All Forum Posts by: Chris Tran

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome!

@Daniel Y. I've been wanting to get more involved in the meetup scene in OC. Hopefully I'll see you at a future one. Where in OC are you? Perhaps we can connect over coffee.

@Lane Kawaoka Thanks for the advice! It sounds like I'm on the right track. I'm predominantly focused in the $1000-1200 single family price point in better school districts. Sure they cost more to acquire, but I believe the tenant quality is a lot higher and mitigate a lot of risk, especially important for an out of town investor.

@Matt Pritchard Thanks for the kind offer. You know what, I'm actually looking a rockstar home inspector. Know anyone? Likewise, let me know if there's anyway I can help you along your journey as well.

@Corby Goade I haven't really thought about Boise at all and honestly don't know much about it. I don't think I'm ready to add a new market to my portfolio, but will reach out to you once I'm ready to get into a new market.

@Tom Ott Likewise, good luck to you too!

@Andrew Syrios Appreciate the note! Best of luck to you too.

Hi everyone,

I'm looking to expand my buy and hold rental portfolio in Kansas City, MO. I'm interested in both single and multifamily properties located in mid/higher tier school districts throughout the metroplex (eg -Lee's Summit, Blue Springs, North KC, and Independence area that feeds into Truman HS). 

Let me know if you have something that fits my criteria. I would love to put together a deal(s) with you!

Chris

Well actually I lied. It's not really my first time posting, but I finally decided to make the jump and become a more active contributor to the community. 

My name is Chris Tran and from wonderful Southern California. The land of sun, beaches, and ridiculously priced real estate. By day, I'm a Technical Project Manager for a large console gaming company. While I love what I do, the ideal of being a wage slave for the rest of my life really isn't that appealing. 

For the past two years, I've been slowly growing rental portfolio but now it's time I kick my investing into high gear. Currently, I have properties in both Memphis and Kansas City, MO and I'm mainly looking to grow in KC. I'm mainly looking to add either single-family or multifamily homes in areas with decent school districts (including, but not limited to Lee's Summit, Blue Springs, North KC) to my portfolio.

Short term my goal is to acquire at least two more properties this year and four more next year. Long term, my goal is to build a rental portfolio large enough that will allow me to retire early (aka - work for myself). 

I've learned so much from the community and it's really awesome to be part of a great like minded group. If anyone is from/passing through Orange County, CA, please hit me up. The coffee (or first round of beer) is on me!

@Chris Sickler sent you an email, but haven’t gotten a reply

@Chris Sellersand @Account Closed's suggestions are on point. Top two things to do are to:

1. educate yourself on the different aspects of RE, figure out what makes the most sense for your life goals, and to pursue a deeper knowledge of that area
2. figure out your financial situation because that will dictate what you can/can't do

I guess that was more than two things...

No doubt there are plenty of companies that hire H1-B employees, but this is more a side effect of the lack of quality engineers rather than the desire to hire the lowest wage individual. This used to be true in the past, but most companies realize that hiring quality local talent produces better results than several cheaper engineers.

• Do you live in California? Yup!
• Have you lived in California in the past 5 years? Yes, living in CA all my life (except for a 3 year stint out in TX for grad school)
• If so, where? Irvine, CA (Orange County)
• Will you be staying or leaving? 100% staying. Might go here or there for short periods of time, but CA will always be home.
• Why? Sun, weather, very progressive state, access to best ethnic foods in the USA
• What is your full time income producing job? Technical Project Manager for a gaming company, technology consultant, and real estate investor

Yes and no with what folks are saying. Are people leaving CA? Absolutely yes, but the folks that have been leaving are the lower/low middle class who can't afford Bay Area or even most of Southern CA. CA is still attracting tons of top tier talent (engineering, finance, medicine, bio-tech) who earn a high enough wage to afford a quality life in CA, which in turn drives prices up.

You less frequently hear stories from the engineer/medicine/bio-tech families . It's usually the families that earn $60k that are fleeing and telling everyone how unaffordable the state is. This is the dark side of the state, increasingly polarized levels of quality of living and cost of living between the top 5% and everyone else.

If you're really desperate to give away your hard earned money, then go ahead and sign up for a guru. 

What you're asking for doesn't exist. The responsibility is on you to learn and no guru class will give you deep insight that you couldn't learn on your own through reading, networking, and hard work. Guru or not, you're gonna have to put in the time to learn so take responsibility for your own education. 

Think about it this way- if you went to university, did you learn simply because you paid tuition and were handed a bunch of books? Nope, you learned things because you put in the time and effort it requires to learn whatever it is that you're studying.

If you're mainly looking for templates, you can always just buy them outright. Heck even BP sells templated docs. Worst case, you can hire a lawyer to draft up whatever docs you need.

Lot's of different options on how to proceed, but difficult to help you without more details. All 3 options you laid out are valid paths, but can't help you figure out what's best without mode details.

Typically paying off highest interest is best, but depending on the balances and rates on each house, that may not help you snowball. 

You didn't give enough info in your description for us to give you a good answer. The best course of action depends on how much you owe on each property, how much they cashflow, and what your life goals are.