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All Forum Posts by: Sebastian Marroquin

Sebastian Marroquin has started 52 posts and replied 437 times.

Post: Pasadena, CA : Interested in a FREE Pasadena Meetup? Once a month? See below please!

Sebastian Marroquin
Posted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Pasadena, CA
  • Posts 469
  • Votes 263

Hello all! Are you interested in a Pasadena Meetup? RSVP for this one if you are so that you can be invited to the actual one coming up! 

(** this is not the REAL DATE) this event won’t happen: this is just to see if there is demand for a meet-up here on Fridays : for FREE!?)

*** I AM GOING ON VACATION IN JULY BUT WILL START WITH THE MEET-UP IN AUGUST!!! **** 

I was doing this meetup once a month in pasadena before the pandemic and we consistently had between 30 and 50 people show up! 

I am a Realtor + Investor with Keller Williams realty in Pasadena and San Gabriel valley and I help the general population buy and sell and also investors buy rental properties and flips. 

We will have the occasional speakers from Title, Escrow, Lenders, other investors, and business owners that are experiencing success in this very volatile market! 

Personally, I have found properties off market for clients, have renovated several homes, have flipped some homes and many for clients, own rental properties, I am building an ADU right now in my current home, and helping clients build homes and ADUs in Altadena, Pasadena, Highland Park, Claremont and other cities. 

I have the full teams to make this happen (lenders, architects, realtors, contractors and interior designers). 

Some topics for the meetup will be: 

1. Flips 

2. Rental properties 

3. Buying your first home 

4. Off market homes/ whole selling / growing your business 

5. Out of state RE 

6. Building your teams in-state and out of state 

And much more! 

I will try to add a QR code to this so that you can sign up: or simply RSVP and input your email address in your comment below, so that I can add you to the group! (By the way, I am in escrow right now with someone I met at one of my meet-up groups 4 years ago! (as of July 1st) ) 

Post: How to make the decision to hire a personal assistant!!!

Sebastian Marroquin
Posted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Pasadena, CA
  • Posts 469
  • Votes 263

Hello, I agree with David in that you would have to assess your business, your quality of life and your time to see what your goals are and what you are willing to do? 

With your RE holdings/ portfolio it seems to me that you could get property managers if you don’t have them already and have them manage the day to day with those. 

You could leverage the Real Estate acquisition with a Realtor. Figure out what you want and find a realtor that is knowledgeable and willing to do most of the work for you, assuming there will be loyalty on both sides of the relationship. 

You could get a partner to do the same as the realtor, and manage all acquisitions etc. 

You could also get a personal assistant : which could be great for you and will free-you up from all of the above. Usually the ones that will be willing to do more and will have the capacity to do more will be in the $40k to $60k per year range. You will still have to manage them, train them, and provide them with the necessary resources and systems to succeed. 

There are PAs that are already trained, or you could hire someone and hire a company to train them. 

The cheapest route : a VA : anywhere between $4 to $12 per hour. There are many companies out there and some that are specific to RE.

They do marketing, cold calling, IT work, social media etc. 

I think you have to set aside a budget of at least 6 to 12 months to pay them. To be fair to them, as it takes time to train and to create the systems you want, and also to be fair to your business, as it takes time to get some momentum and traction. 

Slow to hire and fast to fire! of course :) 

Figure out and create a list for the tasks that you want to leverage out. Acquisitions and back end managerial things are really different and require different personality traits. 

For example : 

For sales, acquisitions, cold calling, Social media creation = you will need a high “D” and “I” assistant. They are go-getters, direct, self driven, social, outspoken, not shy, bold, creative but the opposite from below: 

For managerial tasks, back end, IT, methodical work, analysis of numbers, busy work = you will need a high “C” and “S” assistant: someone that has the mind of an accountant or engineer. They may be quite, soft voice, ok with following and not leading, like lists and task, not as creative, not as social, and like to work behind a computer, they do not like confrontation and rejection at all… 

I am a high D and I : and my wife is a high S and C (usually a surgeon could be a high D, and if flashy and likes the spot light an ‘I’ but if they are more reserved, maybe a high S or C). 

I know this is off left field, but you have to understand who you are, how you communicate and what role you will hire for and what their personalities are. 

In closing, figure out the list, the personalities you need to hire and build a budget for it. Plan to hire them for at least 6 months with an initial 90 day on-boarding (probation period). If they do well the first 30 days and you mesh well, then invest in them for the rest of the 6 months. 

