All Forum Posts by: Aaron Lee

Hi Samuel - I'm not a lawyer, so I'm not able to give legal advice, but I purchased a property off my parents so happy to share the approach I took. I would suggest hiring a real estate lawyer given the legal complexities. 

I had to determine the market value of the home by having it appraised. Then based on that value, I structured accordingly:

1. how much I was 'paying' for the home
2. The amount of equity my parents gifted me 

3. How much of a loan I needed to pay the difference.

4. My parents were able to pay off their loan balance with my payment to them. 

Thanks so much for the detailed response,@Myka Artis — I really appreciate it!

I had briefly looked into the approach you mentioned, which I believe is commonly referred to as “co-hosting.” I didn’t explore it too deeply at the time, but it might be worth revisiting now. What gave me pause originally were the limitations around what co-hosts can legally do, and also the branding aspect — I wasn’t sure how property owners would perceive the role compared to a traditional property manager.

Since then, I’ve learned that California has some stricter regulations, especially around 30+ day rentals. From what I understand, only licensed brokers can legally list those rentals and enter into contracts with property owners, which adds another layer to consider.

You mentioned earlier that you had quite a few people interested — I’m assuming you meant brokers? If so, I’d love to hear more about how you generated that interest. Were you mainly reaching out to larger brokerages (like RE/MAX), or did you find more success with smaller local firms? Any insight you can share would be super helpful. Thanks again!

Hi  @Chelsea Price - everyone here nailed it.

for reference, I currently have a condo in San Francisco and the HOA became absurdly high over time. Building maintenance has created growing costs. The rental revenue has been good enough where I'm still cashflowing but the HOA fees have increased annually by $75 - $100 per month. I imsgine it won't be long until I'm netting 0 or negative monthly. In addition, there are unexpected 'one-time' costs that can really clean out any profits and/or reserves you may have.

Hi Everyone,

I’ve searched through the forums and couldn’t quite find a thread that matches my specific situation, so I’m hoping someone here has experience or guidance to offer.

Background & Experience:
I've been a W-2 employee my entire career, but for the past five years, I've been preparing to transition into business ownership. My real estate journey started in 2019 while living in New York, when a business partner and I purchased a distressed property in North Carolina. We successfully BRRRR'd it, but managing from afar was extremely difficult due to high maintenance needs and tenant challenges—so we sold it and walked away with a decent profit.

Since then, I’ve moved to San Francisco (where I purchased a condo), and more recently relocated to Southern California to be closer to family after my son was born. I remodeled and furnished my SF condo and began renting it out as a midterm rental, primarily through Airbnb and Furnished Finder. It’s been cash-flow positive, with strong reviews, minimal vacancy, and runs on a fairly passive system I’ve developed.

My Goal:
Now that I’m local to Orange County/South Bay, I’d like to apply the systems, experience, and insights I’ve gained to launch a property management company focused on both midterm/furnished and traditional long-term rentals. My vision is to scale this into a serious business managing potentially 100+ properties, ideally with a degree of operational independence from the brokerage.

The Challenge:
As many of you know, California law requires property managers to either hold a broker license or operate under a licensed brokerage. Becoming a broker isn’t feasible for me at the moment due to the time and income requirements (I can’t afford to work full-time under a broker for 2 years while supporting a family). Most brokerages also require agents under them to at least hold a salesperson license, which I do not currently have—but am prepared to obtain quickly if there’s a viable partnership path forward.

I’ve started reaching out to brokerages to explore possible partnership or sponsorship arrangements where I could operate under their license and share a portion of the revenue. So far, I’ve contacted four brokerages with no responses yet—still early in the outreach, but I wanted to cast a wider net.

My Ask:

• Has anyone here pursued something similar—launching a property management business under a broker’s license without being a broker yourself?
  
  
• Are there brokerages in California (especially Southern CA) that are known to work with entrepreneurial property managers in this way?
  
  
• What advice do you have for presenting a compelling win-win proposal to a broker?
  
  

Any referrals, insights, or even cautionary tales would be incredibly helpful. 

Thanks in advance!

I signed up for bluevine this past week and was having trouble adding my external bank to transfer funds into my bluevine account [external bank does not show up]. I called into bluevine customer service and have been on hold for 90 minutes.

I plan to cancel...My fear is that i'll have a more serious issue like not being able to transfer my money out of my bluevine and they won't be able to resolve.

Let me know if you find a good alternative!