All Forum Posts by: Shamim Toufighian

@Manolo D. I think I know exactly who you're talking about. I know if I move farther out I can find a deal much more easily, however I'm hoping to stay closer to NELA-ish.

Welcome to BP!

Wow, we have a lot in common...

• I purchased a condo in Atlanta in 2004
• rode the wave, kept it rented and the value has gone back up, all while the mortgage being paid down
• run my own "business" (I do freelance development)

I have also saved up a good bit and deciding where to put it. Definitely interested in buy and hold, but seeing what works best for me, locally or out-of-state

 That's exactly what I'm hoping to do. My wife and I (and our 2 year old) are currently renting and are wanting to find a primary residence to owner occupy so we're not throwing our money away on rent. A 2-4plex is the only way we feel we can pull that off, being that the other units would help us cover the mortgage.

I own a property in Atlanta that we've bought and held for over 10 years now. I am familiar with that market, so we're considering investing over there.

Welcome to BP Judy! It's great that you have this drive at such a young age. Keep educating and connecting with as many people as you can. Everyone here is very welcoming and you can learn a lot and meet some great people.

@Manolo D. I'm curious to hear why you don't think buy and holds are good here. That's something I'm looking to get into.

Welcome to BP! I'm in the education phase as well. Just keep educating yourself and connect with as many people as possible. I've met/chatted with a lot of great people here and have learned a lot.

I live in Los Feliz, and while it's great, it's also very expensive. As @David Tipton mentioned, unless you have a really really good contributor, you'll need to consider other areas.

I'm personally looking into NELA.

@David Tipton Thanks, we get along well... but you never know when going into business together. I'm sure, as you said, if everything is defined carefully in advance, things should be fine and we won't want to kill each other. :)

@Will F. @Logan Allec What do you guys think?

Alright, so my brother and I both live in Los Angeles and we're both looking to get into REI. We both want to get a 2-4plex to owner occupy, but it's more difficult to finance if we go solo (but not impossible). If we were to do it together, we'd want to owner occupy a 4plex... meaning I would take one unit, he would take another, and we'd rent out the remaining two. Here's a list of pros/cons I came up with... how good/bad of an idea is this? Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated!

PROS

• have a better chance of purchasing a property
• gives us more options of what to purchase at a higher price point
• can share landlording responsibilities
• potentially putting in less of a downpayment, freeing up cash for another investment
• other stuff I'm sure I'm missing

CONS

• only two of the units would be rented out
• not getting the max rent from the unit the other brother is living in
• other stuff I'm sure I'm missing

 Definitely looking to buy and hold as a primary for my family and I. We drove through over the weekend and are really enjoying the area and the potential of what I can become.

@Joe Fairless I like that idea! And teamed up with me, his graphic design/web development brother, I think we could make some creative things happen. :)

@Francis A. Yup, @Will F. and I have been chatting it up and he's been very kind with offering advice. Everyone's so friendly here! :)