All Forum Posts by: Wilson Phu Bang

Hi @Jeff Eames,

Those are all awesome markets that have a ton of development going on right now. I would say Glendale has had more development done as opposed to highland park then followed by echo park. All three areas have their own pros + cons but remember that when you are buying in that side of town to consider the commute if you have one (to work). Everything north of the 110+101 is timed based on traffic from Dodger Stadium games and other events.

With that said some areas I like also include Pasadena, Altadena, La Crescent / La Canada, Montrose if you want to be in the foothills. If you are going for Glendale, I would also look into Burbank as well. Eagle Rock & El Sereno are both nice little pockets more towards the Pasadena as well but are a bit more suburbs as opposed to metropolitan ares.

If you want to venture into more of “LA” I would also consider Mid-city and West Adams as well, they have a ton of development right now and I see those areas as hot points since they are closer to west side and Hollywood (again everyone wants to avoid traffic as much as possible, so these are also good areas to rent out as well if you are house-hacking). I was in the same boat with my last client looking for a duplex in West Adams / Mid-City as well.

Let me know if you need anymore info or help!

@Azar Pate,

Your best bet would probably be something in Long Beach although most of them seem to be at least close to the $400k range. There are some units that will be in the mid 300's but they can be classified as OYO (Own Your Own) which has their own special lending guidelines.

Hi @Anthony Vasquez

Different areas in LA County have specific ordinances to AirBNB's. For example LA city only allows you to AirBnB short term (under 30 days) if you live in the property as a primary (more than 180 days of residence). That does not mean you can't AirBnB for 31 days+ though (you can read more here https://www.airbnb.com/help/ar...)

Permitting is going to be stictest on the city level and then you can scale back on the county level to find out any additional info for LA county, for example unincorporated areas of LA County are looking into making rules very similar to LA city but that has not been solidified yet (you can read more on the links below)

https://ttc.lacounty.gov/wp-co...

https://ttc.lacounty.gov/wp-co...

Hey @Anthony Vasquez

Definitely sounds like an exciting time for your first buy! Plenty of questions to ask and get answers on...

Are you planning to buy this cash or looking to get financing? How is the down payment looking like? Depending on what you plan to do financially you can find the right lender with the right lending product

Which part of the LA area are you specifically looking for, this can also be based on what you are trying to do as well, short term rental on one of the units, Long term rental on all the units + owner occupied, different areas of LA county have different ordinances on rent control and STR rules so it's important to understand them if you are set on a specific area.

Another thing to consider is the total potential of the property as well. Can you add value to the existing multi-family (add another unit in the basement, garage, etc.) The key is deciding what that criteria is early on with your partner and then focusing on that criteria and seeing if it's achievable in today's market or if some fine-tuning needs to be done.

Hope that helps!

Hi @Joanne Green

Agreed with other's assessment that this should be done upfront during the listing agreement. Typically when I meet with clients for the listing agreement I will go over different scenarios to understand how the offers may come in and this is one of the ones that we talk about during that process. In some cases there can be terms written for dual-agency. When situations arise with offers in place from multiple buyers including ones who are not represented, I always let the seller decide based on my advisement and leave it up to them to pick the best offer that will meet their needs. Ultimately just focus on getting the escrow closed and ensuring you are fairly represented from your agent and they are protecting your best interest.

Hi @Khaleel Jenkins

I think these are all wonderful questions and the beauty is that you have many options to choose from and locations for that matter. I personally always recommend to try to do something closer to home before jumping to long distance as it becomes easier to manage but you can definitely do long distance if you have the right systems and teams in place.

For myself personally, it comes down to how much I can afford for a down payment and that determines which route I go. If I go through the BRRRR process I need to have about 20% or 25% down and expect to pull that money back out, now you can get private money or HML to go help with that but this is probably the precursor for just starting is the amount of initial capital

For Househacking, you can get a property for a lower down payment and offset higher mortgage and taxes with roommates, etc. 

If you have friends that would want to rent with you during the process, you can try to house hack into into a fix and flip where you buy a property and do a rehab that first year and eventually you can decide if you want to BRRRR it back or sell it as a flip, in my opinion it comes down to what makes sense for what you are trying to do. The beauty of a BRRRR or a flip is that you still have to analyze the numbers for both scenarios and can decide at the end if you want to retain it as a rental or flip the property. The key is to just find the deal (and of course financing on the purchase and the refi).

I would focus your efforts on just finding the deal and then deciding which method to go forth thereafter.

Hi @Marco Egurvide

I would reach out to realtors in the Florida area who specialize in short term rentals, it would be especially good if they own a few themselves. From that point you can ask them for recommendations on their property managers and contractors whom they use for their own rentals. That way you can start to interview and get a sense for whose style shoots what you are looking for best. You can always start off with looking at the BP forums for investor friendly agents in Florida and ask for their network as well.

Hey @Andrew Strauss

I was browsing the Pasadena facebook group and saw a similar request someone had for finding a reliable handyman. This company was mentioned a few times https://yelp.to/1qeOdYMBSob

Hey @Ryan Vinuya

You mentioned that the property is going to be pulling in $800/month after mortgage, but what is the total cash flow after taxes and insurance? Yes, you can buy another property for cash but then you will still be paying the property taxes at whatever the new assessed value is. If it makes sense, you can also cash-out refinance and leverage to another property so you now have two properties bringing in cash flow that can balance each other out in case of an issue (vacancy, etc.)

Hi @Anthony Hatwood,

I know legal zoom has some GC templates that you can type up, maybe consider just using one of those as a baseline and edit as needed? Although I recommend the best case for contracts is still to get a lawyer as these general templates may not protect you fully!

See link below

https://www.legalzoom.com/form...