All Forum Posts by: Nabil Suleiman

@Cynthia Alexandra Sanchez

Hi Cynthia, Just wanted to say that if you are looking to non owner occupy whatever unit you plan on purchasing, FHA has restrictions against that. You can FHA if you are buying something in So Cal that you plan on living in, but you will not qualify for it out of state. For a majority of non owner occupied units you will generally be asked to put 25% or so down in order to purchase. VS out here if you are owner occupied you can do 3% Conventional or 3.5% FHA.

As for side hustles, it will depend on your life situation. If you have time then there are plenty of things you can do. I would say resource wise, communities on reddit provide incredible feedback to people looking to do things via amazon, or online sales. Theres always ways to make money outside of our 9-5's. I can't remember the last time I only had one job myself :). 

@Matt Twaddell

The competitive environment in LA is the same in Big Bear, but the prices are just different. If you are looking for a personal property the way you look at your investment should shift dramatically. Depending on where you live now, how much you pay to live there and the amount of time you are going to stay in the home you are buying will shift how your decision is made. For a lot of the people I work with that look for what you are looking for, we often shoot for homes that need love so you can force equity into them, but looking at ARV's of today wont honestly matter. The biggest thing for you will be rent vs PITI and if your future value and potential ADU income is worth the initial investment now. As for the team, you really only need a good agent and a good lender for now, meeting a contractor at this point wont be much other than an intro, your agent will likely have good GC's for you to work with once you get into the thick of it. Until then most GC's are incredibly busy and wont dedicate time to something until you are under contract. You don't need an appraiser relationship for what you are looking to do. As for property managers, if its LA, you will likely be your own.

Just remember everything you do in LA as owner occupied is long game, what can you buy, and at what interest rate. take your profit in 2 years tax free (up to 250 as an individual) and move onto the next one. Or hold and rent the front house and ADU and cash flow. Do a cash out refinance and repeat. aka the BRRR strategy but at a much slower pace then how people do it in the mid west :)

@Tyler Strauss Ill send you a PM of one that does quite a few out here. 

@Christopher Boshae

I did the opposite of Lee and just took action on properties. None were turnkey, all took an incredible amount of upfront costs, and each have become an incredible asset. You just have to know what type of stress/risk you are comfortable with.  Like Lee said the concept of a deal in LA is not something you find, run numbers on and it works. The creativity behind what makes deals, deals out here is not always clear, and it will take learning or for some (like me) taking action and learning through those mistakes. 

@Nema Escartin

Hi Nema, I have had this conundrum with what to do as well many times. I have looked at Texas many times as well, but just remember their property tax is not friendly, and our income tax (CA) is not friendly, so depending on what you buy and how much you make it can be a double whammy. I have a few ADU's in LA and they rent within days. its a heavy up front cost, and depending on your goals now or into the future it can be a nice ROI. Additionally, if you sell it in the future, there are plenty of buyers looking for SFH with ADU's for parents or to reduce their monthly PITI. In terms of loans you choose, I would just repeat what Dan said, a lot of areas in LA have ADU's to comp properties out on now, it will just depend on where you are.

@Matt Twaddell

Those are two very different areas, I can't speak for big bear, but for LA I would be curious to what you are looking to accomplish first, because the referrals for each of those things changes depending on your goals. 

@Ashley Woody

You don't have to use your license if you don't want to, it can be something you have as a backup plan if you build those relationships (this would be the first thing to do above all else) The only issue I see with being a full project manager is managing the construction part of it, until you learn each step in the building process someone may not trust you know how to manage those aspects. As for the design part, sometimes its just working for people at a low cost until you build enough of a following that the only thing you do for people is design. Some people I know have done this successfully would be 1000Xbetter. She started off staging, and some parts of design, and now she's a full fledge specialized designer and stager. She's one of many, but now she charges extreme prices and her book of business is full. 

@Nina Marie

HI Nina, I just wanted to mention that depending on what you are learning about house hacking through either podcasts, reading forums, or books, remember that places like Los Angeles are very different in numbers, expenses, taxes etc, so the calculators will tend to also be giving us a lot of red when we input numbers :). I generally tend to always agree with everything Jon says when he comments, so I can't add much here for you. The only other piece to remember is the concepts around ADU'S. Those are a key piece to how we can find cashflow in LA. Ive done it a few times for myself as well as investors. The upfront costs are heavy, but the forced appreciation and potential of actually finding a 1% rule exists because of it. House hacking can be a wonderful tool in those respects,

Hope you find what you are looking for. 

Nabil

@Ashley Woody 

Ashley, Becoming a flipper is a dream for many on this forum and for many that have yet to discover it. It is more common that people take on projects that don't go well vs those that do. This is generally because of the immediate desire to doing a flip often times overrules the math behind accomplishing it. If the talents you claim to have are true, finding someone who is already doing flips should not be the most difficult thing to do, I would offer your design services for free with a contract to sell the home. This is exactly what someone I know does, (I knew the flipper before him). He also has your skills with a real estate license. He  is now a trusted advisor for all the flips this guy does, takes no risk in the investment, gets paid to design and get paid to sell the home. That would be the route that sounds like you can learn, and utilize all the skills and licenses you have. Just a thought. Good Luck.

@Kevin Gasper

LA is a tough cookie, just remember that a lot of what you read on BP or hear in podcast does not necessarily work everywhere. like Mark said above, he bought a property, house hacks, but still pays Into his mortgage vs many others you may read live for free.. use 1 or 2% rules etc.. But then also keep in mind that he said his place appreciated 50k in one year... thats also very much LA. Just make sure the choice you make you can afford alone, and that the house hacking just allows your to reduce that payment and invest the rest to grow your wealth, and if the market shifts you are still ok, and you can still rent the rooms. Analyze, and take intelligent action. Good luck!