All Forum Posts by: Ricardo Zuniga

Can anyone provide a referral for a good Realtor in the Woodland Hills, California area? Looking for someone tha is very connected with the area and access to of market properties. Thank You.

Looking for some advice. I have a 3bed 1 bath with a 2 car detached garage. Located in Lake Balboa Area of the Valley. I am looking into converting the garage into an ADU and rent it out for additional income. I am considering playing the long game with this property. Bought it in 2016 and has currently appraised $150K from the time I bought it. Eventually looking into renting out the entire property and moving into a new home. Can someone assist with the process of converting the garage into a rental unit and how to go about getting the permits for it. Also what would an approximate cost be for the conversion. It will have its own entry way. Garage already has its own door entry and windows on each side with 2 solar panels on the roof. Would like to keep it simple small standing shower. Any assistance or recomendations are greatly welcomed.

The 2yr waiting period kills the deal with exemption on capital gains since we've only been in it for 6months. That will be too big of a hit on our profit. I'm trying to be creative on how to maximize in order to gain another property.

Sri thanks for the info. I have received comps in the area that I am at and it looks like between $550k-$560K being that it is fully remodeled compared to others in the market. Say I could sell in that price range would it be a good solution to go with option 2. I would like to see what people have to say on the pros and cons of it.

Hello Forum,

My name is Ricardo I live in Southern California in Reseda Adjacent to Encino and Lake Balboa. I would like any advice or recommendation on my current situation. My wife and I bought our first home 6 months ago for the price of $490,000 its a 3Bed 1 bath with a 2 car detached garage and fully remodeled home. We currently owe $470,000 on a 30yr Fix at 3.85% FHA loan. The property when purchased got appraised for $560K. I am looking at what options I may have to maximize on my opportunity to invest in rental properties.

1. I was looking into refinancing into a conventional loan and get rid of the PMI but now interest rates have gone up. I don't know if that still makes sense. I also wanted to pull some money out and convert the garage into a rental.

2. Another option I had in mind is sell the property and try to get top value for it. Then buy a smaller 2bed 1 bad property in a better area. Put a portion of the profit down and use the rest to convert the property into a 3bed 2bad which will increase the value of the home and gain my equity back and then some and have a lower payment in order to buy a rental property.

What I am trying to accomplish  is a way to use my profits to have leverage on buying rental properties. Any suggestions or comments on what will be the best practices on this situation will be greatly appreciated. 

Thanks Todd for the info. Thats what I am hearing also. I do plan on doing a refi into a conventional once the 6 months are up. I also plan on soon after renting out the house and buying a new one. Is there any rule on being able to do another FHA again right after? Knowing that my first property will be a conventional once I do the refinance.

Looking for some advice. I just recently purchased a SFH using FHA in Los Angeles. I got the house for $490,000, I put 5% down. It apprised for $560,000. How soon will I be able to refinance the property and get rid of PMI? I've heard form people that I would have to wait 6 months to refinance the property. If someone can give me some clarity on this that will be helpful thank you.

I've tried conventional and won't qualify for it. Best option is FHA. Thank for the feedback. Also how good are the chances of going FHA with a 203K loan attached to it in getting a foreclosures instead and rehabbing it to make it livable? How difficult is it to have a buyer accept this type of loan knowing that others would come in with cash offers?

I am currently in the process of purchasing a single family home from a flipper who bought the house late January. I'm using an FHA loan to purchase it from him but under FHA the property has to be purchased 90 days out before we can go into escrow. Is there any way around the 90 days rule for purchasing a property by using FHA?

Hi BiggerPockets community my name is Ricardo from Encino California. I am a new member here on the site and new real state. I stumbled onto the site on a road trip back from San Francisco with my GF by searching top real state investment podcast. I wanted to find out more about real state investing how people do this, how can they afford it and how do you get started? Which lead me to reconsider my entire outlook on real state and investing. I am currently renting looking to buy my first property. I went from thinking about buying a house and living in it for the rest of my life to telling myself no way this won't cut it. After going on BiggerPockets and listening to the podcasts I now have a whole different perspective. I am interested in purchasing a duplex or triplex to live in 1 for the first year and rent out the others. I am looking to do an FHA loan and put down 3 1/2 % down with possibly adding a 203k loan for repairs. I have spoken to a couple of realtors and I am not getting much information as I thought I would. It seems to me the ones i've spoken with are not as familiar with investments in real state. I want to make sure that my first move allows me to grow my business and gives me options for future investments. If anyone has any good investment realtors and loan officers that deal with long term investments in my area that you would recommend it would be greatly appreciated. Also any thoughts from experience investors on my approach ill be glad to hear back. My goal is to buy and hold eventually grow into apartment buildings. I am excited to be part of this community and hope to contribute in which ever way I can.