All Forum Posts by: Stephanie Trevizo

Hi @Eric Don, sorry to hear about your job loss but congrats on the savings! 

I see only a few of us who commented are in Los Angeles. I own residential multi family LTRs in Los Angeles and have helped clients with STRs. I recently started looking out of state as well. I'm happy to give you a peak at my numbers and fill you in on what I've found to be the pros and cons of the LA market. 

I agree with most of the posts above, out of state may be the best move, but it doesn't hurt to run some numbers on Los Angeles to compare. If you want to continue to live in LA, at least one house hack in the area my be worth it.

Hi @Asha Carpenter, about half of our units have W/D and the others do not. I found that the number of occupants and the access to hose bibs outside made a bigger difference in our water bill than W/Ds. Landscaping makes a difference as well. Extra water usage from a washer is pretty predictable, so I price the rental accordingly. 

We are in Los Angeles, I've found that the water usage on our quad WITH washer and dryers is about $30-50 more per month, for 4 units, than the water bill on the quad without washer dryers. The number of occupants at each quad and landscaping are about the same. 

One summer we had a property that's water bill nearly doubled in the summer and we found out the tenants were filling up kiddy pools and washing their cars often. Coincidentally, shortly after, the city required us to cap or lock most of the hose bibs due to drought restrictions and water usage of course dropped back to normal. One of the bibs we capped was in the common area closest to the parking area. Now I try not to have hose bibs near the common areas, especially near the parking, unless there is a good reason to have it there.

It's definitely possible to house hack in Orange County. I'm house hacking in a quad in San Pedro, just across the county border. I have a 2-1/2 year old and another on the way. Sasha has some great advice above. I would also look into an SFR with an ADU as an option, you could split up the yard and still have space and privacy for your family.

Hi Khari, as Anthony mentioned, every lender is different. 

When I've purchased or refi'ed I provided a bank statement where I had the reserves when purchasing a multi family. In theory there isn't really a way to guarantee you'd use those funds as your reserves, but it was one of the conditions to qualify in my case. I have client's who've also showed 401k statements or brokerage accounts as their reserves.

If you're referring to the "reserves" required for taxes and insurance, many times buyers pre fund an impound (aka escrow) account for these, which are paid as closing costs. I don't think of these as reserves, but I have heard people refer to it as such.

Hi Tanya, as Greg mentioned, there are some less expensive areas in California. It also depends on your long term goals. I purchased my first multi family investment in an area where I was living. It was a 4 unit and I lived in one of the units. Mainly because I wanted to offset my housing expenses to be able to save more for future investments. 

California does have its cons as far as not being LL friendly, rent control restrictions, high prices and lower cashflow, but over the last few years the appreciation has helped me grow my portfolio. The market is beginning to shift a bit. That being said, I'll likely invest more out of state in the future to get better returns, but I'm happy with my decision to start close to home. 

There are some great people here on BP to connect with if you are looking out of state. I've met some really helpful people with a ton of resources.

I'm also in Los Angeles and have 12 units under RSO, if you ever have any questions or want to chat about it, feel free to connect.

I agree with Frank. House hacking is a great first step for a few reasons, 1. you start earning some rental income, 2. you reduce your housing overhead and 3. learn how to manage a rental. With reduced overhead you'll be able to save up quicker for your next investment.

Personally, I would look for a SFR with an ADU or a small multi family and live in the smallest unit to maximize your rental income. SFRs with an ADU tend to have less restrictions than multi family as far as tenant laws if you are living in the property, of course, you'll need to check local rental ordinances.

I'm also in CA, Los Angeles. Although CA isn't a very landlord friendly state, the rents are high and I tend to fill vacancies quickly which a plus.

Hi @Celeste Carter-McAfee, a strategy we've used, assuming the unit is rent ready, is to ask the seller in the contract to allow you to market and show the unit once all contingencies are removed. With the condition that a new tenant's lease would not start until after closing. If anything it gives you an extra week or two to market the unit. 

Hi Christian, I am also an Interior Designer turned investor & realtor. I leveraged my ID skills to provide value where ever I could to get mentorship. I didn't necessarily ask them to mentor them, I just offered to help when I know I could be of service and they would explain things along the way and share with me their thoughts on deals. I helped experienced investor friends redesign units, did floor plans and design renderings for their projects. I offered to run numbers for them. Sometimes even just drove them around to see what ever properties they wanted to see that day, it was valuable to just be around people who were doing what I wanted to do.

Is the property manager a single person or is it a company with several departments? I would suggest scheduling a call with either the owner or the person highest up that manages accounts and ask to better understand their systems from an operational standpoint. 

We have a property management company managing 10 of our units and in the beginning I was really frustrated because I felt like it was a mess. I took some time to understand their company structure, who handles what tasks and how to make sense of their client portal. There are still some hiccups every now and then, but I at least know the right person to contact to get a response within 24 hours.