All Forum Posts by: Robert Marston

I can look up property information through my MLS. If ya send me the Address or APN I may be able to send you a screen shot of what I can see as far as title information, worst case I could do a title report for you, that'll show the title information also. PM me if ya want me to try this!!

East Oakland is the last place for residence in all of Oakland to go to find "affordable" housing. Outside of East Oakland if you wanna be in deep East Bay proper the next closest "affordable" neighborhood is Richmond, but you can't wear your "I Hella <3 Oakland" hoodie in Richmond and look sharp. 

Gentrification is happening, I remember when West Oakland was one of the least desirable neighborhoods, now I'm listing run down Victoria homes over there for $600,000 and selling them in the $700's a few days later. This money almost positively will pour further and further into East Oakland as time goes on HOWEVER I am inclined to believe that it will not happen as fast as it did in West Oakland. In three years that whole area did an 180, with that there is now a larger concentration of lower income families in Fruitvale, 98th and near the Colosseum. Rent Control is getting stricter in the short term, no way to tell what will happen going forward with the controls in place but the signs right now suggest appreciation in East Oakland will be a longer play than other parts of the region. 

Alameda County, but specifically Oakland is on a code enforcement march. When touring homes in East Oakland I notice there is a higher concentration of defects on the property than some of the neighboring areas(Tampering with electricity is the most common I see)- If Oakland comes in and makes owners bring these homes up to code before owners are able to make $ off of them then one could expect this to impact home values and rental rates! (Rents would probably go up via the Capital Improvement clause in rent control, only speculating here)

Hey @Jorge Barboza Jr. , congrats on getting your license and starting your Real Estate career! I work with Keller Williams and I enjoy where I hang my license. My personal market center offers classes daily on varying topics and we have speakers in from all sorts of industries all the time. Not all offices will be the same but KW was rated as the #1 company in training across all platforms by Training Magazine for 2017, so most of them are probably doing something right! KW offers a Mentor for your first few transactions which I found invaluable personally. If you have one in your area I'd recommend interviewing them!

Remember when interviewing Brokers that everything is negotiable! Go in full of confidence ready to crush it and ask them to pay for some of your start up costs! Getting a few For Sale &/or Open House signs and some business cards would be my minimum goal! Best of luck!! =)

How many years did you NOT raise the rents? I am almost certain you can "bank" years that you do not increase rents however you cannot do a yearly increase more than 3 times the CPI for the year (2% till June 30th, so a 6% total increase) and no matter the CPI you cannot adjust rents >10% in any one year.

You could earthquake retrofit the building and that would increase your value plus allow you to adjust rental rates based on that so long as you don't use any public monies or Insurance to pad your costs. This could be a good tool to protect your investment and get the rental increase to offset the costs. Not gonna get you to market rates I'm sure but it is the idea that popped into my head! =)

I live in San Leandro, pretty close to BART and I've been in contact with a few out of area owners about properties on W Juana, Carpenter and Clarke. I'm very surprised about the amount of prime Real Estate right here near BART that is neglected! If you want some help with comps or want to look at disclosures of similar properties in the area I'd be happy to help with that! If you wanna flip later this year watching homes that are for sale now and looking at their disclosures will help you to learn what is selling and what isn't in our market, allowing you to better tailor your flip! 

Not looking to put my hands on your deal(s) but if you are interested in picking my brain I'm down to chat with you and share my knowledge about the local stuff and things that may help you on the back end of your flip!

I have an owner on Clarke that will be selling around April, I'm hoping to leverage that deal into a few more of the fixers in the area myself!! Looking forward to seeing you our there flipping in the market soon! =)

@Benjamin Alesi Consider reaching out to your tax professional and asking them what your filing will look like if you get an RE license. The deductions you may be entitled to by carrying the license may negate the costs associated with obtaining it and can open doors to more deductions you have not been taking, (A Big Maybe..) 

Aside from that, I think the knowledge you'll get from taking the courses and obtaining a license will help you understand markets better and will open your networking opportunities up exponentially. In California we have high sales prices, you may find that you are able to recoup your license and fee outputs in one transaction! Make sure you are having fun!! =)

Real Estate Express is where I went for my California Real Estate Agent training. It was a simple system when I used it 4 years ago. I did not get any text books as I did not want to pay extra for them, I did get a book of practice exams to prep for the test 1 week before I sat and I think that helped me. When I signed up there as an option for an add on, something like "Pay a lot more and pass the first time guaranteed!" that I skipped also, so I cannot tell you if that was any good, lol.

I did not take the property management courses as I knew the broker I was signing with did not do property management, it also just wasn't my focus! I can't say that taking the course will 100% improve your odds of getting employed at a management firm but I cannot fathom how it would hurt your chances! 

Grats on the career change and I wish you the best of luck!! =)

Howdy!

I can give you a quick MLS snap shot for Fremont. 2016 saw 7 Sold Residential Income listings (These are properties listed as Duplex, Triplex, or fourplex.) 4 of those were Duplex with an average sales price of $873,125. 1 Triplex sold at $926,000 and 2 fourplex at an average of $1,185,000.

Currently, there are 3 listed for sale matching the above description, A duplex and 2 fourplexes. $690k, $1.4M and $2.1M. You'd need a good down to cash flow on these!

Fremont is in a great geographical area as it benefits from spill over from people in both San Jose and those in San Francisco who prefer commute vs high housing costs in the city proper, I do not think Fremont will appreciate like other cities in the Bay have but I think you can expect a constant steady appreciation for the foreseeable future, barring anything outlandish happening. Rents in Fremont are not increasing currently, according to the few places I keep an eye on rent prices might be coming down a tad. 

If you are interested in chatting about Bay Area investments I'd love to connect! =)

Howdy, if you head to http://www2.oaklandnet.com/government/o/hcd/s/Land...

you can view the most current rent adjustment regulations via the links there. Knowing all of this is going to be helpful, however if you zip to section 10(p25) I think you will find the answers to what you're looking for! Let me know if you have any questions after reading, I'd be happy to offer my input! 

If I do a straight up "Active Residential Income" search with a max of $425k I see 15 listed, almost all of which are duplexes in Oakland or Richmond that appear in need of extensive maintenance! Got a couple in Antioch too. Most would probably need to be cash deals and even state as much in the listings. 

East Oakland is a fascinating neighborhood, much like Richmond, these neighborhoods have not been overrun with big amounts of Bay Area Money, or at least yet. If you have the stomach for buying a property that needs some(much) attentive care and the patience to deal with a changing environment you might find some nice long-term wealth investing in these cities. If West Oakland is any indicator of the growth we can expect in East Oakland properties should appreciate well (Ah! I have to say though, investing with a big expectation on property appreciation is a gamble! Be safe with your monies!) 

If you choose to invest in these regions expect to bring your properties fully up to code if they are not already. The fire in Oakland shook the box and now code violations will be synched up to limit liabilities going forward(My opinion). Closing costs are high here too as point of sale requirements state Sewer Lateral must be in good order and auto gas valves must be present.(there is a small part of unincorporated Richmond that is excluded from this) High Transfer taxes in Oakland and you have to pay a city tax on your rental incomes($89 once then $13.95/$1,000 each year). Now, most of these closing costs are negotiable however even 50% of this could be more than 100% of costs in regions with less point of sale requirements. Just more things to consider when looking at the bottom line!

I'd be happy to discuss East Bay investments with you more if you'd like! Let us know of all your questions! =)