All Forum Posts by: Ryan R.

Hi all, Has anyone seen this new company Properly (https://properlyrent.com/)? They seem to be a pretty close competitor to Cozy. As I work on the closing for my first property I've been researching Cozy, Tenant Cloud, Rentalutions, and now Properly. Looks like I still have a lot to consider, but I was just curious if anyone had actually started using Properly. Thanks, Ryan

@Don Johnston Yep! So the we ultimately pulled out of the deal after it turned out two of the three units were not legal. That combined with the property being zoned solely for a SFR really made it hard for us to move forward knowing all of that.

So now we just had an offer accepted on a three unit multifamily in North Park and are starting the process all over again. However, I made some awesome connections through the process with the house in National City and can't say enough good things about some of the people I met.

@Sarah D. Thanks for the input and how it all went down for you. It's always nice to see people on the same journey doing well.

@Justin R. Perfect, I'll be sure to reach out to @Jake Thompson. And my fiancee and I both agree. We definitely want to start out house hacking for that invaluable experience you can only gain when doing things yourselves. 

@Dan H. That's definitely good to hear about your properties you've purchased over time and their current market values. It makes things not appear so bleak here in San Diego. As for the negative cash flow, it depends. Right now I pay $1,500 in rent each month. My fiancee lives at home. By house hacking, we would use the one unit as our primary residence for as long as was needed. Even to the point of living their long term and finding additional deals in places like Ohio, such as suggested by @Michael Swan.

@Joseph Moudni I have not been using the rental calculator Brendon provides. I've been using a separate calculator I created. However, it certainly doesn't hurt to run numbers through Brendon's calculator as well. Thanks for the idea.

@Michael Swan @Rami W. @Carlton Perkins @Account Closed Thanks for the responses. I really appreciate you all taking the time to look over this deal with me. I agree with your assessments, it's definitely looking more interesting, in a not so good way, the more I read what you all have to say. 

Provided we walk away from this then, is the best approach for a newbie investor just to invest away from San Diego? It seems like numbers here are pretty bad, if you don't try and factor in appreciation or having the property act as  your primary residence for quite a number of years. My hope was to get out of my rental and into a property where I could house hack, get a decent investment property education and property itself under my belt, and set myself up for moving on to the next property. Ideally, we were hoping to do at least a property a year each of the next five years.

I forgot to add the financials that were provided from our mortgage guy:

And yes, we would be house hacking this as long as we needed to.

Hi All,

In advance, thank you for any and all help/advice you are able to provide. My fiancee and I have an accepted offer on a duplex in San Diego, very close to San Diego State in a great neighborhood. The terms of the deal would be we pay the downpayment (FHA 3.5%), and the sellers pay all closing costs. The purchase price is $615,000. Rents are currently $1,350 and $1,450 per month (with a projection of rents being raised to around $2,000/month each. We would be living in one of the units and renting out the other until we save enough to move on to our next property.

We have been working with our real estate agent, who has been investing in San Diego for quite a long time. His words exactly regarding this property are:

I'm trying to get assistance on whether this is a good deal. I understand that San Diego is not a typical market like much of the rest of the country, and that margins are much tighter here. That said, even though the cash flow is at best break even, there is the debt pay down, tax benefits, and appreciation (understanding of course this is speculation) to consider in our favor. 

With all that in mind, what do you guys think about this deal?

@Manolo D. Three different contractors came out last week. I would have thought the bids would have been in by now, but who knows. I have calls in to each contractor, so hopefully we should hear back shortly.

As for the deal, we're just confirming that two of the units are properly permitted. There seems to be a discrepancy that has popped up in the last three days. If that can resolve itself, and show that all three units are legal, then we are in business. However, if not, then we will walk. It seems like too expensive of a process to try and legalize two units on top of other issues we would have to fix.

@Dominic Battezzato Perfect, I'll definitely reach out as we move forward. @Bruce May Thanks for the advice. That definitely sounds like a good plan of attack.

The contractors have gone through the property. Now we are just waiting for the bids to come back. In the interim, we are waiting to confirm the property is fully and legally permitted. If not, we may be backing out of this deal. Who knows, we'll see what tomorrow brings. Always something.

Alan Sweeten Thanks for the recommendation. Between your recommendation and Dan Heuschele recommendation, I've solidified two bids. Thanks!