All Forum Posts by: Brad S.

Ike Igiebor and Hiren Madhavani I was active in east bay till I moved to Sac. I agree Bay Area is a tough place but there are some sweet spots, important thing is to know where they are. For eg Hayward, San Leandro and Newark is right in the heart of it and are very diverse, there are neighborhoods in each of those town that are ideal for investing, take your time and do the research, drive around and learn each neighborhood and u'll be surprised what u'll find. Learn to differentiate low income area from high crime area. I still have my investment in Bay Area because it's close enough, I do not think I am still ready to invest any further than that, out of state can be good if you have trusted boot on ground at that location and know it inside out.

@Sang Yu anything beyond your primary residence is an investment and noone would intentionally invest to loose. Its a number game, if number works go for low down or FHA it doesnt matter. On the flip side, I would not buy a property just because I have 20-25% downpayment. First thing first find a great cash flow property, rest would follow.

@Sang Yu I do not know anything about VA, but most of the program enforce one year residency. As for investment property loan I haven't heard of any that pays more than 80%, what do you mean by 97-3? is this a new program?

@Sang Yu have u thought about living in the property for a year, you get many options with that, FHA, 5%, 90-10-10 etc..

Hello @Sunny P. i personally dont think 20K return on 200K out of pocket is bad, in addition you get: 1. Depreciation benefit

2. The 800K loan you took out is being paid by the tenant.

3. The property continues to appreciate (atleast in long term).

If you can tough it out 15 years there is a huge upside.

Also managing property is definitely easier than getting up early morning and making sandwiches 

Take it for whatever its worth, i have no experience running any other business, but if you do share it out, would love to hear someone who made it big outside of real estate here on this forum.

thanks @Mark Pedroza and @Jay Hinrichs i'll check those out, I do not expect a lightning deal in this hot market, but anything where i can be cash positive and ride it for few years. @Sean OToole i'll go through your posts, you are correct, I buy, renovate and rent and am not looking for a flip, so i can pay slightly higher than flippers if the neighborhood bring in good rents.

@Kyle J. You are correct i am looking at foreclosure auction, thanks for pointing out the difference I was not aware of it. @Jack Trader I plan on dropping by at county office one of these days and ask around, would let you know what I find.

Yulia Jenner I bought a 100 year old duplex a while back, it was in decent shape but seen its share of earthquakes (California). I hired a foundation expert and had him look at it, can't remember the exact amount, I guess it was around 500$, the guy actually paid very little attention to the foundation, he was looking for the gaps between ceiling and walls, cracks around windows / frame, and drop in floor level, in the end he said it'll last another 100 years. I closed the deal the very next day. Hope this helps.

wow, good to know that, thanks again, I see your in Fair Oaks, fairly close to where I live, do u go to any meetups around here, i am new to the area would love to meet some local investors / professionals and start building the network.

Thanks @Derek Jones this is great , its got quite a bit of information that i can use, appreciate your help! Could you also please share your experience if you have been to one of these.