All Forum Posts by: Ryan Landis

@Greg H. is spot on. Just choose wisely. Looks like you are based in TX (not sure where you are buying) but the 3% should not even be a concern at that price point (they should make you save more than that knowing what they know).

To your questions about whether you can submit an offer on a home that is listed on the MLS, yes, you can (not sure about if in every state but I imagine the vast majority). Each listing agreement will be different in how they handle these situations (unrepresented buyers). It is not uncommon for the listing agent to get both sides in these scenarios (without representing you) as the process will take a lot more of their time.

@Jane Dang welcome! I am not sure how long you have been in the Bay Area, but as someone who grew up and has lived in this area for the majority of my life, I think about real estate the way Bay Area real estate works. Out of state markets do not operate the same way at all so just make sure to remember that. Coastal markets tend to swing and those that have been invested in RE in the Bay Area have seen rent growth work in their favor. Someone buying in the Bay Area for the longterm might be able to make a -$200/month cash flow property go positive in less than 6 month or 6 years, but they see rent prices move that much overnight. In other markets, $200 a month can be pretty significant!

@Andy Chen I think a lot of people get nervous about trying to run a flip with a fulltime job. Here is my quick take and I am sure you have thought about this as well, but hopefully it helps.

Unless you are actually performing the rehab (which I would not recommend trying to do), at most you would be going by the property every day/every other day. If you trust the people doing the week, that might be more like every week. You can make calls to the team doing the work in the morning/at night/during lunch. Also, you can go by the property at those same times.

What I would personally focus on is trying to protect your purchase by making sure you get it at enough of a discount relative to the ARV. Sure, $100K sounds great but if you run the holding costs/transaction costs/etc. in the Bay Area you can pretty quickly wipe out $100K (and that does not even factor in the rehab). So, if you are worried about a correction, then just buy the place for less. You will run into issues likely doing that as people here usually know that their place is worth a bit of money, but that is the safest way to avoid losing your shirt.

@Andrew Domingues welcome to BP and congrats on getting the license! Love the hustle working two jobs. Keep it up. I think a lot of people don't totally grasp how value the W2 is on the investing side. In terms of the goals, one major thing I would try to iron out (I am sure you are focusing on this) is get that triplex rented out! Trust me, once everything is leased up you will feel much better :)

@Joel Owens thanks for the feedback. I will make sure to give them a call (although on the buy side we are not going through them on the refi side it will be smart to know what they want).

Hey BP,

Looking to get some feedback from the Bay Area team here on a great recommendation for a Commercial Real Estate Inspector in Oakland, CA. In particular, I am looking for someone that really knows Oakland and the intricacies of older buildings/etc. Property needs work so looking for someone who can really identify all of the items that need to be addressed.

Thanks in advance for the help.

Cheers,

Ryan

@Ori Skloot awesome job!

@Dylan Grabowski have you started to drive the areas yet that you are thinking about actually buying in? For people familiar with the pockets, what you should do is outline the streets/areas you like and then follow everything that comes on the market/sells. From there you will get a really good idea of what to look for in about a month or two.

@Account Closed hopefully it worked out! As others have mentioned it is definitely doable. What I typically tell people that are set on a certain strategy (i.e. if you are only looking at 4 units and want to live in one) then find the lender that can make that happen. Just because the rules allow it to work, each lender will have their own loans that the are willing to actually do.

@Brent Tarnow thanks!