All Forum Posts by: Roderick Brenes

@Alec Cruz I'm living out of town. Managing myself isn't an option

@Ben Leybovich @Ron Drake Just looking to buy and hold, not depending on it for income

I can see that the answer to my question is basically, NO, my expectations are not realistic for true positive cash flow.

My strategy is just buy and hold, so I guess if everything I'm looking at is cash flow negative, then I will just focus on the areas I want rather than the exact numbers. I'm not looking to buy distressed properties or whole sale or any of that other stuff to get deep enough discounts.

@Jon Holdman Thanks for your calculations! Does BP have a calculator I can refer to?

I'm trying to figure out this 35% rule as I saw it mentioned a few time I the forum. Does it mean that for a place that rents at $1100, the ideal mortgage payment you should shoot for is $715?

1100 - .35(1100) = 715

I'm only looking at single family homes right now @James Syed thanks!

I have always had to sign a year lease when renting. However, when bought a rental last year and I suggested this to my property management company they acted like it was out of the ordinary to ask someone to sign a year lease. My father says that it's not the norm. Is this local culture or is there even a standard?

so on a home that rents for 1200 per month you would account for 420 per month or year for upkeep?

I think for these areas I could get max 1300 for rent. Normally 1100-1200 would be reasonable. What calculator are you using @Jon Holdman ? I'm kind of a dummy when to comes to the numbers  I was just using $100 as an arbitrary number so I know that I'm making something more than my mortgage so I can approximately account for vacancies and upkeep and break even for the year  

What did you mean they account 35% for upkeep @Jeff Zimmerman ?

Basically, I've just been looking and surprised how hard it is to find something with good rent/mortgage ratio. Homes selling for 215k are barely renting for 1200. I'm doing 20% down and when I account for property management it always turns out to cost me more than I make!

I'm looking to buy a single family home around Spring 2015 in the Central Valley area of California, namely Turlock, Modesto, Patterson, or Salida. My goal is to buy a home in the $180-$215k range, with no major updates needed. I would like to have a property management company manage it for me, and make $100 positive cash flow per month.

I'm pretty new to real estate, though I do have one rental that pretty much fits this bill. I bought it in 2013.

Is this still a realistic goal for this area in 2015? Sometimes I feel like it's a bit of a whirlwind of price increases and fast buying/selling. I'm not sure if I need to temper my expectations or stick to my guns.

Thanks for any insight!

(first post on forum)