New to REI in Southern California

New to REI in Southern California

Escondido, CA · Member since 2016 · 10 posts · 2 votes

Hello All!

I am located in North San Diego County, California and employed full time as an auto technician. After many months of listening and learning from the BP podcasts, I have decided to move toward my goal of becoming a buy and hold real estate investor.

Currently I am working toward my real estate license. I've also been able to get my wife almost as interested in REI as I am and have convinced her to also work toward her license. We are currently working to become prequalified to pick up our first property. We have been looking for multifamily properties in Escondido, CA (to live in a unit and rent the rest), but also are interested in investing in properties in the Inland Empire area (mainly Apple Valley, CA and Hesperia, CA) as the entry price is cheaper there.

The ultimate goal is to work towards owning a large apartment complex and building a property management company to operate the property. In our area, I've seen (and lived under) a local large property management company that has inspired me. They provided the best management that I have ever lived under, and commanded a great rent price due to that fact.

Sorry for rambling on, in short, real estate is definitely where I want to expand my knowledge and skill. I hope to learn many, many new things from BP and its users. I also hope to eventually be a user who can share that skill set with others.

Thanks for reading,

Andrew Harker 

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Rental Property Investor · USA · Member since 2016 · 46 posts · 6 votes
10y

Great post! I live in Victorville, CA. Let me know if I can do anything to help

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  • CRE Bridge Lender · San Diego, CA · Member since 2015 · 23 posts · 5 votes
    10y
    Go get it Andrew Harker !!
  • Rental Property Investor · USA · Member since 2016 · 46 posts · 6 votes
    10y

    Great post! I live in Victorville, CA. Let me know if I can do anything to help

  • Lender · San Diego, CA · Member since 2016 · 41 posts · 30 votes
    10y
    Andrew Harker You most definitely can my man! Attitude and mindset are critical, once you have that and the diligence to find the deal based on your specific criteria you will succeed! If you need any help with any real estate concepts feel free to reach out and I'll do my best to help explain. Good luck Andrew!
  • Home Stager · San Luis Obispo, CA · Member since 2016 · 312 posts · 49 votes
    10y

    good morning andrew, welcome! your goals sound magnificent! just wished to introduce myself. formerly from washington, dc, i'm just getting started in the staging arena in california and i'm looking to make some connections as well. thanks and sincerely, sydney

  • Investor · San Diego, CA · Member since 2015 · 290 posts · 80 votes
    10y

    @Andrew Harker Welcome to BP. Prices in San Diego are pretty hot so it's a great idea to expand your investment radius. But, there are still deals to be had in San Diego; I'd recommend checking out some local REIA groups to learn how investors are finding deals. Best of luck.

  • San Diego, CA · Member since 2016 · 16 posts · 19 votes
    10y

    Hey @Andrew Harker!

    I commend your decision to move forward in real estate. I recently got licensed (this year) and it's opened up a world of connections that I didn't previously have as an investor in San Diego. Let me know if you have questions about the license test process - I even still have my study guide if you want to borrow it! 

    ***Also - when filling out your BRE paperwork, make sure everything is exactly correct (for example, I am the Zap Martin III, and my process was help up 5 weeks because I put "Zap Martin" and not "Zap Martin III" on ONE of my forms...) ***

    Good luck and inbox me if you have any questions!

    Zap Martin

  • Escondido, CA · Member since 2016 · 10 posts · 2 votes
    10y

    @Marvin Gunn Thanks!

    @James Ellars I am also interested in the Victorville area, but I have less knowledge of the areas that are best to invest for buy and hold there. So I have not searched so much there yet.

    @Fyzl Atmar I agree 100% on attitude and mindset. Thank you for the offer, I may take you up on that offer in the future.

    @Sydney Hall Nice to meet you!

    @Casey Murray SD prices have definitely caused me to expand my radius, but my primary goal is to find that multifamily property that is waiting for me in North County (Escondido area). However; if I find something that I can cut my teeth with in the IE, I will jump in whole heartedly after running the numbers. As for REIA groups, is the group in Oceanside the only North County SD group? I missed the meeting this month, but plan on being there this next meeting.

