All Forum Posts by: Robin J.

Adding on to this thread here - wholesalers and investors feel free to PM me and I will help you find buyers/lenders. I'm currently partnering with a team of experienced, motivated investors who can act quickly and decisively.

Thanks Sean for the awesome advice! Your input here, especially as a professional architect, is truly helpful and appreciated. Looking forward to catching up at the next Bay Area meetup

Hi everyone, I'm a new real estate investor out here in the Bay Area. As most of you already know, supply is extremely thin out here and great deals come at a premium.

I have two questions to ask for the expert wholesalers out here:

1. As a wholesaler, how do you choose which investor to wholesale your deals to? I would love to be a part of the top list of wholesalers in my area, but unsure of where to start to build those relationships. What would you do if you were me to try to help other wholesalers, demonstrate value/reputation, and build those relationships?
2. Not a full-time wholesaler, but I believe that the only way to find good deals is to access off-market deals. I'm currently looking into a few strategies, one of which includes cold-calling, attending networking events, and door-knocking. Is this the right place to get started? Are there more effective strategies I can look into?

It's impossible to time the market and can't predict the future. There are so many different forces at play that could impact the stock market and/or the real estate market. I have missed out on some gains by choosing to hold my cash liquid (not all of it though) instead of investing it somewhere. My rationale for this is that I am more comfortable with having a guaranteed amount rather than a portion of that loss because I want to be ready at any point to pull the trigger on a potential real estate deal. In the event of any market correction or decline, that significantly reduces my ability to quickly move on deals. The reverse is also true as well so in the end it just matters how much risk you're willing to take and what you're comfortable with

Hey BiggerPockets,

For markets that are super competitive and where property owners are reluctant to sell their homes, it's challenging to get these properties at a discounted market value. Property owners are familiar with the value in their homes, and often price fixer uppers at a premium given the competitiveness and limited supply of the market. I was thinking about an approach where you don't buy the property itself, but somehow creatively acquire a piece of the equity.

I was wondering if any investor has ever tried to acquire equity in a property that's for sale by offering to pay for rehab expenses of a home, and taking a portion of the sales proceeds? The value for the property owner seller in this scenario is that they often get a premium when their homes are remodeled and looking new from non-investor buyers. This strategy would be to get more equity out of fixing the home and give a small fee to the current property owner as a cooperative benefit.

This idea wasn't fully fleshed out so hoping this becomes more crystallized with more discussion.

Adding my two cents here - I think Oakland will be the next (or already is) place for younger professionals in the Bay Area to live and socialize in. As the area gets safer and more cleaned up, the reluctance to move to Oakland will be minimized and a lot of people will come out here seeking cheaper rents and getting out of the crowded city. While I'm not saying that Oakland will overtake San Francisco anytime soon, I believe the population growth is big enough where Oakland is also seeing a portion of this growth.

I am long bullish on Oakland and barring some crazy event where tech collapse and all tech professionals move out of the Bay Area, I think this will become a prime location.

Feel free to PM me if you like to chat. I'm always looking to meet investors who are interested in the Oakland markets

Well said. With Oakland it is so true that the quality of the neighborhood is so different block by block - you really have to drive to the property to get a feel for the surrounding areas.

Regarding your strategy with market rents versus discounted rents with long-term tenants, I think it's dependent on the risk profile of the investor. As you mentioned, the potential returns are higher when you have market rents because you are getting more cash flow, but in the event of the downturn you are not as protected. Thanks for sharing your advice here

Hey Wayne, welcome to BP and am excited for your investing progress. I'm curious to know why you want to stay in the residential multifamily space and if you plan to live in the property yourself. With your budget, you could probably afford some of the multi-families in Berkeley, Oakland, Hayward, San Leandro, and the rare multifamily on the Peninsula.

With regard to your criteria for cash flow, as others mentioned, it can be impacted by your down payment percentage. Do you have an idea of how much cash flow you want and how much down payment you are willing to put? This is often referred to as the cash on cash percentage metric and different markets will have varying rates. It's up to you to decide how much return/risk you want from your cash investments.

If you're interested, I am currently involved in getting off market deals in the multi family space around your budget level, and can keep you posted on opportunities that we find. PM me if you're interested

Hi all,

I'm a new investor to the fixer-upper game, but generally have been interested in buy and hold strategies. I've found a run-down property I like where I'd like to live in an ADU and rent out the house long-term. Couple questions I'd love to get BP's input on:

1. When looking at properties with illegal units/construction, what's the best way to approach the execution process? I've listed my high level outline below, and welcome any feedback.
   • 1 - obtain all building permits for the property - understand what's legal and what's not
   • 2 - talk to the city development person to see whether I can legalize the current illegal units and bring it to code, or if I'll have to remove it
   • 3 - after understanding what needs to be done with the property, talk to a home inspector to identify which units are in compliance and what's not (also get all the standard inspection items)
   • 4 - work with a general contractor to get a $ quote for necessary jobs on the property
   • 5 - bake those numbers into analysis to determine whether to buy
   • 6 - discuss property details with lender and get an appraiser's input
   • 7 - submit offer after passing all criterias
2. As a first time home buyer, what else have I missed? This feels like more of an advanced deal to take on, but I view this as a good learning experience, whether or not I actually go through with it.
   • Any advice on how to structure the offer (e.g. contingencies)?
   • How to make sure I fully understand potential financing options? Given that bank lenders will only lend for the appraised sq. footage, should I negotiate the price down with the seller to account for this?

Also, for local investors, do you guys have any recommendations for contractors, architects, and inspectors out here in San Francisco / Peninsula? I've largely been looking through Yelp, but any input here would be super helpful!

Thanks all in advance.

Angela -- could you clarify your thinking here? I get the value of vacant rental properties since you remove the rent control status on your property out in Oakland, but isn't that already priced in the selling price of the property? I assume two equal properties, one vacant and the other occupied by tenant, the vacant one sells at a premium for this reason.

Is it quite as simple just to find any vacant property and bump rent without rent control? I assume other numbers have to fall in-line (e.g. market rental rates, expenses, location potential, etc.)