All Forum Posts by: Ali Boone

Originally posted by @Kalo (Kyle) Atanasoff:

@Jon Huber

Please advise Meetup details for October Virtual West/East Cost BiggerPockets Meetup

All, please be advised this is 2nd oldest running BP LA Meetup (@Ali Boone takes credit for the very first one)

Haha...well I may have lost rights to take that credit because I actually forgot I started it! @Jeff Greenberg actually made it is what it is today! I've gone back a few times over the past couple years and we all laugh about me starting it and then forgetting about it. Whoops...

Originally posted by @Tejas Padhiar:

@Joe M. Thank you very much for the 2 cents.

@Lee Ripma I appreciate the feedback and advice. I have been living in Los Angeles since 1994 and like you I love LA and am not willing to bet against it. I just noticed that you were on a Bigger Pocket podcast and my wife and I are looking forward to listening to it.

@Ali Boone My wife and I are certainly leaning towards investing in a investment property as opposed to a primary home. Your advise about investing in something that has the best chance of appreciating is in line with what we have been hearing from others as well. What you said about condos also makes sense and something we had not thought about much. Since we are new to this I need to learn about running numbers but I am glad that I joined this community where everyone is so helpful.

Great to have you on here! Awesome place to start learning, and sounds like you've been hearing some good advice. If you want some basic help on running the numbers, check this out-

https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

Those are mostly equations for cash flow, but you'll want to run those even if you are investing just for appreciation. Ultimately, you want to make sure you know where you're profit is going to come from. If it's going to be from appreciation, what solid information do you have to assume the appreciation will happen as expected? And how much appreciation would you need to be profitable? (don't forget to account for mortgage interest expenses if you're financing). Learning stuff like that... it'll set you up way better down the road to be profitable! Knowing exactly what you're getting into versus shooting a dart wearing a blindfold.

Originally posted by @Rachel H.:

@Steve Velez If you're looking to invest out of state, you may want to connect with @Ali Boone. She does this and has written extensively on the topic for the BP blog. I'm sure she'll be happy to answer any questions you have about out of state investing. Welcome to BP! 

Thanks for the shout out Rachel! :)

I'm always in favor of investing in investment properties rather than a primary home. How to profit off a primary home is a lot tougher than people think. Here's some info:

https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

California in general though is tough. The big thing is to make sure you run the numbers. Few things, if any, in California cash flow right away, which is fine as long as you're aware of it and planning accordingly. Then condos are doubly as hard because of condo fees killing the likely-already-negative cash flow. So because California is typically an appreciation play, you want to make sure you invest in something that has the best chance of appreciating.

I'm in LA too... Venice Beach!

I've done almost all turnkeys out-of-state. I have a million success and failure stories... would be hard to pick where to start. What kind of cash flow are you hoping for that deems turnkeys to have a low one? Is it just in comparison to what a BRRRR property could offer? And the risk... which risk specific to turnkeys are you referring to?

As already mentioned, cash flow will be tight or negative there. MFRs definitely could be negative, but Texas cities in general are tough because of high property taxes and insurance. Dallas too already went through a massive boom (circa ~2014), so prices soared, which further squished returns.

What level of cash flow are you hoping to achieve on a property?

Nancy said a lot of good stuff. The big things I'd consider are: rent control and cost of rehabbing. Maybe those rents will cover your PITI (will they for sure though? And does that include PMI?), but what about the rehab costs? All in all, what cash-on-cash return are you thinking you'll end up with, which may be skewed slightly if you're living in one of the units of course. Another thing to think about is exit strategy. If you ever want to sell a fourplex, it will obviously be sold to investors, and will investors want it? If the answer isn't a hard yes, there's a mark against exit strategy options.

This article is for househacking considerations in general, not specific to CA... if it's helpful at all-
https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

And I don't know if this is part of it, but don't just settle for the sake of settling. You mentioned not being able to find other properties that would work (not sure about up there, but in LA you can legally pay a tenant to leave a unit in an MFR if the owner plans to move in. Usually costs about $10,000). Just make sure you're really stoked and solid on the numbers before diving into something that big.

Maybe this can help?

https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

Originally posted by @Chris Coleman:

@Jessica Singh here is where I recommend for learning more about turnkey providers and turnkey overall.

https://www.hipsterinvestments.com

Ali Boone is a wealth of knowledge and experience on the topic, and has videos and a Facebook group reviewing different turnkey providers.

Thanks for the shout-out Chris!

Originally posted by @Rachel H.:

@David Jones Definitely connect with @Ali Boone here if you want to buy properties out of state and have questions. She specializes in this area and has written extensively on the subject for the BP blog. Hope that helps! 

Thanks for the shout out, Rachel! :)