New Member From Southern California

[Johnathan Wright]

Hi Everyone,

New to BP and excited to learn as much about REI as I can from this knowledge community! I'm currently looking to network and find my first deal in the Los Angeles, Long Beach and Orange County area. I'd like my first deal to be close to home; there's just something about being able to drive by the property, at least in the beginning. I'm also born and raised here and have a decent understanding of the market and communities where I'm looking.

I'd also love to learn about the proper way to get started in terms of setting up corporations and understanding/maximizing the tax laws/incentives (and landlord/tenant laws!) so when I find that first deal I can pull the trigger properly.

It's tough getting started here since the barrier to entry is high, which leaves less room for error- at least in my situation, so I'm trying to find that diamond in the rough! Ideally that would be a multi-family (duplex or triplex) unit, but open to SFH and condo's.

Thanks and looking forward to starting some conversations and most importantly LEARNING!

[Nadine Lajoie]

Hi and welcome to BP. You didn't tell which kind of strategy you want to do, buy and hold, fix and flip, lease option and what kind of ROI are you expecting in return?

If you look for 10% CROI as a BH in California, they are pretty rare, but out of States, really easy, I have over 1000 deals list every month.  However, if you look for 20-40% CROI on a FF, still possible in California too.

I always say to my clients, buy what you can afford, aim for excellence, not necessarily perfection! Most investors are looking for the home run and the get rich quick guru mindset, they have watched too many webinars!!!  Why not starting at 10 mph before going 180 mph (I'm and ex champion motorcycle Racer and compare everything with bikes... lol)

I've made 14 deals Out-of-States because I could not afford California until this year!!! And still could not afford that 3br/2ba, so I bought a condo at 162,500 in March, sold it, next week closing of escrow for 200k cash... made over 22k or 13.1% in 2 months, annualized 78%.  Pretty happy about it, even if that is not a home run... and already in escrow for my second one, by myself, for partner-up, wholesale or lease and flip!!!

I see so many clients with the Paralysis-Analysis syndrome, never move forward and afraid.  Once you know your NUMBERS, your exit strategies and have the right people around you to help along the way, you can make things happen faster and safer.

Good luck and let me know how I can help.