All Forum Posts by: Sol Bier

Looking for suggestions for my situation. I'm close to putting a MFH (5+ units) under contract, and spoke with a few lenders able to loan 75-80 LTV (fully stabilized property).

Due to my unique tax situation, its better for me to purchase more units this year to take advantage of NOL rules. I will be ~ short 10% of the purchase price. I can sell some securities, but I don't want to incur capital gains by selling this year.

Are there lenders that will take subordinate position, for a 12-18 months term/balloon payment? I'm ok with paying 6-9% for this since its very short term. Loan would be for around 500-1M. 

Never done this before, open to suggestions on how to structure this. 

Originally posted by @Amit M.:

@Sol Bier the big difference WRT future appreciation is that the 2nd tier cities and burbs have plenty of space to build out new construction, and S.F. and Manhattan do not. So for the short term S.F./NYC will have flat to mild RE price declines, but 2+ years from now I bet that it will be business as usual, and these prime areas will soar again. In other words, over the next decade I expect another leg up on the chart below:

Agreed on there being more land in places like Phoenix, etc., but you're assuming homebuilding will keep pace with migration trends.

I do agree the mega cities will be fine long term. Trying to time these cycles are silly, but there is a new opportunity to diversify into tertiary cities which will last a long time.

The biggest risk I see with mega cities is the continued tenant friendly laws making it harder for new investors 

As someone who works in tech, I am seeing firsthand the migration out of SF/NYC. Don't underestimate techs companies ability to quickly copy each other for the best talent.

The future I see for these tech companies/startups is a percentage of employees who are full time remote (20%), as well as more, smaller regional offices combined with HQ in a mega city. This means places like Austin, Denver, Dallas, LA/SD, will do well. Tech companies can take over an area like locusts, so don't underestimate the continued appreciation in these cities even though they are already pricey. 

I don't think this will mean the demise of NY/SF like many predicted. I see continued, strong growth in these cities as young urban dwellers still want to live in these places the most, and don't have huge salaries/savings to care about the tax savings/QOL differences yet. I see a scenario where small, regional cities will see the strongest growth over the next decade, with the largest urban centers having strong but not as crazy growth as this past decade. Many tech companies will still have HQ in SF/NY, but with a clear career path and policy for "going remote" to other offices, creating a stable pipeline to the suburbs outside these regions as well as satellite offices in tertiary cities. Right now

As for finance/bank companies? Who knows. My guess is some may relocate to cheaper cities, but they aren't doing it to compete for talent, but to save costs/move to where the CEO wants to live, so the change will be slower if at all. 

 I'm in SF and was considering the reverse move pre-covid. And food is such an important consideration ! 

I joke that I can't move anywhere with top tier sushi/korean food. Its whats keeping me from moving closer to family in Texas. Love BBQ but I'm too much of a foodie.

BTW I think LA actually has better sushi than SF ;) though Bay area has one of the best spots in CA at Sushi Yoshizumi. 

Hi all,

I'm looking for a title agent I could connect with to get access to title/property searches online, as well as someone to talk more about the industry. I want to know more about running a prelim report, which title plants are used (and how this information was compiled) and red flags that most title companies look out for.

I'd be happy to send all my current dealflow when purchasing owners title insurance to your company if interested! PM me if interested 

Payment processor I actually might be able to help out with since I have background in tech. For PoS or just online? PM me

Hi BP,

Some Cannabis deals were recently forwarded my way, and they piqued me and my partners interest. I'm looking to connect with people who have invested in these deals or those who operate cannabis businesses.

I'm trying to get an idea of what these business need right now ranging from:

1. Retail locations storefronts

2. Manufacturing zoned properties for cultivation

3. Manufacturing zones properties/warehouses for distribution

We've done some legal analysis of these deals, including per county permitting and licensing, and would like to get some comps in the market and just connect with others in the industry or real estate investment to share experiences. 

Hi All,

I am trying to get some back of the envelope, quick calculations for operating expenses for multi family (4-8 units) in LA area. 

I've seen the 50% all in operating costs being used for the general multifamily market, but the rents in the rest of the country are much lower, so the % of operating/cap expenses compared to rent is way higher since repair costs don't scale (linearly with rent) just by being in CA. Here is what I am using right now.

Taking $3k per unit at 8 units, here is what I am using as rough estimates. Is this too conservative? 

Vacancy: 8% (one month rent) 

Property Management: 10%

Repairs:  5%  ? (thats $1.2k per month)

Cap ex: 10% ? (thats $2.4k per month in my example)

Tax: 8-10% 

Total 43% 

I am seeing total expenses, taxes property management at 40-50% of total rent in some threads, so better estimates for LA would be appreciated (for 4-8 units). (https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/88/topics/134...)

Following this thread as well, interested in multi family in Inglewood

Thanks for the replies everyone. Ian I agree with you 100% on what you've said. I'm going to ignore commercial obviously, not ready for that yet. Self storage seems more like a somewhat actively managed business despite having RE fundamentals, so I will ignore that for now.

That leaves SFR, Multi Family, and new construction. New construction again just seems out of my comfort range, though something I am interested in down the line.

As of now, I am going to focus on the following in order of preference:

1. Multi family in Inglewood/Torrance. I am bullish on that area given the new NFL construction, and imo LA is more diversified from a tech bubble burst than SF.  I will also likely be moving to LA from SF at the end of next year, so it would be nice to focus in socal. Bonus points if in OZ, as I have some co-investors who have large capital gains that they want to roll over into OZ zones.
2. Single family flips in the bay area. I'm really not seeing much value (I haven't looked in east bay yet). Price have been pushed up a lot. I am looking at San Jose area, but even these flips the comps are hard to run since yearly appreciation alone is pricing current flips at homes that are currently finished being flipped. However I have some people I can partner with and it is closer
3. Multi family in Houston. I have a family member there who knows the area and can commit to more actively managed properties there. 
4. New construction in Inglewood/Torrance area. Again this is likely way too complex for a new investor like myself, but still interested in learning for the future. In this scenario I actually like the market risk, since projects started now would be completed as NFL stadium and gentrification will accelerate in that area. 


If anyone has wholesalers or off market deals for any of the above, my inbox is open ! 



Originally posted by @Ian Ippolito: