All Forum Posts by: David W.

I am committed to getting a property this year (well actually last year as well too but didn't happen). I live in Los Angeles where properties are out of my reach so I started to look at Cleveland and then it went to Memphis then to Columbus then to Palm Springs and Euclid on top of establishing relationships with agents in each city. 

I feel overloaded and confused to where to focus my energy. Ideally I would like to just focus on one place but I don't know how to go about that as none of them shine anymore than the other from what I am seeing. 

Any out of state investors have any advice on how to focus and choose where to look?

I am working with an agent to buy a property and when I was searching online I found a property my agent has listed. If I was to put in an offer for that property my initial gut instinct is to not work with him to put in an offer on a property he is also listed because of conflict of interest. 

What is the best way to go about this? 

@Andrew Postell Thanks for your input. My goal was to find a house that mostly move-in ready. I have home hacked my first property by furnishing it and renting out the rooms to roommates and it has done well. So I want to copy that style and find a house I can furnish and rent out the rooms. If it needs some paint, new roof things like that is ok so yes I guess I am doing the BRRR strategy to some effect.

What do you think is my best option?

Hello everyone!

I currently own a house in Los Angeles that is appraised value $750k. I have a 30 year fixed conventional mortgage at 3.62%. I owe $500k, have no other loans, mortgages, debt, 750+ FICO score and I am trying to find the best option to get enough money for a down payment for a second property price range $800k in Los Angeles. 

Does anyone know what the best option would be for me? I currently have about $100k liquid and a $50k line of credit available at 8.5% that I haven't touched. Technically speaking I could swing it with my own money combined with the line of credit but I would rather not stretch myself so far. 

I am not sure where to focus my efforts on and what is the best option? HELOC, HELOAN, Line of credit, etc. Can anyone give me advise on what to do to get about $150k for down payment?

Thank you Bigger Pockets community! 

So I am starting my search to help my gf find a medical office. I met with Marcus and Millichap and they have asked me if I can sign a buy side rep agreement. My first thought was NO as it is not fair for me to assume they are going to give me EVERY opportunity and possibility in the books in LA. 

I get that they don't want their potential buyers to go behind their backs but I then go up to the first point which to me is more important. You bring me the deal and I will take it but if the deal comes from somewhere else I'm not turning it down. 

What do you all think? Do you sign these? 

Hello Everyone! 

I have analyzed a handful of properties and so far I have experienced that in order to get a 10 cap and a positive cash flow of at least $100 per door I have to cut the property asking price in half. I am using the bigger pockets rental property calculator (just got membership). 

Here is an example of what I am talking about. I first analyzed other comparable rentals in the area of the single family residence house I am analyzing that is for sale and then used 5% vacancy, 10% property management, 10% cap expenditures, plugged in the annual property tax that was on the mls, $5000 repairs for after purchasing, $2500 closing costs, $100 for landscaping, $100 for flood, $100 for homeowners insurance, 

https://www.biggerpockets.com/calculators/shared/1172953/bea9e97e-1980-4577-bfb4-0b0833045ea1

 ok thank you for that I appreciate it! 

 These are all great things to look at and easy to research when you have a city in mind.  You can even skim through zillow, trulia to find info like schools and crime. I'm with you as well as those are the factors I'm looking for as well. I know I sound like a broken record but I am in Los Angeles so investing locally is not an option for me. I have to research and I am honestly still confused on how to do so. I know nobody can answer it for me aside from giving opinions on places they like. I'm sure there are investors out there that know how to research. Just looking for some advice to point me in the right direction state research (where I'm lost)  city research (I have a solid grasp on this). 

Oh, I didn't know that. I thought property tax was a state by state so I googled Texas property tax. Another variable to take into consideration. Thank you

Thanks David for the info. I hear great places everywhere. I am trying to figure out how to research and deduce 50 states down to a few and then select the best cities within. Do you have any advice? Once I'm in the city I am pretty good with the crime demo, school districts, walkability, talking to prop managers etc to find the best regions =).