All Forum Posts by: David Song

It is obvious that turnkey properties are mostly overpriced. The only fair way to appraise it is to check other open market properties and have a fair comparison yourself. Appraiser does not always provide accurate appraisal, actually mostly of them are wrong. Find a local realtor and spend sometimes there to check on other properties and neighborhood before jumping in. My 2 cents.

You can do 1: sell by owner You will be responsible for all the work. Buyer's agent normally expect a commission. You can decide whether you want to work with them or not. If not, specify principles only. This is the most tough path. 2: get a flat fee mls listing. But handle all showing, other works yourself. As for title fees, you really can not get away with it. Either buyer or seller need to pay, you can negotiate with buyer to have them pay. Good luck.

The house price in San Mateo county seems go up this month again. Just saw a $850 k SFR 1400 sf, in less desirable area of San Mateo, last weekend. Needs everything, total house remodel. This is the lowest priced house on the market and the agent expects to receive multiple bids on it. Last December, I saw a SFH in San Mateo in a little better area, 2000 sf, 850 k and stayed on the market for over 4 weeks. In my view, mid peninsula market will see a record high in 2017, contrary to a lot of speculation that it will decrease. The slowdown has already happened last year, 2016 4 th quarter. It seems to me that is already behind us. 2017 likely a record high.

I will watch again and see how they pretend to be couples in the show.

Just saw on YouTube that the couple get divorced in 2016. There were a lot of issues from their guru seminars. Do not know what is going on there. Any insights? I like to watch this show but it does seem to be fake. Now I think this couple may not even be that successful with REI at all. If they truly made a fortune, there should be some news on that. Many of the folks on this forum maybe much more successful than that couple. Just a guess.

You will be evicted, lose your deposit and credit, and never find another apartment.

The repair cost for cheap houses is the same as that for expensive houses. Therefore, the holding cost will be in favor of an expensive house with high rent. As a percentage of rental income, the repair cost is much lower. The appreciation is in the land, and depreciation in the house structure. Investing in areas with land value close to zero is affected by the repair cost, where a lot of cheap houses are. If a house sells for less than $100/sf, that is below construction cost and the land value is almost zero. Unless that house can rent for significantly high value, and the city show population growth, it is dangerous to invest. Population growth is key. If population declines, the investment is bad. Immigrants are great for real estate investors. Hope trump won't drive all of them out.

Interesting. I know union city well, and have a rental unit 2 blocks from the BART station. There are quite a bit of warehouse in Hayward, union city area. I was thinking of converting a warehouse to apartment, but was afraid of the lengthy and cumbersome planning process. If the city changes its zoning ordinance and relax all the regulations, this will happen, whether to office or mixed or whatever. The best use would prevail in a free market, with less regulation.

Fremont has different neighborhoods. I will advice your friend to get it on MLs and get real offers. And ask her to give you an option to purchase at the top offering price. That is more fair to both parties.

Interesting question. I always managed my own properties. Tried to check on a few turn key out of state providers, found that the price of the property they offer is not good. In my opinion, turn key is a scam. If the property is priced good enough with high cash flow, with enough appreciation potential, without all the trouble, why don't I just keep it. Why would I offer it to someone else? In other words, these turn key providers must make a profit greater than if they hold it themselves. That means, the purchase price will be inflated, and you will be buying at a higher than market value. I will never buy something at a initial loss. This is the essence of turn key. If it's too good to be true, it is. You may have good rental return, but at the end, you might loss all those return when you want to sell it. Just my 2 cents.