All Forum Posts by: Daniel Lee

Hey Sonny Nguyen , I believe if it's an owner-occupied property, you'd be able to do the 3.5%-5% down payment under the FHA guidelines. If you're going to flip, then maybe consider an FHA 203k loan to also cover the rehab costs. Hope that helps!

I've heard good things about Buildium. https://www.buildium.com/pricing/

Hey guys! So finding a deal with enough meat on the bones in the Los Angeles area is tough (for me, at least), so I've started to look at foreclosures. Now, I know foreclosures can be tough, but I've been focusing specifically on pre-foreclosures. Correct me if I'm wrong, but is this the overall procedure? 1.) Find a property in pre-foreclosure with decent equity (<75% equity, lower is better) that has NOT gotten to the auction phase yet. 2.) Perform my analysis on the property to ensure the numbers make sense. 3.) Due diligence to find out if there are any secondary/additional liens on the property 4.) If free and clear, contact owner by any means necessary and negotiate a purchase. - Example: ARV is $450k, current mortgage balance is $190k and default amount is $45k. I'd offer $250k to pay off their mortgage and they get $60k (roughly), giving me about $200k in equity. 5.) Financing depends on exit strategy - hard money/equity partner for rehab/retail or wholesale. I'm not sure if the short sale process kicks in, since the owner still has the right to sell before an auction kicks in. Anyway, let me know your thoughts!

Hey Charlie Feid , have you thought about the possibility of house hacking? I'm not sure what your current living situation is, but maybe you can purchase a small MF that's <4 units and live in one while renting out the other? This way, you reduce your sizable risk. Additionally, you can finance the property with FHA/VA options and maybe refi later on down the line. Just a thought.

Hey! Good to see another Fresnan making the move to LA! I'm from Fresno myself, currently living in the San Fernando Valley. Competition here is tough, and I think what we're currently seeing is maybe a lack of good deals, or deals that are way out of our budget. Send me a message, and maybe we can schedule some time to talk when you get into town next week, or maybe sooner? Daniel Lee

Originally posted by @Anmmar Alsaggaf:

Sorry I tried to reply from my phone Friday but it did not go though. I PMd you.

Bit Wise - I contacted them twice with no response from the lady who books the room I will try again today. 

Fresno State - Costs money so that is a no no. 

 Hey Anmmar, I've done a few meeting with Bitwise (the location is actually called HASHTAG) before, so I can chime in with some details. The location is on Wishon, just north of Olive and the Tower District. It costs $10 per person for a daily pass if you're not already a member, and to use the conference room, it's $20 for the first hour and $10 for every hour after that. The conference room cost covers the whole group.

Of course, you can always try to just take the conference room, but if somebody else has it reserved, you'll have to surrender it.

In any case, that might be something you'd want to try out. Another suggestion that might work would be Yosemite Falls Cafe on Shaw/Blackstone.

If you're used to using the desktop version of Quickbooks, you'll quickly find that Quickbooks Online will not be enough. It's a highly watered-down version of the desktop product and you won't get all the features.

You can check out Freshbooks, since it was created to be web-based, and therefore shouldn't have compromised so much when it was written.

However, you should also consider something like GoToMyPC or TeamViewer so you can still have the full functionality of your Quickbooks at home and access it remotely. Something to consider.

Let me know if there's anything else I can help you with!

Super last minute, but I'll definitely be there! My girlfriend might be my +1 if she's feeling up to it. See you there!

Well, if it is - great! My name is Daniel and I'm new to BiggerPockets. I'm currently a freelance IT Consultant and several years ago, wanted to get into real estate investing. However, I got sidetracked with my job at the time and had to study to get some IT certifications.

Anyway, I'm excited to be a part of this community. I just recently moved to the Los Angeles area (which I'm reading is a bad place for REI?) from the Central Valley/Fresno area, so I'm anxious to see what kinds of deals I'll be able to make here in SoCal. I hope to get to speak/work with you all. Thanks!

Great! I'll be in attendance as well. Hope to see everybody there! :)