All Forum Posts by: Wilson Lau

Quote from @Daniel Solano Wolfe:

Hi everyone, I'm new to the BP community and currently live in the bay area. Because I'm new to the community and specifically to house hacking, I have so many questions and would love to hear about how you all got started. You don't have to be from the bay area specifically but if you are then amazing. Would just be easier to compare myself to where you were when you started. Please reach out, any and everything would help a lot.

Depends on your budget, where you work and nature of your work, Solano County and Contra Costa County are also possible options. You can do a quick search on property prices there. The norm is to put 20% as downpayment, but there are many other ways to fund a deal.

Quote from @Adriana V Alvarado:

Hi everyone! I am trying to house hack (3.5% down, owner-occupied, rent other rooms) in the Bay Area (driving distance about an hour from Redwood City and SF). I have already been pre-qualified for a loan. I am debating between house hacking in the Bay Area for my first property or buying my first property out of state with the help of a property management company. I am looking to at least break even in California. I have a long term goal of building equity/appreciation. Does anyone have any advice as I am just starting out on my real estate investment journey. Thank you!

Hi Adriana. It depends how you define by breaking even. If you are looking for the tenants to cover the mortgage and property taxes, you are not likely to find anything between Redwood City and SF. You will have to look further such as the Contra Costa county. If you are looking for a place where your portion of the mortgage + property tax is close to what you are currently paying for rent, you can look into multiplex over at SF, Daly City, Redwood City, and San Bruno.

Feel free to reach out if you need any help :)

Quote from @Mel Ste:

I was told that Farmers isn't insuring CA rental properties anymore, but if you have different info, would be interested to hear!

Yeah, Foremost which is under Farmers isn't doing CA rental anymore. The ones that are still available as of this month are:
1. Bamboo
2. Aegis
3. AUGold
4. SES
5. KW Specialty
6.Delos Insurance
And a few other smaller ones

I recommended my Farmers contact mainly because she is also a broker and can check for other coverage.

Quote from @Kevin D.:

I'm looking to buy my first rental property. I live in CA and want to buy out of state. I am a buy and hold investor looking to buy a small single family home that at most needs major cosmetic work done. My question to you all is how do you go about building a team and in what order do you recommend doing things? For example 1) Should you find a real estate agent before or after finding a house you want to put an offer on? 2) Do you hire a property management company before or after you purchase the property? 3) Will an agent and PMC help you find good deals? Any other suggestions you could offer a beginner would be appreciated.

If you are starting out and looking for properties that need work, I would highly suggest you to look somewhere within driving distance or at least a quick 1-2 hour flight away. Or perhaps you have a good friend from OOS who wants to partner up with you? Building a good team is difficult already (especially a good contractor), let alone doing it OOS.

Hi @Mike Cooper, I'll DM you. I have a contact from Farmers who is also a broker.

I see that you have management fees set at 8% and interest rate of 4%. Have you verified these info? Interest rates are running at 7%+ for investment properties these days, and some of these PM with 8% management fees usually have other fees tied in.

I would suggest at least have a chat with some local realtors/investors to familiar yourself with the neighborhood and growth potential. 

Hi Aichi. Welcome! When it comes to handyman, I wouldn't necessarily base it on rental property vs. personal. I would instead focus on the scope of the project (e.g. some handymen are better at painting, some are better at flooring). I've tried Thumbtack and Angi, and both of them are hit or miss. The most reliable ones are going to be referrals from your personal/ professional network. When you are first starting out, I would recommend getting a quote for every individual task. Every contractor's strengths and weaknesses are different, and they also charge differently. Overtime, you can compile a list of contacts for various types of jobs. Hope this helps!

Hi Sarah. I've helped a couple of my clients with house-hacking, and I am happy to share a few analyses we did and see whether the numbers make sense for your situation. 

Competition is definitely high on the buy side, and I see more and more buyers coming in as we approach the summer season. What's your plan with the proceed? Are you planning to do a 1031 exchange or a trust deed to avoid/ minimize the property gain tax?

Just to add another thing to your list. You can also do a Deferred Sales Trust, again all depends on what you are planning to do with the proceeds of the sale.