All Forum Posts by: Kyle J.

@Allen Lopez Well now that you tell us she’s offering you $1600, I think that’s more than fair. 

She can’t help that the ceiling needs to be repaired (“demoed and redone” according to you). So it’s a significant repair.

Look at it this way, if this didn’t happen now, it was definitely going to happen in 6 months when your lease is up. And at that time, you’d still have to move and all those same expenses you claim you have now (e.g. moving expenses, cost to change your address on driver’s licenses, moving utilities, etc). However, I guarantee you the landlord wouldn’t be offering you $1600 then. She’d be offering you zero because your lease would be up.

So take the $1600 offer and enjoy your new leak-free (and mold-free) apartment. 

@Andrei Wogen  Never heard of them.  However, if this is the website you're referring to (which I just found on a Google search), then you should avoid them as it's clear they're not a real lender. 

I go into detail about how to spot these fake lenders in other posts I've written, like in my response under this thread here: How do I spot scam lenders?

(Or in a eerily similar post I responded to about an hour ago here: Private Lenders/Hard Money Lenders)

I also see that someone else previously asked about Seabrook Investments in this post from a couple years ago: Private Lender Scam?

You can read my other posts for what to look out for on these types of things, but I'll just tell you that no legitimate private/hard money lender is offering $100 million dollar loans for 25 years at 4% interest:

(They spelled "million" wrong by the way.)

Just for the fun of it though, I ran a search on their "business" address listed in the "Contact Us" section of their website.  And then pulled a Google street view photo:

Does this look like the bustling office of a company that's done thousands of loans and can easily whip out a $100 million+ loan in a matter of days?

But for anyone who's still interested, here is their process directly from their website:

Well, that clears that right up, no? Lol.

On a serious note, the scam here, like with most, is to get you to pay an up front loan origination fee (usually 1%), at which point you'll likely never hear from them again.

So save you're hard-earned money and ignore any lenders who contact you out of the blue online. There's just too many scammers out there preying on would-be investors and trying to take your money.

Not sure why your attorney didn't know, but small multi-families definitely fall under the rent cap provisions of AB1482.  The only exception is a duplex in which the owner occupies one side as their primary residence prior to the tenant beginning their occupancy, and continues to occupy it as such. 

Also, the California Apartment Association has a ton of helpful resources for CA landlords on AB1482: https://caanet.org/ab1482/

Most of it is restricted to CAA members, but I highly recommend becoming a member so you can access it.  It's inexpensive and well worth the cost if you're going to be in this business.

@Lexi Narducci  There is no one-size-fits-all, or only one right answer, to this question.  It's been debated on here a million times, and the answer always comes back to what is right for the individual and their specific goals.  

However, with that being said, generally speaking if you're still in the early stages of your investing career and working on acquiring your first investment property and expanding your rental portfolio, you will be much better off going with 30 year mortgages. There are many reasons for this, such as being able to lock in long-term low rate financing. But the main reason is that 15 year mortgages at this early stage of your investing would likely cause problems with your DTI ratio as you grow since the required payments would be much higher.

Now you could always make extra principal payments towards your 30 year mortgages and pay them off as if they were 15 year mortgages if you REALLY wanted to do that. You don't need to refinance to do that. And that way that higher payment wouldn't be required and wouldn't count against you in your DTI ratio as you continued to grow and try to qualify for additional mortgages.

Just something to think about.

@Orie Brown  Never heard of them, but I found their website and took a look at it.  If the person/company that contact you is associated with this website, then it's pretty clear they're not a real lender. 

I go into detail about how to spot these fake lenders in other posts I've written, like in my response under this thread here: How do I spot scam lenders?

I won't repeat it all here, but you can see some of the same signs here. For example:

- Bad English/grammar throughout their website ("Real Estate Loan Programme"):

- Unrealistic terms (no legit private/hard money lender would offer these terms):

- "Standard Terms & Conditions" document provided on their website that sounds just good enough to perhaps convince the unknowing that maybe they're legit, but for someone that knows better this document is easily recognized as a complete joke. 

I could go on, but I covered a lot of this in that previous post I linked to, plus I'm sure you get the point. 

I will tell you that they are at least nice enough to tell you up front what the scam is.  They're going to charge you these fees up front:

And then you'll likely never hear from them again.  So, just save your hard-earned money and avoid doing business with them (or anyone else that initiates contact with you on the internet to be safe).

All the best.

Unfortunately, no.  No state allows for a "annoyance" deduction from a tenant's security deposit.  

@Account Closed Your posts make a lot of assumptions. For example, you don't know the OP intends to operate an "unlicensed and unregulated hotel". In many areas, STR's require a license and are regulated.

You also assume her STR will "destroy the community". Have you ever seen an owner-occupied house or a long term rental destroy a community? I have, plenty of times. Run down properties, properties that drugs are being sold out of, etc. Who's to say she isn't turning something like that around and actually improving the community?

Point is, you’re jumping to a lot of conclusions. On that note, you’re also way off-topic with your posts and frankly completely out of line. No one appointed you the arbiter of what is good/evil, right/wrong, moral/immoral, etc etc etc. 

It was her first post on here and you basically jump in and call her “exploitative, immoral, and greedy”. To those of us who are familiar with your posting history, it seems obvious you’re not real fond of landlords and real estate investing in general, likely because your own landlord is currently in the process of evicting you.

But for a brand new member like the OP who came on here with her first post looking for help, I imagine posts like yours could be a real turn off and make them not want to return.

So perhaps in the future, instead of hijacking someone else’s thread with your disparaging comments, you do as @Joe C. suggested and start a new/separate thread of your own to share your thoughts. 

@Danielle Polly The statewide law (AB1482) allows rent increases of up to 5% plus the applicable Consumer Price Index (CPI). The CPI varies by county.

I went on the California Apartment Association’s website and looked up the most recent CPI for El Dorado County, and it’s 1%. So the total allowable rent increase for that county would be 6%. 

@Sarah Williams Yes, but only in the Marketplace forum. 

@Gabriel Guerrero Save your money. Even loaning money in first position comes with risks. But with only $5k to loan out, you’ll be forced to only loan in junior lien positions. And doing that, combined with no lending experience, and loaning to borrowers who have already “run into an unplanned problem during a rehab”, is a sure-fire way to lose your money.