All Forum Posts by: Ciprian L.

@Alyssa B. I purchased mine in 2014. Mine didn't break even when I bought it, but now I can move out and will cash flow. You will not find something that is cash flowing from the first day in LA, if it's cash flowing from day 1, it will sell in a few hours to an investor that will pay cash for it.

Find something that needs work and has potential for rent increase, don't buy in rent control area and and you will much happy with it than with a single family in a few years. I would recommend to go with a 4 units if you can afford it, the more units the better.

I wanted to get some extra income to help with the mortgage and didn't want to live with roommates. Also I want it to cash flow when I move out and it's much harder to make a single family cash flow in my area.

I started out of state thinking that I can not afford anything local. 3 years later I bought a duplex locally with a FHA loan 3.5% down and it was my best investment. You can buy something that needs work and refinance to get rid of the PMI.

Good luck!

@Alyssa B. Welcome to BP!

I currently house hack a duplex in Burbank. Did you look into 2-4 units?

Good luck!

@James Wilder

Are you planing to buy cash? What if the prices go down but the interest goes up and your monthly payment is the same? How much do you pay in rent every month?

I don't think is wise to wait, if you plan to house hack and don't have enough money to pay cash. You should be able to find duplexes for less than $1M in a decent area, keep looking.

Good Luck!

@Jeff Alpert Welcome to BP!

It's hard to find a deal in LA with 100k down payment, unless you are looking to move in one of the units and can put less than 20% down payment.

It's not impossible to find cash flow but you have to know your market and look for value add. I didn't see a deal in my market for a few months, but last week 2 deals came on the market in the same day, keep looking and you might find something local.

I'm not a fan of out of state investing, I started investing out of state a few years ago and from my experience the numbers on the paper look much better than the reality.

Good luck!

@Josh Cohen What is your maximum purchase price? I would recommend a 2-4 units also. 

I currently own a duplex in Burbank and I purchased it with 3.5% down.

I don't know your market but if your area doesn't get a lot of appreciation it's not a good deal.

For the first deal I would use the lower numbers for the rent $1200 and $300. 

If your area doesn't appreciate much in price I would look for around 1% or more in rent of the purchase price, 1500 rent / 150k purchase price.

Good luck!

@Jeff R. Welcome to BP!

I'm currently house hacking a duplex in Burbank, let me know if I can help in any way.

Good luck!

@Trever Jones

You should talk to a lender first, see if you qualify to purchase a duplex if you decide to keep the house. 

You also need reserves when you have rental properties, if the 45k HELOC is all your money, I think it's too risky to purchase the duplex and keep the single family, if something goes wrong and you have to spend money that you don't have and also have 2 assets that don't cash flow you risk on loosing the properties.