael T.

@Jonathan Taylor thank you for posting this and congratulations!

While Los Angeles is a very difficult market to cash flow, if you're willing to do the work and be patient there are great opportunities to find a multi unit that will allow your money to work for you.

NACA is a great program for the Los Angeles market!

For those that have to live in Los Angeles the best options instead of just renting are; finding a multi unit and using programs such as the NACA or FHA.

By doing these things it will create great wealth in the future.  As @Russell Brazil has mentioned before, why allow your landlord to build wealth off of you and miss out on the debt pay down, and appreciation you'll experience while owning your personal residence.

Great job! @Joe Prillaman This is exactly why OOS investing can be so powerful, you can make your money work for you!  

For anyone new to out of state investing you can take this example and apply it in your own life and if you've ran the numbers and are confident it will most likely work in your favor!

How much money did you put into the whole deal?  While the cash flow may not seem very high it can be deceiving depending on what your Internal Rate of Return is.  

What are your returns?

Tony, the best option to move them from your name will be an LLC. However, if they are still mortgaged there is the potential the bank will question the move the the LLC and call the loans due but most likely not.

You can do the refinance in your own name and don't have to move them to LLC's.

In regards to the Detroit property depending on the value of the property and the current loan it may be in your best interest in just trying to sell it.  No reason to hang on to it if it's a money pit.

Get it off your books, just sell it.

@Adrian Kar, I agree happy wife, happy... the American dream lives on.  Honestly, there are good opportunities here in the Los Angeles area and as @Account Closed mentioned it's just a matter of doing the leg work to get the right deal.

My wife and I purchased a multi-unit here in the Los Angeles area a few years ago and it took some effort, however, the appreciation has been great, the rent has been good and we've already refinanced and done a HELOC on the property.

With the money we've gained from appreciation we've purchased a few additional out of state cash flowing properties and will be starting the process of looking for another multi-unit for ourselves on the West side.

In my opinion you're on the right track, don't get discouraged and if you need anything from me let me know.

James, congratulations on the move to Oxnard!  Oxnard is a great place to be as it's close to Ventura, Thousand Oaks, Malibu, beautiful beaches and some great state parks.

There are definitely a few differences between Oxnard and Camarillo from a housing expense perspective as Oxnard is about 15-20% less than Camarillo.  Camarillo is more white collar and the income per capita and household is much higher versus Oxnard.

There are quite a few options from an investment perspective for both cities, however, it depends on what you want to achieve.  

Similar to you when I moved to Los Angeles a few years ago we had to decide whether to continue to focus on OOS cash flowing properties or buy something here in Los Angeles that would appreciate and have our renters pay a portion of our rent.

We decided to buy our multi-unit here in Los Angeles and we are extremely happy we did as the home as significantly appreciated and we've completed a refinance and a HELOC since our purchase and have purchased more OOS cash flowing properties with the money we've gained.

My recommendation based on my experience is to buy a multi-unit in the Oxnard area and have your tenants pay a portion of your rent and then let appreciation do it's job.  In a few years you'll be able to refinance and do more OOS investing.

If I was available this weekend this would actually be one of the highlights of 2019 for me!  Literally, I would fly in just to spend some time with Mindy, Carl, the MMM Team and others that live there in the area.

Next time I will make it!

Stacee, it's great you have someone you trust in another state and that individual can be your boots on the ground, however, since she has limited real estate experience you'll still have to do some leg work in this process.  

Either you or your friend can identify through BiggerPockets or by google a local realtor, a local contractor and a local property management company.  Once you've identify a few of each you can task your friend with following up on the legitimacy of the team you're putting together.

The first place to start is with identifying a realtor, contractor and property manager.  Again, have her do the follow up work and things will get rolling from there.

Pay her a fee for the work she does and determine approximately how much time it would take to do these tasks so it doesn't become a full time 40 hour per week job.

Anthony, congratulations and welcome!

Yes, it's very exciting to be here in Los Angeles especially for the opportunity to create forced appreciation in a flip.  There are a few areas that are gentrifying and have good opportunity for profit.

I've done a live-in flip here in Los Angeles and as long as you find the right contractors then it can be a good experience and you can make good money.

In my opinion there are for sure two things that need to be done in order to make the flip work well here in Los Angeles.

1.  it's all about finding the property at the right price so you still have a good margin and you can force the appreciation.

2. finding the contractor who is going to give you accurate pricing and accurate time frame is critical.  There are very good contractors here in Los Angeles and I'm more than happy to give you a few recommendations.

Welcome!  As you mentioned this is now your time to start focusing on getting to the next level which is very exciting.

You'll learn there are multiple options to invest in real estate whether it is here in California or out of state.  The great thing is you'll have a very strong community here to help you through it.

Michael – RE/MAX Estates – Real Estate Agent in Los Angeles, CA - License #02074535 

Boris,

There are numerous people here on BP from Southern California that feel the same as you about how high the prices are and the concerns of investing in Southern California, however, in order to be successful in real estate investing you have to take action.

While you're concerns of investing here in Southern California is valid you have a few options.  My recommendations are; 

1. Take the money you do have an invest somewhere in the mid-west into cash flowing assets. There are SFR's that you can purchase under $100k that will cash flow and appreciate.

2. Buy a multi-unit or something that will sure appreciate quickly here in Southern California.  By buying a multi-unit here you will be "house hacking" and with either the additional income or the forced appreciation you can start investing out of state for cash flow purposes.

If you don't take action whether it be here in Southern California or OOS you will have the same questions in another 10 years.

Michael – RE/MAX Estates – Real Estate Agent in Los Angeles, CA - License #02074535