All Forum Posts by: Carolina Solorzano

I think most of us in the community have had one bad investment where we learn the hard lessons and this could be in a local market (driving distance) or OOS. Never give up, I almost did for a year after my bad deal and I don't regret everything I've learned just by sticking with real estate. 

If you're in San Francisco, there's another meetup group that's pretty good. VIG (virtual investors group) is held in the Mission by Ryder Meehan and Chris V. Here's the link: https://www.meetup.com/SF-real-estate-investors-gr...

Hello Brad, 

I don't know if you were able to attend, but Alexis McGee has a meetup in downtown Sac that's really good. I attended the one last night and it was one of the better ones that I've attended in general, here's the link:

https://www.meetup.com/N-California-Real-Estate-In...

Everyone's situation is different. However, we had to form an LLC for our properties and business. Talk to a qualified CPA. Our LLC in Ca took a few weeks, but we don't have to worry about taxes (what @Derek Daun mentioned is true), nor do we have to worry about liability. 

@Valentine Sviatocha. I've been working with the building department on pushing out the back wall of my house in SF for 2 years. This isn't even with a full demo like you're talking about. I would say attend @Johnson H. meetup and figure out what's best for you before submitting plans to the city and work with a team that knows how picky SF is. 

Welcome Ernesto and congratulations on home ownership. I would suggest that you start attending local meetup groups. 

Here's one of the better one for multi-family based out of SF and Fremont. 

https://www.meetup.com/MFinvestingMeetup/

Jeffrey Pollack has a very informative meetup group in San Jose 

https://www.meetup.com/San-Jose-Real-Estate-Networ...

@Johnson H. has a monthly meetup in Milpitas which draws crowds from East Bay, South Bay and SF 

https://www.meetup.com/SF-Bay-Area-Real-Estate-Inv...

or more locally, Ryder Meehan has a meetup in the Mission 

https://www.meetup.com/SF-real-estate-investors-gr...

and lastly the other one I recommend, is in Marin, BAWB, which has an event in October as well. 

https://www.meetup.com/realestate-1641/

Hope this helps and see you at the October meetup for J Martin's summit. 

Carolina. 

I have one in Santa Clara that I love- S. Fazio at Diaz-Christians. 

Michael has a point, join the meetup groups. There's a few around the bay area depending on what type of investing you're doing. Either way, the more that you talk to seasoned investors, the more comfortable you'll feel about your decisions on the triplex. Also, don't be scared of renovations, especially if you have a good GC working for you. We've lived through 3 and will be tackling a full remodel on our primary residence for a year plus. 

I think everyone here will give you their advice, but this all comes down to your comfort level. Every investor I've ever spoken to has made mistakes along the way, we all do. I personally feel the more education you have in a field the more comfortable you are at taking risks. I learned the biggest lessons from a flip I did a few years ago and it was my "college education" on what not to do. 

Start attending meetup groups, start speaking to others who've already invested in the market you're trying to get into. The great thing about making mistakes at 19/20 years old is that you don't have family responsibilities yet. 

Talk to Sharon Fazio at Diaz-Christians in Santa Clara. She's great and has done wonders for us.