All Forum Posts by: Adam Pierce

@Adam Pierce  The meeting is tonight at 7 pm.  address is 16560 Harbor Blvd suite i, Fountain Valley.

@Polar Prutaseranee If you are ever unable to catch our meeting there are several others in Orange County.  There will be a meeting on December 7 by one of the presenters, Sam Weaver of Fortune Weavers in Fountain Valley.

@Joe W., I feel like you're exactly where I was a year ago.

• I am in Los Angeles.  Like Phoenix, it perfectly fits your description of "a market where you're having a hard time finding properties to buy and hold that cash flow."
• Like you as a mortgage underwriter, I have many years of experience being a professional supporting real estate investors as a CPA, but I now wanted to become a real estate investor myself.
• In late November of last year, like you're doing this November, I wrestled with the question of investing locally with a 4-unit purchased with FHA financing vs. investing out-of-state and got a lot of great advice.
• Like you, my goal is to retire within the next 10-15 years via real estate investing.

As a result of some of the advice I've read through the forums (I would recommend you pay attention to guys who have been in real estate for decades like @Jay Hinrichs rather than the younger folks who are often just pushing their turnkey products) and speaking to investors at local real estate groups, I decided that given my place in life I would be wiser to place my bets on California appreciation over the next 20-30 years rather than investing in some beat-down property in Cleveland for an extra $400 or whatever in cash flow per month.

Given the facts that (1) I could get into a property for a measly 3.5% down, which would free up cash to invest in other places if I so chose, (2) I was already throwing away rent every month such that I could still be cash flow negative of $650/month (what I was paying in rent) and still be better off because a portion of my monthly payment would be building my equity and the rest would be tax deductible, and (3) I'm in my 20s and have the time to take a long-term view of appreciation potential, it was a no-brainer to go the FHA 4-plex route in LA, despite the fact that it is one of the most expensive markets in the country.

This isn't to say that the process was easy. It took time. I just closed in September. But I eventually found my property on the MLS. This was the listing. Purchase price was $435,000, and the seller gave me a credit for $15,000 to cover various repair costs, particularly roofwork in anticipation of El Ni