All Forum Posts by: Jay Orlauski

@Tony Wooldridge - I think I pretty much summed it up previously when we covered it together - I think Jay had some good insight to offer - however , even though I got my license first - ultimately, I ended putting together a REIA group because I wanted to surround myself other investors and I just wasn't making happen through traditional real estate agent related tasks - I was getting home buyers and tire kickers and certaily had a network of professionals like CPAS, Insurance agents, etc. - but it wasn't until I started the group that I really started building a solid network of local investors. Granted , Fresno is probably a lot bigger than Walla Walla - I actually don't really know , but based on all the talk , it sounds like a small town, so could be only a small pool of investors to begin with.

However, one thing I like to tell people, is that even though you may end up meeting a lot of people , or very few people - it really only takes a couple of like minded individuals to really turn things around and change your life and your business. If you meet someone who shares the same passion real estate as you do and they have other connections that complement you  - you could end up business together for many years. 

Don't overthink it - look , your objective is to meet other investors, build your network,  and find some people you can work with in the future. Inviting some people to sit down to get to know each other and see if you have common ground between you doesn't require to you be an expert in anything at all. Do a meetup and see how it feels- if you enjoyed it and the people who showed up indicate an interest in getting together again,  then make a day to meetup again - it really can be as simple as that. 

If you would like to get more involved and do more to grow the group - that is certainly up to you - but you don't need to come out of the gate trying to offer a full blown REIA - keep it simple and relaxed and I believe that the group will start to take on a life of it's own.

Hope that is helpful. Bets of luck to you!

OK  - I made a post but it was removed - hopefully this new post will not be removed as I have removed the LINK to the meetup pages - but here it is: 

Hi Cheyanne - welcome to Bigger Pockets. I concur with the previous posters advice. You should definitely start attending some local meetup groups. There are a few REIA ( Real Estate Investors Association) groups in Fresno that you can attend - two are in the evening and one is in the afternoon. An important step in investing in real estate success is networking. It's so critical to build your team - you want to have wholesalers that you can buy properties from and investors that you can sell properties to. It's also very important to build relationships with lenders, contractors, attorneys, CPAs and the like. Going to meetup groups will put you face to face with other like-minded individuals that you can learn from,get referrals from, find properties for you, and even partner up occasionally when the opportunity presents itself. But that only happens when you put yourself out there and start meeting other investors. Once you have started growing your network, you will be exposed to more opportunities, learn more about the dynamics of how deals work, and stay motivated to keep looking for more, while finding new and creative ways to take down deals.

There ARE a few really good meetups here in Fresno , but I am not allowed to tell you about them in this forum or they will take down my post.  I would suggest that you take a few moments to look up local meetup groups in Fresno and you should have no problem finding them - bets of luck to you! See you at a meetup!

Hey Bobby - if you're still interested in mentoring or talking with other investors - I would like to invite you to our weekly real estate meetup group  called Fresno Deal Seekers - we get together each week to talk about real estate, share connections, and learn from each other. It's a great place to meet other local investors and grow your personal network. Check us out when you get a chance,  we met this Saturday:

 https://www.meetup.com/Fresno-Deal-Seekers-Meetup/

Feel free to reach out to me with any questions you have regarding real estate - especially in the Fresno market. Best of luck to you!

@Chris Penny

I would recommend checking out this website - I saw Al speak at an investors summit last year and he had some amazing ideas on growing your cashflow with rentals. He has a lot of articles on the subject that I think are well worth the time to check out. 

https://leadinglandlord.com/author/inne8660/

@Carrie Cavins 

you're so right - and I forgot about storage space - but that is also a premium for apartment dwellers. With less available space - storage becomes very important. New apartment dwellers don't yet realize this - but the more experienced ones will be on the lookout for ample storage as well as nicer amenities. 

@Erique Gibbs 

there are three meetup groups in Fresno for real estate - 2 meet in the evening and one a daytime/lunchtime meetup. 

The group I head up is called Fresno Deal Seekers and we get together once a week every other Thursday and every other Saturday to discuss local happenings in the real estate market. We meet tomorrow for our Saturday meetup and the topic is "Hitting you Mark with Targeted Marketing"  - so far there re about 14 members RSVPd so it should be nice get together. We always meet at 12:30 in the afternoon. Here is the meetup page for it:   

https://www.meetup.com/Fresno-Deal-Seekers-Meetup/...

the other two meet in the evenings - usually on Tuesdays at 6 pm - here are the link to those: 

https://www.meetup.com/Central-California-Real-Est...

https://www.meetup.com/investing-486/

I hope to see you at the meetups

@Dave Weil - too many investors never make a move because they get analysis paralysis and miss out on opportunities - you have to take the leap at some point and if you do your due dilligence and run the numbers several times - you should be OK. One of the things to look out for when buying a multifamiy is the deferred maintenance - you want to know when you going have to replace the roof , or the AC units , or water heaters or whatever  - overlooking those could be costly. With MF - things tend to happen all at once - all two or three water heaters are the same age , etc. so be prepared for that by making sure your not buying someone else's headache and start putting money aside for capital expenditures like that. Best of luck to you - I see you signed up for the Deal Seekers meetup group  - I hope to see you make to one of the meetups  - have a great weekend!

Investors with 700k in Fresno are typically investing in multi-family complexes, not SFRs - although I have to say - I know one flipper who flipped a million dollar SFR property in the Tower district recently

If you are wanting to rent to families then you will want to be sure that the bathroom and kitchen is updated - this is what will attract good tenants and typically with a family , the wife will be the final word and if she doesn't life the kitchen or bathroom , they will move on. In unit laundry is huge benefit for renters and will make your units stand out. 

Be sure to screen really really good - even if it cost you and extra month or two -I tell you right now the best bang for your buck is going to be getting really good screened tenants that are capable of making the payments . Also ....avoid people who have had problems with previous apartment managers- there is a reason they have problems - managers don't go around looking for trouble, so if they were having issues there is a good chance that they either  pay slow or complain a lot. 

Best of luck to you.. keep us up to date on this

@Mandeep Pabla - feel free to come check out our meetup group to connect with other local investors at https://www.meetup.com/Fresno-Deal-Seekers-Meetup/ you'll meet a lot of great people and grow your network. 

This is for sure a tax related question - but from what I understand about it is that because it is already tax deferred , that you cannot take deductions for losses from it.  That needs to be verified - Karaan Hall does a really good discussion on the topic: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xL6H4KLg1jc

There are a lot of advantages to using SD-IRA's - most investors use multiple tax strategies to invest though and the SD-IRA is simply one of them. It all depends on how much income you're making now, how much you intend to be making in retirement and how you can best use your current resources, and what your plans for the future are.

One example given is that outside of your SDIRA - if you sell a property , it is immediately subjected to taxation to the tune of 20% or so - that means you only have 80% of that money available to invest into another property - of course you can do a 1031 exchange to defer the taxes - but doing a 1031 exchange is not always that easy - there are certain restrictions and time limits that you have to adhere to or you wont be able do it properly - you have to identify your subject property within 45 days and many investors will identify multiple properties so that if they don't get the offer accepted on one - then they have others to fall back on - if you cant find another property quickly - then you may not be able to 1031 it. In the SD-IRA you can sell your properties at any time without worrying about any time frame to reinvest the money - That's just one example of how it would benefit you vs a 1031.

Check out the video if you haven't already - it is a little long , but very informative

best of luck to you -