All Forum Posts by: Kyle J.

My investment model is long-term buy and hold. With that in mind, I look at the neighborhood, amount of time/money required to rehab the property and make rent-ready, and (most importantly for me) amount of CASHFLOW.

I also only look at properties in my local area (less than an hour drive) since I do my own rehabbing and property management. I don't want to spend any more time than that traveling to/from the property because if I'm driving I'm not making money. :)

Jeff Conradi - Here's a link with some book recommendations:

http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/79/topics/152-real-estate-investing-books

Everyone is going to have their own personal opinions on "the best" books, which is no doubt going to be influenced by their individual investment strategy. If you liked The Richest Man in Babylon, you might also like "Rich Dad Poor Dad" by Robert Kiyosaki.

I've read a LOT of books on different topics related to real estate, and two recent ones that I really liked were "Buy It, Rent It, Profit!" by Bryan Chavis, and "Investing in Apartment Buildings" by Matthew Martinez.

I've also heard good things about "Think and Grow Rich" by Napolean Hill. However, I haven't read that one yet. I've already bought it and plan to read it next though, as soon as I'm done with the current book I'm reading.

I like to read a wide variety of books because with any of them you're going to find things that work for you and your personal investment strategy, and things that don't work for you. But the more you read, the more you'll know!

A few that I use are: MLS (different regions have different websites), Realtor.com, Redfin.com, and Trulia.com. In your area (San Jose) you might try www.sanjose.com/realestate or www.mlslistings.com.

Also, like Benny mentioned, Loopnet is another good one - especially for commercial/multi-family properties. However, it isn't free or cheap. Probably your best bet if you want to have access to Loopnet is to do what Benny suggested and find a broker who already has access to this site.

One thing I found out from remodeling homes is that it always seems to cost more than your initial estimates, and from the extent of the work needed on this house I wouldn't be surprised at all if you end up going well over your estimates. The stuff you list is just the stuff you KNOW about right now. Plan on finding other stuff as you get into the repairs.

I think the owner is way overestimating the value of the house. It doesn't matter what the county assessed it at. It also isn't all that relevant what the other homes for sale are listed at. Obviously, if you plan on fix-and-flipping it then you might want to pay attention to the other listing prices because that will be your competition. However, keep in mind that you can list a house for whatever you want. If I list my house for a million dollars, that doesn't make it worth a million dollars. That's just what I would LIKE to sell if for.

Sold comps are a better way of judging the value because that is what someone actually PAID for a home. If the comps you listed are truly comparable in size, location, features, condition, amenties, etc then pay close attention to the one at $78,500 and don't EXPECT to get more than that. Of course, you might get closer to the high end of the comps, but I wouldn't bet my money on it.

Without knowing what you intend to do with this "deal", it's hard to say what a fair offer would be. Is it a fix and flip? Buy and hold that you intend to keep for monthly cashlfow? Something you plan on living in?

Ask yourself and the current owner what is a reasonable value for the condition the house is in NOW, not after the repairs. Because surely the owner can't expect to get paid for the potential after it's repaired and all the money and work that YOU are going to put into it.

One last thing, be sure you're familiar with your local rules on what is considered a bedroom before you try and market it as a 4 bedroom. In my area, it's not considered a bedroom unless there is a closet in the room. Just something to think about.

Welcome to BP (from another new member and fellow Californian).

In reading other posts, I see a few people have mentioned William Tingle. Never heard of him before but I checked out his website and he sells a book called "The Ultimate Sub2 Guidebook". It sounds pretty comprehensive and right on point for what I'm trying to learn about. Anyone have any experience with this guy or his book?

Bill - Thanks for your responses.

Jewel - Thank you for your lengthy response as well, though honestly I could not understand what you were trying to say. You recommend I focus on "credit repair", but my credit is excellent (right around 800 score) so I don't really think that's applicable or something I need to be overly concerned with.

Bill- I will try to find your article. I'm not familiar with what the upcoming issues with CFPB are or how they might affect what I'm looking into, but isn't the SAFE Act focused on mortgage ORIGINATORS?

I'll be closing on my 4th rental property next week and would like to keep purchasing other properties (buy & hold is my strategy). However, in order to do so, I'll need to come up with some alternate forms of financing. So far, I've been using either cash or conventional mortgages for the purchases, but I'm slowly running out of money and most traditional banks I've dealt with have rules/overlays that prevent them from doing new loans when you already have four in place.

All of my present rentals are SF houses, but I'm considering getting into multi-family (i.e. small apartment complex). Even if I do, I'd probably still do SF.

Since I don't "flip" the houses and my investments are more long-term oriented, I don't think short-term hard money loans are the way to go (unless, of course, I can acquire a good value-add MF property with a solid exit strategy - like maybe a refi after rehabbing).

So I'd like to start looking into other purchasing options, like owner financing (i.e. subject to, land trusts, etc etc etc). However, I don't really know anything about these types of purchases. I've browsed through some of the older posts on here regarding this subject, and think I now have a BASIC understanding of the process. But I'm really looking for more info on the details/specifics, like exactly how to structure the deal, suggested financing terms, what documents/forms to use, etc.

Can anyone recommend a book (I'm really into reading) or a step-by-step course on how to learn to do these types of deals?

Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

How about a barking dog alarm like this Rex the Barking Dog alarm seen here:

http://www.amazon.com/ED-50-Electronic-Watchdog-Barking-Alarm/dp/B002XITC5G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1341024530&sr=8-1&keywords=rex+the+dog+alarm

(You can also do a search for it on YouTube to see how it works.)

I know a guy who used it in his own personal residence and liked it. Seems like it'd be perfect for a vacant property.

Apparently it can sense movement (even through walls) and will emit an electronic barking dog sound. Most criminals won't spend too much time trying to figure out if the dog is real or not and will probably just move on to an easier target.