I double my revenue when I hired mine (A bit unconventional and not a reg. Assistant: as she is my wife). But still, she handled all of the back end and marketing for my Real Estate sales business. 

Depending on what you will need, reach out, and I can give you some pointers just in passing, and if you would like more, we can talk about a fee to train your assistant (assuming you go that route). 

I train for cold-calling and productivity in sales. 

Excuse any typos anyone :) my day off and don’t feel like proofreading 

Post: Minimum Profit Margin for a Flip

Sebastian Marroquin
Posted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Pasadena, CA
  • Posts 469
  • Votes 263
Quote from @Joseph Hernandez:

@Sebastian Marroquin. Thanks for the great feedback! You gave me inside info that I needed to know. I expected to get this insight from an investor or wholesaler, not from an agent! You must network with investors. 

As I mentioned, I'm a real estate broker, and I flipped 7 properties. I could do both the wholesaling and flip the property, but I choose only to wholesale. If I do both, my money will be tied up much longer by doing both. If I only wholesale, I can get paid much faster and reinvest those funds and get 3-4 more wholesale deals as the time it will take to do one wholesale deal and a flip.  


 Thanks for saying that: I am a realtor and investor. I help investors with all aspects of a flip or rental property (from finding the deal, to managing architects or drafters, to managing contractors, permits and the sale). Depending on client's needs and experience. 

I know whole-sellers making millions, investor flipper making millions, realtors making millions and also contractors doing the same (I will get there soon :) ) It comes down to your focus, what you like and your systems! Focusing on what the other person is making always comes from lack of deal flow and opportunity (not saying that's you at all). But think about it, the whole seller that cares way too much about how much the flipper is making, is only bc they do not have the volume that they want to have. The ones whole-selling 5 to 10 homes a month for $10k to $50k per deal are happy. The same with the flippers and us Realtors. I catch myself saying that about contractors sometimes, but only because I am not selling 10 homes a month like some of my co-workers. I have grossed up to $80k in one month and that month, being a Realtor was the best ever! :) 

I do have investors and myself : looking for homes in San Gabriel Valley (LA county) FYI incase something comes up! 

Post: Best way to cold call off market properties?

Sebastian Marroquin
Posted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Pasadena, CA
  • Posts 469
  • Votes 263

I have about 5 ways we get off market deals in specific areas with very good success. 

What city are you in? And what is your goal? (Meaning : do you want to get a lower price or are you willing to pay retail?) 

Post: Is this a good deal? 14 unit apartment in Atlanta

Sebastian Marroquin
Posted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Pasadena, CA
  • Posts 469
  • Votes 263

The best advice i can give you outside of the great info I saw above is: 

Connect with a great and savvy Commerical agent. They will give you the numbers in no time. They will have all the info on the market there and they will know what questions to ask. 

I would do my cap rate and estimation of value based on the rents now, not on the pro-forma. That will be your profit for taking on the headache. 

If the rents were higher, the seller would not be selling or at least selling for much more. 

The point of buying a “value add” building is to add the value and reap the rewards. Plus, people underestimate the work that you will have to do with vacating the units to renovate them…. You will likely have to pay cash for keys or do 1 to 2 units at a time… that will be a slow and costly process. 

500 sq ft : you should be more around $20k per unit to renovate (anything above that and you should negotiate credits for repairs). Also see the roof, sewer, hvac, and electrical… i see credits there too. 

You could add storage and laundry for extra profit and value add. 

Offer: $900k  :) 

Post: Dilemma: Save up to buy 1 more or begin paying down properties more aggressively

Sebastian Marroquin
Posted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Pasadena, CA
  • Posts 469
  • Votes 263

This is as personal as it gets. :) 

You have to ask yourself about your job? Are you on commission or W2 and how stable is it? 

If you have a stable job then ask yourself, how much in passive income monthly would you like to retire with? 

If your current homes have the potential of a total of $4k per month gross : maybe $3k current net, then are you happy with that number in retirement or would you like more like $5k or higher? 

If the answer is yes: most people would buy another 3 homes to net what you want. Once you know your goal number then you can start using all cash flow from the properties and your own income to start paying them down to what you feel comfortable with! 

Maybe you are ok with $0 mortgages and that’s great! or maybe you are ok with a 30% to 50% leverage? 

You have to decide and what ever that is, it will be ok. 

personally - My number is $10k per month. Once i have 10 properties that each generate $1k per month, then I would pay them off as soon as I can. Just because it is a personal goal of mine! Then once the allure of the 0 balance goes away…. :) I would put about 40% loans on them to buy bigger and more cash flow. 

