All Forum Posts by: Andrew Luong

Hey Team -

As of recent, we had our first eviction that ultimately came up pretty success.  Just when we thought things we solved, we began having massive issues with squatters/vandalism in Sacramento.  On multiple occasions, they've broken in.  We've boarded up the home, closed the fences, etc and still have issues with them breaking windows, cutting through locks, etc.

The issue here is that we were planning on re-renting this home and went out on a limb to pull the boards for pictures today but ultimately over night, they came again, broke in, and left standing water throughout the home.

The options as far as I see are:

• Sell below market value and continue towards my original strategy of upgrading neighborhoods
• Try to list a boarded home?  I doubt this would attract the highest quality residents + highest rates
• Anything else?

Would love to hear your experiences.

Cheers,
Andrew

Hey @John J. - That's helpful - thanks a lot!  For me, it was really a combination of naivety and drive.  Really began by wanting to get into investing (as I made some money from technologies gigs) and didn't fully understand all the challenges of RE investing - glad it happened this way

Hey Team,

We previously had a Sacramento property manager that was good but not great, switched to self-managing this year to learn the intricacies and are now looking for a new property manager for the portfolio.  Any good recommendations?

Thanks & cheers,

Andrew

Hey @Zach Thomas - Exciting times y'all have ahead of you!

Quick background about myself -  I'm a real estate investor from the City with rentals in Sacramento + Houston and currently working in technology as well.

At this point, it sounds like Sacramento might be something that's exciting as well as making more financial sense for you and your wife which almost sounds like it'll be a win-win.  However, for myself personally, I love the City and wouldn't want to trade my career in tech as well as City living to move to Sacramento and instead continue to rent while using the surpluses to continue to invest elsewhere (helping to offset the cost of living here).  Just my personal standpoint but might help you think through the options!

+1 for @Account Closed - currently working with him and he's been taking good care of us.

Hey @Mindy Jensen - Great feedback here.  This is very much appreciated and happy to hear from a BP star!! :)

Hey @Kate Homme - this is the exact situation I'm going through - best of luck solving this!  I'm just hoping to get this home rented quickly so I could take down my ads.

Hey @Anny Ann -

Great discussion here and seconding what a lot have said before me.  Timing depends on your specific goals.

In regards to rental properties in Houston, we're definitely on the higher end of the economic cycle but who knows where the market will go next (experts can't predict this, how can we?).

That being said, RE trends have proven to continue rising in the long-run and if you're purchasing a property that cash flows with the intention of holding it long-term, you might lose some equity as a downturn hits but those are all paper losses and you'll be able to ride it out with the cash flow.

Cheers,

Andrew

@Carolina E. @Account Closed - Great input guys and it's playing out exactly as you described.  Pretty terrible situation and difficult for us to combat.

Hey Team -

Reaching out to you guys here as I have a new and interesting situation arise for a rental home listing in Sacramento.  At a high level, I had recently advertised my listing on a Zillow and a few sites but then was notified by two separate, potential residents that they had seen the home listed on Craigslist for cheaper.

I'm currently investigating (posing as a potential applicant) but am curious to see if someone else has seen this happen.  If so, what are possible repercussions?  Here are some thoughts - 

• Scamming people of hard earned money for an "application"
• Potentially breaking into my property
• False leases

Any other thoughts?

Thanks & cheers,

Andrew