All Forum Posts by: Andrew Fingado

@Jaime Morales   Nice to meet you, and welcome to bigger pockets.  I think you are on the right track with going out of state.  So far, I have done well.  It really all depends on your investment goals.  Now your only question is do you want to go turnkey or find a boots on the ground team where you can get deals the locals are getting.  

If I were you i'd finance a condo to live in yourself, and go out of state and find properties that actually cash flow.  Finance those and make good returns.  The Nor Cal market's already sky high, you are getting in late in the appreciation game. 

I second Orion.  I've taken more than a few looks at these 50K condos in Sac, and there is a reason no one is scooping them up.   A lot of these condos are in areas with high crime, oversupply, and like another poster said may have a limit on owner investors.

Finally, Sacramento is NOT the bay area when it comes to demand.  I see a lot of price cuts and "one month free rent" ads on craigslist rentals for condos in Sac (mostly in the high crime/oversupply areas, which are where the 50K condos are mostly located).  Keep that in mind.

@Luke Miller Welcome to the site!  As someone who has experience in property management, I have the upmost respect for those in the field.   Good luck!

@Leonardo Tonaki Good to see another local joining.  I'd be interested in getting on your buyer's list, and talking more with you about your wholesaling goals.  Flipping/wholesaling is something i've been wanting to get into for a while, but I have ran into a lot of difficulties here in the bay area market.  So I have turned to mostly out of state investing.  

That being said, there's nothing like working in your own backyard so hopefully with more patience and perseverance I can get a flip or two under my belt this year as well.

Stanley, 

Nice to meet you.  I'm an out of state buy and hold investor living in the bay area.  I'm always looking for wholesale deals out here though as well.  Let's connect sometime.   Welcome to Bigger Pockets.

@J. Martin 

I am not as familiar with the San Leandro market, but Berkeley and El Cerrito have seen increases in rents. Berkeley has been crazy over the last year. A lot of the tenants I have been placing into units are San Francisco transplants who can no longer afford living in SF, and see Berkeley as an affordable option. A lot of techies.

They just take BART to their work. As a result of this influx of more tenants into an already high demand/low supply market, rents have gone up a LOT. I'd say close to 15% since 2013, at least in the area of Berkeley I do most of my work in (campus area).

El Cerrito has been going up as well.   There is definitely a spillover.

I'd start paying him a leasing fee.  That's pretty standard and it gives the manager incentive to rent the property quickly.  As a property manager myself, I can tell you it is not very common to include leasing fees as part of a monthly % of gross rents, it's usually separate.  I suppose a few managers may include it if their monthly fee is higher than normal, to balance everything out.   What's the going rate for management fees out there for the type of properties he manages?  

I am not entirely convinced that the lack of a leasing fee is the problem, although it may be part of it.  The guy you are working with needs to be willing to transport into the 21st century.  I think it's all well and good that he drives around and collects rent and has a personal relationship with his tenants, but unless he combines some of his old school management techniques with new school technology I fear you will just lose more money in vacancies.  Newspaper ads? These days that doesn't cut it.

I wouldn't do the whole incentive thing with bonuses that you are thinking about, sounds too complicated.  I'd pay him a flat % for gross rents, and a leasing fee of one months rent (if you are in a high rent neighborhood drop it to half).  Simple as that. You could also tell him that while the property remains vacant without income you will withhold the management fee, or only pay half of what he's normally getting.  Lastly, pay him a flat 250 dollar fee when he gets the current tenants to renew a lease.  If after all this, he continues to take a long time placing a tenant in your property, I would find another manager.

Are these single family homes or is he managing an apartment house?

@Jordan Sizelove Congrats man!  I was wondering what happened to you.  Glad to see you finally got your license.  

So what exactly are you offering?  I may need someone at some point to help me with a few things, I don't know when because right now my investments are focused out of state. But if and when I do, i'll keep you in mind.  Nice to see you around here again.

Would you agree though that there are parts of Utah where a building full of 1/1's just wouldn't make sense though? I found a building up near Ogden a while back and it looked good, but I remember what a colleague of mine told me up there. He said that because the culture is more family oriented, they would be harder to rent in that region as many residents tend to have families younger and prefer SFH. Just wanted to get your take.