All Forum Posts by: Wei Cho

@Bryan Noth - thanks for the insight into North Austin vs East Austin. We'll be out there visiting before we make the permanent move to check out the neighborhoods. When you say North Austin, does that include Round Rock, Pfulgerville, etc? Or is that too north. My friends were checking out the new developments there to potentially buy but they ultimately decided on Dallas. 

@Rick Reeder - thanks for the website and the welcome! Will def check it out. Actually the amount of mature trees were a huge selling point for us. We loved the trees and wouldn't mind leaving them and designing around them. 

@Marlen Weber - thank you! we're excited about the move

@Alisha Macdonald - nice, that's awesome! Thank you. How long ago did you make the move? We were there for 3 days (as part of our Texas tour w/ friends who are going to move to Texas) and loved Austin the most.

@Isua Mbang yes please share. I'm rehabbing my new property (bought it as a primary residence) and will refinance in August 2021 and was looking into the AIO. I'm guessing value will be around $700k when I complete the project. I was planning on refinancing with CMG and pour all the rental income of this property (3 units) into it to pay down the mortgage but also have available cash for purchasing / rehabbing other properties. What is the LTV that they let you use? How are interest rates? And are there any restrictions on what you can use the "equity" LOC?

Thanks!

@Jordan Moorhead wow! that's awesome. Congrats on renting your 1-bed unit! We're excited about moving there. But I was looking and it seems like inventory is low on small multifamily

@Ryan Kelly - thanks for the information! We'll def. reach out to as many investors/agents/lenders as we can before we move. We LOVE the west side of Austin, that's really what attracted us. So it's def a goal to move there some day. But we'll start small and then move up.

@Danny Webber - thanks! Yes, definitely something for everyone. For now we're looking at cash flow (by adding another unit or ADU) and appreciation. It's the strategy we use in Los Angeles. I'm going to start researching Austin zoning laws

@Trey Jordan - Thank you!! I will check out North Austin. We're very excited about the move.

@Justin Hroch - thank you for all the good information regarding Austin rentals & fix & flips. Our strategy in LA has been adding more units or an ADU where zoning allows so we're familiar with processing plans w/ the city. If the city of Austin is cumbersome, then I'm going to start looking into zoning laws there! Thanks for the tip. Ohhh we'd love to try our hand at flipping. It seems more manageable than in Los Angeles

Hi everyone.

My husband and I are wrapping up our latest buy & hold rehab in Los Angeles, CA. Our projected completion date is August 2021 and we're looking to move to Austin at the end of next year. We are looking into East Austin to purchase a house - preferably a duplex (or larger) that we can house hack or a home w/ an ADU built in it, that we can also house-hack. Wanted to connect w/ Austin investors and get a head start in our network there.

We visited Austin in September and were attracted to the vibe of the city, loved the mature trees and the river. As for investment: we're considering buy & hold around the city: east Austin, although we don't mind going anywhere that the deal makes sense (North Austin, South Austin (McKinney, South Congress, etc). We're even considering going as far as San Antonio to invest since it will be close to our "home base" in East Austin. 

So my question is, is there a strong rental market all over Austin? From our research, all over the city there's $1M houses right next to $350k houses. And there's also new construction North of Austin (our friends were looking to buy new development houses in Pflugerville).

Any leads greatly appreciated & connections too!

Hi everyone I need advice. 

For those familiar w/ California's ADU & jr ADU laws:We live in a suburban neighborhood in SoCal, about 25 minutes east of downtown LA. We just purchased in August 2020 a 3/1 with a detached garage and alley access. Our original plan was to add a master bath to the 3/1, 400 sf jr ADU (1/1) attached to the main house & a detached 850 sf ADU (2/2, we will be living in this new one) that will be attached to the garage.

We're debating if we should build the jr. ADU bc it will be attached to the main house (essentially a duplex) and not sure if families (our most likely demographic to rent the 3/2) will appreciate being attached to a 1/1 with no backyard (but plenty of front yard). This Jr. ADU we will need to borrow $100k in hard money or second mortgage to an investment property we own. We would need the $100k because the jr. ADU will be attached to the main house, so the main house needs upgrades - like new roof, new paint, upgrade plumbing lines, etc.

Would you recommend borrowing the money to build the jr ADU or NOT build it and only build the ADU (where we are going to move into) and save our money to buy our next property August 2021? We're estimating construction to be done in April 2021. Our current mortgage is $3350 and the 3/1 (existing) could rent for $2700 (we added an central A/C). Once we move out we could rent the ADU and be cash flow positive.

Some more info: The rent that we can get for the 1/1 would probably be $1600. The terms for the hard money/second mortgage is probably 10% interest w/ a balloon payment of 1 year (I think, based on the direct lender who is going to put me in touch w/ his investors). 

Thank you!

Hi BP friends,

This year, my husband and I are looking to invest out of state. Our goal is to buy 2 investment properties out of state, we've read the BRRR & Long Distance investing books and we're pumped. We spent months researching markets and decided to go invest in Cleveland, Ohio. Someone from our RE investing group invests there successfully. So wanted to reach out to this amazing and helpful community to see if you'd have any resources or contacts, agents, lenders, stories, and/or advice. that you've worked with before based in Cleveland or surrounding areas?

This would be our very first out of state investment (we own properties in Los Angeles, CA) and we're thinking of all cash purchase and rehab (but depending on the cost of hard money, could also be a possibility to use less of our cash). 

Thank you in advance!

Hi @Amanda Cheng I think HP is a good area that people still want to get into. Buying under market would typically mean that the house is not in a good condition so you'll probably have to invest money into getting it to good renting conditions. After the refinance though, unless you leave more equity in the deal so your PITI breaks even or is under what you'll charge for rent, then you'll cash flow. Another options for you is to build an ADU or garage conversion ADU so you can have essentially two units on the lot and that will help with appreciation and cash flow.

Hi @Fred Fleury congrats on starting to analyze deals, it takes a while to understand the terms and the numbers and what it all means. I'm still studying it. I have a triplex in East LA (LA County, which recently passed rent control regulations so I have yet to see how it plays out. My MF is owner-occupied so I might be OK). I requested it to be delivered vacant bc of repairs and such that I had to put into the building to get it to livable conditions. At the time of purchase this wasn't rent-controlled so I didn't have to pay anyone any money to move, not even the security deposit because the condition in which they left it was so bad. I put in a LOT of money to fix it up, got new tenants (@ fair market rate, bc the old tenants were renting for $900 for a 2bed/2bath), refinanced, and now I'm cash flowing while living in one of the units. I don't have any "cash on cash" return because I put more money than I got out of it but now I have massive equity in the house for a HELOC if I need it.

One thing to consider bc you're in rent control area is that there are annual inspections and I heard that the inspectors are VERY meticulous and nitpicky and if they see anything, no matter how small, you'll have to replace it or repair it. Like a creaky door knob, etc.

Hope it helps!