While always having at least 6 months of expenses for each property in an emergency fund that maybe is invested in mutual funds or something liquid. 

At some point, you have to stop buying, if not what’s the point… 

Also depends if you have kids or not… etc 

Sounds like you are in good standing so, congrats! Do you know that most people have about $1k in their bank accounts and the average american has about $5k in CC debt… 

You are doing well my friend and time you appreciate yourself for it!  

Let me know if I can help in the future? I have lenders and realtors all over the US. 

Post: 1st investment issues! Need some insight.

Sebastian Marroquin
Posted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Pasadena, CA
  • Posts 469
  • Votes 263

Hard money: word of mouth for contractors or subs on facebook from people you trust: 

Have a detailed scope of work: and go from there. 

DM me and maybe I can help some: where are you?

Post: Starting a wholesale deal

Sebastian Marroquin
Posted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Pasadena, CA
  • Posts 469
  • Votes 263

Make sure you have the right contracts; know the value of the home renovated and negotiate at least 70% of that value and get the purchase contract signed. 

Once you do that, you can send it to buyers and see who wants to buy it for $10k to $20k higher than your contract price. 

Make sure you know how much the home needs in renovations also. 

Talk to a Realtor and see if they would help you for a percentage of the sales price. Or see if you need an attorney for this. 

Choose a good realtor that can help you with this one and future deals. 

Post: Offering below asking price

Sebastian Marroquin
Posted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Pasadena, CA
  • Posts 469
  • Votes 263

Ok… ok… we get it… who cares about the history of the property right…? 

It does not matter but it will give you insight as to weather they can reduce their price or not… Now, they may be in a bind and maybe they are not… They are not making much profit on the sale and they are selling pretty fast after buying it? Why? Maybe they didn’t like the home or the area… or maybe something personal happened… again… who cares, right? 

But maybe it is important, only depending on your goals: if you want to live there for 10 years and then keep it as a rental for 20 more years.. then maybe understanding the area, the home, the financials of the city are all important. 

Where to go next ? Right 

1. Number one, you need a great Realtor and Lender that can guide you through the needs analysis and can talk to you about all of this!

Someone that can show you the comps and show you that the seller is unrealistic or maybe not, and the property is well priced. 

If it is well priced, it is time to walk away (unless it sits for 40 or 60 days and you love the home) then you can revisit and make a lower offer. Which by the way, $30k less won’t mean much for you when it comes to your monthly payment, and something your lender can show you… 

2. You can check for properties in the area that have been sitting, are fixers or both: and make a CASH OFFER. 

Well, sebastian I don’t have cash…. Well, that’s ok! I have a lender that provides all cash anywhere in the US and then puts you into a 5% down payment loan program at regular rates. 

Why is that important : bc it sounds to me like you want a good deal. So say you find a slight fixer for $350k and you offer $280k cash : you may get it and now you just got a great deal. Cash is king with sellers. Fast close, no loan and appraisal contingency etc 

3. Look at off market homes: how ? Work with a Realtor that knows how. 

4. And this should have been #1: assess your situation and ask yourself: what type of home do I want to buy? Why? How big? What price? What payment per month? How long will I live in it? Will this be a rental in the future or sell it and trade it for something different ? And why? These will help with financing later and with strategy! 

If you haven’t had this conversation with your Realtor, ask them to. You don’t have to judge them or be aggressive and if they do not know how to guide you, let me know! I have relationships with Realtors all over the US. Let me know if you need a lender also. Good luck 

Post: Out of State Investing for Californians?

Sebastian Marroquin
Posted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Pasadena, CA
  • Posts 469
  • Votes 263

Why not keep investing in your back yard? You already know the area! You can manage renovations there yourself! You can buy with a primary loan at 5% down payment and deploy way less than going out of state! You can take advantage of CA appreciation and rent increases. You already live in a very low cost city where you can buy for under $300k - even at $400k you can do well there. 

You can add ADU for the cash flow and refinance later for even more cash flow.

Example: 

In Lancaster, CA : 

You can buy for $400k SFR say : 1000 sq ft 3 beds 2 baths

At 5% down: that’s only $20k plus $10k closing costs: $30k 

Another $80k for the ADU: and rent it out for $1500 per month :

Gross cash flow : $1k per month 

Refi and get your $80k back and wait 1 to 2 years for interest rates to fall to the 5s or even 4s : 

Then refi again : and you will cash flow $1,200 to $1,500 per month and only be in the deal about $30k to $50k if that… 

Let me know if you want to discuss? I have great lenders you can talk to also!