All Forum Posts by: Brianna Billings

 Hi Ben! Just saw this message - I do not have any out of state investments at the current moment, but I am interested in it for the future. Specifically, I want to invest in areas that I would be excited about visiting (if I needed to be there in person to fix), or areas I believe in for future appreciation. For my AirBnb investment that is 3 hours away, it has been the perfect distance to need to hire out work, but close enough where I could be at the property without having to fly there if absolutely needed. Personally, my main focus at the moment is growing my Real Estate business in San Diego as an agent before I move my focus back to my investments. 

Also, I just saw this posted up on Meetup for May 31st! It's an event specifically for Out of State investors. I haven't attended events from this particular host, but they have great reviews! https://www.meetup.com/sdcia-san-diego-creative-investors-as...

Hi Chad,

A few questions: 

- How much time will it take to save up the remaining amount needed (15-20k)? 

- Is there any opportunity to take on more work/cut costs/etc. to expedite this timeline?

- Are you planning on house-hacking this new house? This would lower the down payment needs for this property. 

Best of luck!

Brianna

Hi Reyjanald! 

Thank you for your service and congratulations on your approval! It's great that you already have experience with your personal renovations, that should be super helpful in the future. 

I noticed you are also in San Diego. I have gotten a lot of value out of attending in-person real estate meetups to meet like minded people in person, and network through there. I posted a few meetups below. I have attended events by the hosts previously, and would highly recommend!

Best of luck and looking forward to hearing more about your journey!

05/13 Real Estate Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/san-diego-rei-social/events/306705165...

05/20 Flipping Workshop: https://www.meetup.com/san-diego-real-estate-group/events/30...

Best Regards,

Brianna

Hi Mason! I love this question and I still have mixed opinions about it, but I can talk to how it affected me. I went for appriciation with my first property- my goal was to buy in San Diego (where I live) and wanted to leverage my money as much as possible (I pretty much maxed out my debt to income ratio knowing that the rent I would receive would barely cover the rent. Luckily for me, with the timing of the market, the house appreciated so substancially that year that I was able to remove PMI within 6 months of purchase. However, this still didn't fix the issue of having to pay a portion of mortgage every month. While my net worth on Mint would raise every month, my bank account was not helped. I stil think this was the better decision because this property appreciated so much more than if I had invested in another city or out of state where I would have had to put a larger down payment, and not been able to afford as much home. If I was not able to live with relatives rent free like I've been doing, I think going for cash flow would have been the move. It would have let me save more for a future property in San Diego. I ended up opting for a cash flow option by investing in an Airbnb in a nearby mountain town, but it has not turned out to be the best investment cash flow wise or appreciation. Seeing this, I do feel a sense of peace with a property that has appreciated because I know I can always "cash out" if I really need to.

Long story short, it's so individual and depends on people's long/short terms goals too. From a personal standpoint, I feel a lot better having a low cashflowing property (my San Diego property is lightly cash flowing now), knowing that I invested in an area that I believe in and that I see continue to grow in equity. I would not feel great to cash flow more a month with a house in an area I don't believe in for appreciation. 

Hi Jena! 

Adding to this, I worked at a large commercial contractor for 3 years so I may be able to help with the subcontractor invoice question! We used Procore for all of our documents, RFIs, etc. and it has an invoice and change order tracking function that is really helpful! I think Procore is one of the best softwares for construction (granted it was one of the few I've used, but I have little complaints). I remember for change orders you could tag a document to the drawings to track what location the change order took place in, I'm not sure if you could do that for regalar work, like if you got billed Highlighting the documents showing what the billing was for, but those are some ideas of the functions that the software has. Hope that helps! 

@Dan H. Thanks for that catch! That's good to know regarding the timeline of the purchase and the tenants occupying the space. Question - can the new lease be completely new in regards to the total or does it stil have to abide by the rent increase limits? Also can she put a new security deposit requirement in? 

Hi Van,

I'm curious if interviewing other companies and seeing what revenue they project for you would clear up the decision making process. You could then compare to what you are getting with Vacasa. 

I personally managed my AirBnb in the Big Bear area and switched to Property Managers (Rather Be Properties) to free up time and brain space. Because of their excellent systems having price adjustments based on weekdays/weekends, time of year, etc. and their ability to post on all platforms (including their own website that takes out the platform fee charged by AirBnb, VRBO, etc.), my total revenue went up significantly, despite the cost of the management itself. They also had an AirBnb account that had a Superhost rating. 

If your'e interested, I would highly recommend looking into them and setting up a meeting where they can give you an idea of the potential revenue that they anticipate with your home. They will also do a primary walk through and help convert into an attractive AirBnb based on needs of the area. Here is their website: https://ratherbeproperties.com/

I also attended a workshop hosted by https://www.stayclassyhomes.com/, and they were specifically really knowledgable about San Diego. While I don't have personal business with them, they were highly professional and rated.

Hopefully this helps!

Brianna

Hi Ashley!

That is super exciting! I got my license recently as well and have joined a team at Compass. When I was interviewing brokers, most discussed that new agents would have an assigned Coach or Mentor for at minimum of 3 transactions (or more, if the first three were representing the buyer or the first three were representing the seller). I agree with Bruce in that your broker should have resources to directly assist you. 

Best of luck, and congratulations!

Brianna

Hi Daniela!

Congratulations, that's so exciting! I’m not a lawyer, but wanted to share what I’ve learned as a landlord and homeowner in California with some additional research too.

California Civil Code §1946 outlines the requirements for terminating month-to-month tenancy. For tenants who have resided in the unit for 1 year or more, a 60-day written notice is required. If the tenancy is less than a year, a 30-day notice suffices. Note: there are specific requirements to make this legal including it be in writing., include the date of service and the effective date of termination, state clearly that the tenancy will end, and it can be delivered personally or via certified mail with return receipt requested.

Since you are living on site, you are likely exempt from the just cause eviction rules under AB 1482. This means you don’t need a specific reason to evict so you can issue a 60-day notice to terminate the tenancy (if they’ve lived there over a year).

Here is a good article on it too: https://caanet.org/dont-forget-to-provide-the-required-notic... 

Another question would be if you have been able to see the current tenants payment history, credit reports, etc to make sure you want to continue renting to them? I personally like to have tenants with really good credit, stable jobs, good landlord references, etc. to make sure they are reliable tenants before signing them on long term. Also, do you have access to their current lease so you can see if there are any specific added terms in there?

Lastly, if you end up needing a new lease: For my leases, I used the standard one from a site called Avail. This is a leasing platform that allows you send and Docusign leases, collect security deposits, track payments, complete background checks, view credit scores etc. If you are newly listing a home for rent, it even posts it out to all of the platforms for you, and automates the application process. I rented out my La Mesa property to long term tenants for about 4 years, and have had one turnover (my initial tenants moved to Hawaii). It has been hugely beneficial for me throughout these last few years!

Hopefully that was helpful, let me know if you have any follow up questions!

Brianna

Hi Ben! 

You've received a lot of great replies for all your questions, so I wanted to respond to your question about meeting out-of-state investors. I have been attending SD events recently held by CalHomeCo and by Real Estate Cheat Codes (linked below). I think the type of investors vary based on the topic or event, but I have met both in-state and out-of-state investors there!

https://www.eventbrite.com/o/andrew-thomas-greer-37263903083...

https://www.meetup.com/san-diego-real-estate-group/

Best of luck!

Brianna