All Forum Posts by: Roseann Scrivens

This guy might be able to help: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dylan-shull-585366106/

In our coastal CA cities most 1-4 unit properties will not cash flow as you have found out. The easiest I have found is offsetting your living costs by buying a duplex. There are lots of ways lenders make buying hard, but the duplex has a lower bar than 3 or 4 units. Buy well and it will be cheaper than owning/living in your own SFR. It's a starting point and low risk.

The challenge up there is finding trustworthy reliable cleaning people. My parents run Mariposa Farmhouse bnb. I've been digging into some of the remote things I can help them with lately but I live in LA. There is an STR association up there, you may want to reach out to them?

Are you a property owner, investor, or project lead who could use a reliable, proactive assistant to help bring your vision to life?

I’m someone who rolls up my sleeves and gets things done. I found and purchased my current duplex off-market through my own research and direct outreach. I navigated LA City rent control regulations and successfully managed tenant relocation. I oversaw the renovation of the rental unit—handling subcontractors for electrical panel and plumbing updates—while personally tackling a wide range of hands-on tasks, including:

• Estate sale coordination and donation management
• Full landscaping turnover and replanting
• Plaster repair, painting, and baseboard work
• Underlayment installation and flooring replacement
• Sanding and repainting kitchen cabinets
• Selecting and updating cabinet hardware

I'm now looking to work with someone who can benefit from this type of on-the-ground support in the South Bay or Long Beach areas. Whether it's property prep, renovation help, or project coordination, I'm ready to contribute.

Let’s talk if you need an extra set of capable hands and a problem-solver by your side.

@Johnny McKeon 

Your potential rents of $3975*.75 = $2981

That is more than your PITI of $2624. So that property does meet the sustainability test, unless I'm missing something?

How does it work if there’s actual rents but potential rents are much higher? The place I’m looking at would meet the test if rents were at market rate.

Where can one find the SFR Handbook referenced? I have the same question in CA.

I found this helpful but still not an exact list of what constitutes "livable".

Thanks to: https://www.mortgage101.com/article/fha-203k-rehab-loan-program-guidelines

If you want to purchase a house that needs a lot of repairs before it is ready to be occupied, an FHA 203(K) loan can be used to complete the transaction. Traditional FHA financing requires a property to be in livable condition before closing. Not all properties are move-in ready; some require an extensive amount of rehab work before they are ready to be occupied. For this reason, traditional FHA financing is not available for the purchase of these properties.

If a person wants to purchase a property that needs repairs, the buyer would have obtain financing to purchase the property and then additional financing to complete the repairs. Often, a bank will not grant a mortgage on a house that is in bad shape until repairs have been completed on it, but you cannot have the repairs made until you buy the house. Talk about a catch 22! An alternative is the FHA 203(K) loan program.

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA), which is part of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), administers the FHA 203(k) loan program. This program makes it possible to purchase a property and include in the loan the cost of the repairs and improvements.

HUD does not make direct loans to people to buy houses. Instead, approved lenders throughout the country offer this loan because it is insured by the government. An FHA 203(K) loan is available only to people who will occupy the house. It cannot be used to purchase investment properties.

The loan program was designed to help with community and neighborhood revitalization as well as to expand home ownership opportunities. For this reason, the down-payment requirement is 3 percent of the total cost—acquisition and repairs.

In order to get an FHA 203(K) loan to purchase a property, a homeowner must meet requirements outlined by HUD. These requirements are as follows:

• The first step is to find a property that requires repairs before you can live in it. Submit an offer to purchase this house. Your purchase and sale contract must specify that you will be using an FHA 203(k). Your offer should be contingent on your getting approved for this loan.
• The FHA 203(K) loan is insured by HUD and only qualified lenders are approved to offer this loan. HUD can provide you a list of qualified lenders. You will need to submit your loan application to one of them. Since the loan includes rehab costs, you must include a detailed list of repairs that will need to be made and the cost for each repair.
• The lender you have chosen will have requirements that you must meet in order to qualify for the loan. These will usually include minimum credit scores, debt-to-income ratios and proof of income. You will need to meet all of the lender's requirements in order to be approved for the loan.
• Once your loan is approved, a date will be set for closing. At closing, the seller will be paid. The money for rehab costs will be placed into an escrow account that is controlled by the lender.
• After closing, your contractor will begin the rehab work. At certain milestones, the contractor will list work that has been completed. The lender will order an inspection to verify the work has been completed satisfactorily. If the work passes inspection, the lender will be paid from monies in the escrow account.

The FHA 203(K) allows a potential homeowner to purchase a home that requires repairs to bring the property into a livable condition.

Yosemite area is rural and home values don’t change all that much so don’t bet on appreciation. Yosemite area is great for bnb if you live local and can service it yourself or oversee housekeeping.  It is a challenging area to hire reliable housekeepers etc. my 2 cents, hope that helps. Plus congrats on your prior investments, Oakland has done a 180.

My mom runs an Air BnB 15 miles north of Mariposa. She is booked virtually non-stop in the summer months. Most of her guests are international (which is pretty cool). Because she is 15 miles north, and out of the way she has only sporadic guests in the colder months. I believe that if she were in Mariposa or Midpines she could be booked more consistently and charge higher rates. I believe that Oakhurst is a good option as well, but will have similar constraints.

There is a very small labor pool, and also impoverished people problems in Mariposa i.e. drugs, reliability issues etc. There is a huge demand for local rentals and not enough available. Maybe there is a way to leverage this if you have a multi unit property, you could have a live-in groundskeeper who helps with your BnB cleaning etc and provides year round rental income? Just an idea.

Yosemite has very steady and growing international tourism numbers. The town of Mariposa is essentially the gateway to Yosemite valley. Mariposa has a very high demand for summer vacation rentals as well as a lack of rental properties across the board. Unless you are going to be there to manage the BnB, finding reliable people to do it for you will be hard, because of the small local population.