All Forum Posts by: Carrie Giordano

I would have to second @Chris Clothier advice. Investing, especially out of state can be stressful. It sounds like money has been a source of stress at times for you and your wife. I believe it would be better to keep building your saving and learning as much as possible about re investing and specific markets as you can. I believe in the long run your patience will pay off and you will be thankful you waited. 

I am also in California and invest in Ohio, where I am from. I made a newbie mistake and hired someone to manage my properties who didn't have enough experience. I suffered 2 evictions because of it. In fact, the second eviction was in December and I just found out today the the tenant filed for bankruptcy so the chance of ever seeing a dime of the $6k owed is almost zero. If I wasn't financially and mentally prepared for such a loss it may led me to quit real estate investing all together. But I love it and learned an expensive lesson from the experience. Real estate investing is a game for the long haul and if thats what you really want I wouldn't jump into anything. 

Also, I would try to stick to B or better areas. @Larry Fried's idea of private lending could be a great way to build your money.

@Stefanie Willie-Bonglo . You said real estate line of credit but I am assuming you mean a Heloc? If that is not correct just disregard what I'm about to say. I can only share my experience with you with Wells Fargo and have been very happy. I have a Heloc in which they offer me a line up to 75% of the equity on my property. I pay a $75 a year fee which gets waved every time I take a draw and lock in a rate. 

What I have found to be key is that I must call within 5 days to lock in my rate on any draw or it will be stuck at a variable rate. Currently that rate is about 5% but can go up to 18%. I just took a draw a few weeks ago so the rates I am mentioning were current then the options were 1 year at 1.99%,  3 years at 3.49% or 5 years at 3.99%, these could be amortized or non amortized. There is no option of no payments for 6 months but if you take the one year at 1.99 that's pretty great.

@Account Closed looks great opened up! Why did you go with the washer and dryer in the kitchen?

@Moh Said I have yet to win one of there auctions but have bid on several. I never had an issue with them releasing my $2500. Some of the homes do have judgements or back taxes owed which you would be responsible for so be sure to read their disclosure info.

Cleaning with original pinesol helps

Day 7 - I call today "crunch day" it's my last full day before heading back to LA. I feel like there's always more to do on crunch day than I planned. 

Lowes showed up with the stove but forgot to bring the additional pieces needed to set up the ice maker. So again I spend 30 minutes on the phone with the manager. I will be getting $125 credit on my account for all the issues with the delivery and someone will be coming out to set up the ice maker.

The gravel was dropped off and luckily it was able to be dumped from the truck all along the driveway. This made spreading it so much easier! With the help of my stepmom we spread the 3 yards of gravel in less than 30 minutes. The gravel really makes a difference in the appearance of the house, well worth the $146!

Before

After

Before

After

Before & After Bathroom photos

Basically the only change in the bathrooms is fresh paint and a lot of cleaning!

 Before

After

I would probably take California off your list. I currently live in Los Angeles but invest out of state because the market here is so overpriced that the cash flow is not good. 

Day 6 Complete - I spent today scrubbing the floors and bathrooms, it's a dirty job but someone has to do it! At times I've hired a cleaning crew to do this but I never feel like they do that great of a job. Plus, I can fit it in my timeline so I was fine knocking it out.

Mounted the kitchen fire extinguisher and carbon monoxide detector, I make sure to add these to all of my rentals.

It's been raining here all week and is suppose to continue raining the next 7 days. However, the gravel is scheduled to arrive tomorrow so I sprayed weed killer on the entire driveway. Luckily, the rain held out for a few hours afterwards.