    @Zap Martin Thank you, I've been wanting to move towards my license for about a year (before I started studying REI) and have finally found that push to get me there. Are you employed full time as an agent? I currently have a great job, but it is not a direct asset to my knowledge of REI and I am considering to make the jump.

  • Investor · San Diego, CA · Member since 2015 · 290 posts · 80 votes
    10y

    @Andrew Harker Yes, the NSDREI group meets in Oceanside. @Bruce May can answer any questions you have.

  • North Hollywood, CA · Member since 2016 · 1 post · 0 votes
    10y

    Hey Andrew! What is the name of the Property Management company that has been serving you? Thanks! 

  • San Diego, CA · Member since 2016 · 16 posts · 19 votes
    10y

    @Andrew Harker

    Yes... although I would call myself a full-time investor that is also licensed. I use my license to work with investors to find them deals. It works out nice, because 95% of real estate agents are not real estate investors and don't understand how to work with an investor (wholesales, double-closes, rehab cost analysis, familiarity with Case-Shiller index, etc...)

  • Dan H.Pro Member
    Investor · Poway, CA · Member since 2015 · 7k+ posts · 8k+ votes
    10y

    @Andrew Harker your primary purchase criteria is my area of expertise.  I have seen every competitively price duplex to quad in Escondido over the last 5 years.  I have one piece of advice: make sure to use closed/sold prices in your comps and not listings of unsold properties.   There are many duplex to quads on market in Escondido significantly above sold comps.  In fact there are 0 duplex to quads on market today that have a asking price appropriate for the sold comps.  Anyone who wants to debate this with me can bring it on as I have seen almost all of the sold duplex to quad properties.  In general, the asking price is not even close to the comps.  So be patient but move fast when a correctly priced unit hits the market. Last one that sold had offers by the second day.  

    Good luck

  • Lender · San Diego, CA · Member since 2011 · 664 posts · 231 votes
    10y
    Originally posted by @Andrew Harker:

    @Marvin Gunn Thanks!

    @James Ellars I am also interested in the Victorville area, but I have less knowledge of the areas that are best to invest for buy and hold there. So I have not searched so much there yet.

    @Fyzl Atmar I agree 100% on attitude and mindset. Thank you for the offer, I may take you up on that offer in the future.

    @Sydney Hall Nice to meet you!

    @Casey Murray SD prices have definitely caused me to expand my radius, but my primary goal is to find that multifamily property that is waiting for me in North County (Escondido area). However; if I find something that I can cut my teeth with in the IE, I will jump in whole heartedly after running the numbers. As for REIA groups, is the group in Oceanside the only North County SD group? I missed the meeting this month, but plan on being there this next meeting.

    @Zap Martin Thank you, I've been wanting to move towards my license for about a year (before I started studying REI) and have finally found that push to get me there. Are you employed full time as an agent? I currently have a great job, but it is not a direct asset to my knowledge of REI and I am considering to make the jump.

     Andrew, per Casey's comment, there are a couple clubs in North County. I'm with NSDREI. There is also the San Diego Note Investors and you can find them on Meetup. There's also a group call Outback that meets monthly. I've never been to their meeting so I can't give you any details about them. Hope to see you at our next NSDREI meeting.

  • Escondido, CA · Member since 2016 · 10 posts · 2 votes
    10y

    @Zap Martin Well if you manage to find some deals in the Escondido area for 2-4 plexs, please keep me in mind to shoot the information to. I also see that you invest out of state, I'd love to meet up sometime and see if I could pick your brain on strategies for that method. Everyone I've talked to has told me its a nightmare, but none of them are part of this community.

    @Dan H. I noticed that nothing that was on market lately (the stuff I could see without a RE license) would even come close to being a deal or plausible financially. Thank you for the advise on comps using closed/sold prices, it completely makes sense and is easy to overlook as a newcomer. I will be patient and honest to our numbers, as I have seen what "falling in love" with a property can do to a plan. Hope to keep in touch in the future with you Dan!

    @Bruce May Thank you for the information! I will look up the San Diego Note Investors. I plan on attending the next NSDREI meeting, hope to see you there!

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