All Forum Posts by: Susie C.

I know how you feel ! In this situation right now. It may not be worth it now, but I think people (investors) see it as a growth opportunity especially since duplex's are hard to come by. 

I don't know how much you have for DP, but if you're looking for buy and hold, there's a house in the Sunset selling the whole building right now for 1m or so and comes with 2 flats (obviously, it'll go for more). If you have the funds and can house hack, you can get it, convert the garage to an in-law and rent out the other 2 flats. It'll pay off.

I lost a house even before the first open house.  The day of the open house it went "Pending - Contingent Showing," I went and asked the agent what happened and she said the owners just got an all cash offer they couldn't refuse.

I'm in the same situation about whether we should wait since charts and discussions show that it'll cool down, but I think you'll just never know and I feel like the longer I wait, the more it grows.. even  if it grows slower, it's still growth.  SF has seen double digit growths and it's slowing down, yet, still growing. In the end, we're still looking to buy and hold for at least a couple of years. I don't see the market really tanking...

Hi all!  

I had a question. From my understanding, most HML want you to have a financial stake. I've spoke to some via BP site and most want you to put down 20% of the purchase price of a home and they can front the other 80%.

My question is that if they are on a 9% IR and let's say I flip a home and sell it within 2 months, does this mean that I am going to pay them: 

Loan Amount + Loan Amount x IR% x  _months?

So, let's say it's  500k loan with 9% IR then it's $45,000? 

Or does this break down based on a 12 month term, so 45,000/12= $3750 x 2 months = $7500  

Can someone please help to clarify? Thank you! 

Thanks everyone for the insight and advice.

I think in the end, we're going to try and get a place of our own in SF. Yes, it's a hefty price, but the longer we wait the more expensive it'll get. Some people had suggested house hacking outside of SF, but I don't think this is possible. We both work in SF and don't want to have to deal with the commute. I own a business where I meet with clients at our home so I think overall it's just worth it to pay a lot extra for this convenience instead of moving further out and renting an office in the city for a good chunk of money. 

@Ryan Landis thanks for the insight. Unfortunately, FHA or anything less than 20% offers will most likely be left unseen or considered. Was looking at a house with an offer date for next Thursday, then got a call and found out there was an all cash offer that was too good for the sellers to pass up. This is before the offer date or even before the showing today and this weekends showing. In a market like SF, FHA's arent a viable option. It's just too competitive of a market.

Gotta go back and strategize and re-evaluate things! yikes!

So I need some advice on what to do.

My current goal: to invest and build cash flow through my investments 
The dilemma: My husband and I live and work in SF. Right now we are currently living in a 2b2b condo in Potrero Hill (owned by his sister). We pay about $2000 in rent per a month to share one bedroom together and rent out the other bedroom to cover the rest of the mortgage.  To me I feel like it's a waste of money. Yes, it is going towards his sister, whom is family, but we aren't gaining too much out of it except for a place to live. So I want to get our own place, but the cost is really high in SF. For a point of reference, 1b1b condos are going for 800+ in good areas and HOAs are around 500-800$.

For me there are currently two options for me to reach my goal and resolve the dilemma: 

1.  Get our own place. Refinance on a property I have and add the amount needed to make the 20% downpayment needed. Essentially we're looking at about a 200k DP.  Then what would happen is we would rent out one of the bedrooms and continue to pay what we're currently paying for rent (well a little extra), but at least it gets applied towards our mortgage/equity. 

The problem: If I refinance the other property that I have and add in the other portion needed to meet the 20% downpayment, I wouldn't be able to purchase a smaller / cheaper investment property for about a year or so, when the SF placed is seasoned and I can refinanced again or wait until we have enough savings. 

2.  Save the money that we currently have and re-invest this into *multiple* other properties in different cities that are more inexpensive (250k under).  In my mind, this would be a good option, but I need to actually FIND those properties first and for them to really have a good return to outweigh the rent that we're currently paying ($2000) so that it *balances out* our loss, I feel like this may be really difficult to do and may take a lot longer than. 

The problem: I continue to pay rent and have a roommate. 

What are your thoughts on this and how would you approach this situation on a logical financial standpoint. 

FYI - FHA loans with a 3.5% down is a very unlikely option. SF market is hot and with multiple offers on the table for units, sellers are not interested in 3.5% down when they are getting over asking, 20% down or all cash offers.

I'm currently looking into Fresno as well and have looked through some of the duplex-4plexes that are under 200k (probably the same that you're looking at) on Google street view. The areas do look a little more rundown. I am thinking of making a trip down there to better familiarize myself with the area. Since I haven't gone down there to really understand the territory, I've also been relying on the crime maps that are provided on Trulia to get a better sense of why it may be priced the way it is. Most of them were in red (high) crime areas which gave a better preliminary idea of why it is priced low. 

I think that is the struggle though about living in SJ/SF is that when we see these numbers and the idea that these multi-unit properties are going for under 200k it seems so appealing since with that much we can expect it to only cover a downpayment on a tiny condo in the city! We need to really focus on the location the property is situated and make very thoughtful analysis and conclusions of potential property.