All Forum Posts by: Carlos Ptriawan

@Akhil Tandon: if you build larger than 700 sqft (not exact), your property tax is higher. Be careful to consider all associated fee. Cost-wise it's between 200-250 sqft.

- In San Jose, if the main house only has one story, you can't build two-story ADU.
- Mid 300 sqft is about right but if you build a large size I think Habitat ADU has a fixed cost ADU about 250sqft including permitting cost. You better check Habitat ADU.
- Don't worry too much about the OO JADU/ADU requirement as the regulation is hard to be enforced.
- I myself disbanded adu plan but re-invest to duplex/triplex nationwide including the bay area. Got one last month for 9% cap rate. Amazing some duplexes is much cheaper than building ADU :)
- Last week there's duplex with unpermitted ADU in SJC selling for $900k. Now that's something to consider :)

If you are buying MF in CF market that doesn't have CF and you spend lot of capex: run away. There's no point of getting into a deal just to make a deal.

Fastest way is using website like propertyshark.com but you could do it manually via county record

It happened every day in any investments. In the derivative market regular investors buying calls while the bank is selling the premium and keep hedging. Real Estate is risky but if some factor is known from the data  point(price from point A to point B) then the immediate wisdom will be how to mitigate the risk.

What Oli mentioned is the particular block/zip code is mostly renter-occupied rather than OO.

This is the question that I like. My answer is you need to be very right in forecast and CAPEX projection. You need to minimize cost all the way: for lending find a sub 3% fee. Know your NOI and CAPEX. Know how to read the inspection report and when you will spend $ for capex.

The short answer is, If I don't find a property that at least give me 2.0x DSCR, I'll never buy.

You need to understand the actual risk for each strategy. Here's the general risk for larger MF vs Passive Syndication vs Public REIT Investing

- large MF market is a very high efficient market, there's not much room for error. Your projection,ROI and capex analysis need to be right. There're not too many mispricing/skew available in the market, unlike small res/MF where you can pinpoint deals easily. Even a market guru can't can't find deals much more easily like before because we're already at the higher end of economic cycle.
- You need to know at least the conservative price projection after 5-6 years to calculate EM,CF. It's extremely market-specific. The good thing is it can be projected nationwide by market research.
- when you buy large MF, you are purchasing the whole economy/job growth up/down. 
- you need to know how to bring value to add to the property
- even with proper PM you need to develop process and strategy otherwise it's the fastest way to lose money

For syndication, the risk is the following:
- if you invest in wrong team/market , the realized return of investment is going nowhere and far from the projection, but at least this is the least risky way for newbie
- Crowdfunding syndication generally has a higher risk than private deals syndication/fund.
- post-covid times, many syndication failed to deliver their numbers. If you are OK with losing CF for a certain period of time, go ahead.
- Good thing is some type of sector investment is generally more stable than the other: eg: industrial compare to the hospitality sector

For public REIT
- in general, investing in REIT could give you steady 10% return but even then you need to know when to buy and when to sell.
- Due to the covid , asset price is generally cheaper in REIT compare to syndication as it's traded below the NAV. Many also stopped paying dividend.

Throw it any scenario but the gov hands are locked, they already devalued Dollar and within a few years, there's a strong possibility that US Dollar will no longer the strongest currency in the world that itself will also push the real estate price further up. Anywhere in the world, especially in Asia, the price of real property is skyrocket as a hedge and safe investment to a rising gov. printing money/inflation/etc.

Ten years ago average people can still buy houses in California,Shanghai, Mumbai,Singapore, Jakarta,London. Now ? Now they can't even get a decent room to invest. This phenomenon started in Asia 20 years ago when the currency started devalued. 

There're two things here: first real estate agent where you're locally present and when you're remote. For the local market definitely zero need for an agent (maybe a wholesaler is more useful) I can do with all your asking by analyzing all details through software, analyzing the title, check the ledgers, inspect the neighborhood, etc. Even better if they have video / matterport . I have specific criteria that I'm looking for, eg: they're owned by a real professional turnkey company, my MF Investment shall yield > 2.x DSCR in C or above the neighborhood, and will have no CAPEX issue. The roof and HVAC need to be at a certain age. I checked their title and permit history even before considering a purchase. Do you want a neighborhood report ? just use google street/trulia crime maps/niche/neighborhoodscout.com. I checked the tenant, who the seller is, and whether they're a responsible person.

If you have a question, just email the listing agent. Weekly, I only have less than 7 property that matched with my criteria. My software can also search for a specific keywords like "BOMK".

One thing that I really need is only: the inspection report.
This is something that real estate can not provide as well. I'd rather pay a high-quality inspection report or pay a handyman good money to give a visit and give me a punch list. 

These days, since the invention of Zillow, many properties are sold as FSBO and the buyer can bid without an agent too. If people know what they're buying both sides can reduce the purchase price dramatically. But if an investor buyer is clueless then yes they need a real estate agent. A commission fee of 6% doesn't make sense anymore in Redfin/Zillow world. The old system is paying someone that do less work highly while the other guy that does the real job (handyman, inspector,property management) with lower pay.

I can give tips also if you want to buy remote: source the deals from the property management company, they know the neighborhood better and can help in the acquisition.