All Forum Posts by: Ross Kane

A condo HOA can decide there are already too many rentals in the community and prevent you from renting yours. A condo HOA can decide they want to replace all the roofs, but if the bank account is low, hit you with a $5,000 special assessment. A condo association can get in legal trouble and banks won't lend to prospective buyers, making it nearly impossible for you to sell your condo. Those examples are not the worst thing that can happen to you.

Condos are a much riskier investment than a SF rental because you control so much less of the deal. Buy a condo at your own peril.

wow thanks for letting me know about the risks, and about long distance investing.

0 Votes

Los Angeles County, California

Quote from @Greg Scott:

Ross:

Here are my thoughts:

1) "As is" basically says to me they do not intend to give a discount because you suddenly realized the roof needs replacing. They want you to bring an offer based on its existing condition. "As is" means nothing to me because I would only every make an offer based on its existing condition. If a inspection uncovers something hidden, I would still renegotiate or walk away.

1a) I would never buy a condo as an investment for many reasons. Its too much to get into here.

2) I have had rental properties in 6 different states while living in Michigan. You can do it too. California is not a great place to have residential real estate for the reasons you mentioned.

2a) Don't get freaked out about all the other things that *might* go wrong. If you want to worry about things, you should be aware that asteroid may hit the earth at any moment and destroy all life. (Note: it is hard to convey sarcasm in a forum post but that was intended to be sarcastic.)

Good luck.

thank you greg.

I used to be against condos because I didn't want to deal with hoa, I believe they are all crooks who steal money and they take away many of your freedoms (you can't park your bike here, why did you scratch the tile here)

However, I realized for a noob who doesn't know what the hell he is doing, a condo is much less risky than a house. I think there is less compliance issues, with a house the city is always sending you bs letters that you have to comply with. or a pipe bursting or someone falling in the parking. the hoa takes care of all these and takes these risks for you.

I get the asteroid thing, just because there are drunk drivers out there you can't sit at home and be afraid to drive, I get all that, but these nasty lawyers will gladly gladly gladly destroy your life over the silliest thing.

0 Votes

Los Angeles County, California

Hi guys

I am planning to buy my first property soon. I am thinking a duplex. Maybe with tenants already in place. I am feeling overwhelmed and have many questions. But at this point I am going to reduce it to 2 questions so I don't give you a headache.

1) if a property is being sold as is, is that an automatic disqualification? I am thinking why would a seller sell as is when he can sell normal and get a higher price? how much less should a property be sold because of as is disclosure? 20% less? Right now I am looking at a condo that's in foreclosure and as is, the price is a little too good to be true.

2) I am in California, an anti-landlord anti-business state. I don't know how to be a landlord and protect myself against crazy tenants. I've been reading about LLC protections and many sources that seem to be reliable say that a single member LLC is useless and judges pierce the corporate veil on these all the time. The judge will say this LLC is a sham and you and the LLC are the same. should I have a fake partner (not that the partner doesn't exist, but he contributes $1 to purchase the property) so that it's not a single member LLC? some people are saying save your $800 and buy umbrella insurance. But umbrella insurance doesn't protect against many things like mold. I don't know what to do to best protect myself, and one problem is I also don't know how likely these events are. Like are we talking about winning the lottery or landlords get sued for mold all the time? Another advice I have been given is "just be a good landlord" but that doesn't protect me against crazy tenants and ambulance chasing lawyers who would be happy to destroy my life.

0 Votes

Los Angeles County, California

hi guys

I am new to real estate market. I am looking at this property

12906 venice blvd 90066

price is $1495000

As you can see in the listing, they claim this property is rented at $10,000 a month

$120,000 / 1495000 = 8%

any idiot (even me) knows in Los Angeles you would be lucky to get a cap rate of 4%

what's going on here? is this a fake listing? why is nobody buying this property?

0 Votes

All Forum Posts by: Ross Kane

Ross Kane has started 2 posts and replied 4 times.

Post: LLC piercing corporate veil

Post: LLC piercing corporate veil

Post: LLC piercing corporate veil

Post: 8% cap rate in Los Angeles? wtf?