All Forum Posts by: Nic Williams

Hello- I'm a real estate agent and am listing 6 tenant occupied properties for a client.  I have a marketing flyer that I'd like to post to the Marketplace.  Is there a way to post a PDF flyer?  Is this something I'm allowed to do?  If not, what would you suggest is the best way to market these properties in the Marketplace and possibly other forums?  Thank you in advance for your help.

@Nicholas Henry if you have any plans of doing anything in the greater Sacramento area, I would definitely go with Metrolist. As previously mentioned, you often get access to different areas through your MLS, and Metrolist gives you Sacramento, Placer, Yolo, Yuba, Sutter, and Nevada counties. And through Metrolist you also get most of the Bay Area from what I can tell.

Hi @Yeng Hawj. I agree that it would be best to pay off your student debt, even if it means you wouldn't be able to put as much down on your new house. And I want to throw out another idea which people will have differing opinions on. Assuming you've paid your student loan off and put the rest down on your new house, at some point after buying your new house, you could take out a small HELOC to be used towards a future investment. My wife and I did this a couple years ago. We bought our primary residence in Sacramento in late 2015, took out a HELOC on our primary in 2016, then used it to fix up a new rental property that we bought in 2017. The beauty of it was that the HELOC just sat there with a $0 balance (no payment) until we needed it. Now the key to doing something like this is to make sure you use the HELOC for an investment that will more than cover the HELOC payment. And ideally you will eliminate the HELOC balance at some point by either refinancing into a fixed rate loan, selling the property for a profit, or by some other means. This can be a great way to ensure that you have "cash" ready to go when you need it. BUT I also want to emphasize that it should be done carefully with a well thought out plan, and hopefully a plan with multiple exit strategies.

Hi @Annie Levan.  Congrats on starting your real estate investing career! Here are my thoughts on this.

It is possible to do a rehab like this in one month if you are very involved with hiring and managing the people doing the work and you are able to keep things moving.  Or it could also be possible if you have someone like a general contractor lined up that can start and manage the work right when you close on the house. However, I think it would be good to assume the entire process (from close to close) could take up to 6 months. With contractors and other trades people being so busy right now, you could be looking at long lead times to get people in there. In addition, as was previously mentioned, things have a tendency to go wrong during projects like this which could result in delays.

Regarding the current market in Sacramento, things have slowed a bit in the last couple months. That’s not to say that a nice, well priced house won’t sell quickly and for top dollar. But overall we’re seeing more houses sit on the market for longer and we’re also seeing more price reductions.  

For the reasons described above, and with $2,000 per month for holding costs, I would definitely assume it will take more than 2 months total.  I suggest assuming 4 - 6 months to be safe.

While your holding costs and total project time are important factors, your rehab numbers and ARV are even more important. As others have mentioned, I completely agree that it is best to have a contractor that you trust view the house with you and give you realistic numbers. Regarding your ARV, it will certainly depend on similar and recent comps, especially considering what's been going on in the market recently. If you'd like me to send you some comps, please PM the address to me and I'd be happy to send some comps and give you my input.

Please let me know if you have any questions or need any additional info. Best of luck!

Will do @Geoff Chan!

Just sent it to you @Tara Wright!  

Hi @Ernesto Correa - I completely agree that it’s important to work with someone well versed in the CA laws and someone with experience working with investors. And it’s not imperitive that they be local.   I’m sure Katie will do a great job for you.  However, if it’s important to you to work with someone local, feel free to message me and and I’ll give you the name of my CPA.  She works and lives in Sacramento, has a ton of investor clients, and has been doing it for a long time.  Best of luck!

Welcome to BP and real estate investing @Daniel M.  I agree with what @Wes Blackwell had to say about "house hacking" which is buying a duplex, triplex, or fourplex and living in one unit while renting out the others.  From what you described about your goals and current job situation, this could be a great way for you to get started with investing, assuming your price point aligns with where you'd like to live and buy.  In addition, with your busy work schedule, you may be able to get multiple units without a whole lot more effort than buying a single family home!

You mentioned Yuba City in addition to Sacramento.  I'm originally from Yuba City and my wife and I have owned several rental properties there, and we still own 1.  If you'd ever like to discuss that area, please feel free to reach out to me.  Best of luck!  

@Zachary A. I was looking at a mobile home in Sacramento last year that needed a very similar amount of work done to it (maybe a bit more), and the comps were all in the same price range that you mentioned. It was also in a park and the monthly lot rent was in the $650 range if I remember correctly. The seller had it on the market for a few months at around $12k and couldn't sell it. I was planning to make an offer to buy it from him, but after speaking with a couple realtors I changed my mind. I was told by two realtors that the commissions for selling a mobile home like this would be in the $3k - $5k range depending on the brokerage, and that it is not uncommon for a mobile home to sit on the market for a long time. Considering the cost of realtor commissions (if I was going to sell it on the MLS), the monthly holding costs due to lot rent, and the inconsistent and low comps, I felt it wasn't worth the risk so I decided to pass. I wanted to share my experience because I assume other investors may have some of the same concerns that I did.

I also recently looked at a couple mobile homes in another park in Sacramento.  Both were owned by the park after they were basically foreclosed on when the owners stopped paying lot rent.  This particular park allowed owners to rent their mobile homes and they actually got pretty decent rents for them.  I know that most parks don't allow this, but it could be worth asking the park manager or owner if you could buy it and rent it.  Each of these mobile homes needed a significant amount of work, and the park wanted around $20k for each one, so I passed.  I think they just wanted to see if anyone was willing to pay that much, and if not, they were going to rent them out.  

If you decide to move forward, if you haven't already done so I suggest contacting Housing and Community Development (HCD) which regulates mobile home parks.  If you give them the decal number, serial number, and possibly another piece of info that I'm not remembering at the moment, they will give you title information and let you know if there are any outstanding fees or fines against the mobile home.  And if you decide to buy it, I believe you'll actually have to go to HCD and fill out some paperwork and pay a fee.  I don't know if contacting HCD is an actual replacement for using a title company (or if a title company is even needed when buying a mobile home), but the info I got from HCD was basically the same info you'd get from a title company.

Anyway, I hope this info and my experiences are helpful to you and not too discouraging.  Good luck!

Thanks for the info @Scott Wolf!