All Forum Posts by: Ryan Landis

@LaToya S. welcome! Honestly, the first thing you should do is start attending the local BP meetups in the area. I don't know how they are out there, but in the Bay Area they are top notch!

@Brad Turley you are right in my backyard! Just be consistent - I know a lot of guys on BP talk about the criteria. At the end of the day, if you include a few more addresses that do not make sense, don't worry about it (it is just a few stamps and paper/ink). Good luck - let us know how it goes!

@Mary Ann Casey I use @Brandon Hall as my accountant. He is not local, but he is a genius when it comes to real estate. He is very familiar with 1031 exchange rules and works exclusively with RE clients.

@Sheeva R. call your insurance agent and ask what they are seeing for the cost to build per sqft. It will give you a rough ballpark that is accurate enough. From there, figure out the area that you are thinking of buying in and see what homes are selling for per sqft. Besides the transaction/holding/etc. costs, you now know what you can roughly pay for land.

Feel free to reach out if you want to chat a bit more about it. Spec building can be very profitable if done in the right place and in the right stage of the market cycle. It is very different than buy and rehab (from financing, to timeline).

@Johnson H. thanks for hosting as usual - count me in!

@Carson Wilcox something that slips a lot of people up is property management. I am not saying that the local managers will do a better job, but you can check on it without a plan flight/hotel stay. What ends up happening for a lot of people is they think about the purchase price and monthly rent only. That is a BIG mistake. Run the numbers and just remember that in a lot of places in CA you are paying the high price for the land more than the building on top (not everywhere, but in a lot of places). 

Something else that happens, especially in markets like the ones @Joe Bertolino is talking about, is renters will do the quick fix ups themselves (i.e. they don't call your management company everyday and make them send out contractors and rack up service call/fees).

I am in the Bay Area and the price of a window is pretty much the same price here as it is Sacramento and I imagine St. Louis. If I have to go fix a window/etc. here, I do not lose the entire month's rent - although you could argue my mortgage payment might be a tad higher ;)

@Katherine Kwan welcome! Keep listening to the podcasts - it is the best free education on real estate you can get! Hopefully you can make it out to one of the local meetups soon. There are quite a few local Bay Area BPers that invest out of state.

@Account Closed brought up a great point. It really depends on where you are, but from my experience as you get to higher level rents in a 3/4 unit, potential renters will have SFH options available. Now if the location is stellar, that can make up for it. Just some food for thought.

@Aristotle Kumpis it honestly just depends on what your investment goals are. In many major cities (SF, NYC, Miami) you get money that is less concerned with their ROI and more concerned with their return of investment (i.e. capital preservation). For others, it is all about strategy - typical buy and hold might not be great on cash flow unless you are buying for cash, but if your time horizon is long enough, you can make it through any dip that may come here. You also have a lot of very wealthy individuals that want to buy locally - anyone can buy out of state but anyone with experience buying anywhere but down the street knows that the property management team can make or break your investment.

@Carla Crutcher welcome! Awesome you are coming on and participating in the community. Try to make it out to the local SF Meet-up when you can to touch base with some of the other investors that are doing exactly what you are planning to do!