All Forum Posts by: Gilbert Dominguez

That's as close as it gets to needing no money, then you will have to pay property taxes, and insurance. Hope your property will cash flow enough so that you can cover the mortgage payment and still end up with a positive cash flow after you create a maintenance budget of course. 

Get this people, take legal issues to an eviction attorney in your area. 

Your best bet to putting together a spread sheet you can use over and over is to get quotes from local contractors then make that your data base on a per square foot basis, unit basis or per linear foot. That way you have something that is reliable for your area. 

Yes Radon is a poisonous gas that usually if present will penetrate the building from underground. I would research in on the internet. You will find a sloop of articles on it so you can at least  become familiar with it. I would not buy any property with a history of Radon at the location. Just too much liability. It can not only cause cancer but death. 

Really good to do due diligence on this one.

Banks will lend upon what they appraise a property for not necessarily what the market is. So if your bank appraised your house then try to have your buyer go through that bank for financing. That is about all I can say about that. You can also decide to go through other conventional lenders if you think your house is worth more. Know how to do comps, have a agent do comps. Keep up with your market and have an idea as to the market value of your house and use that to price your house when you go to sell it or even buy a house applying what the bank told you. 

First I would say run your business as a business not a social program. Social programs are for those that can afford it. At best I would would go with section 8 that guaranteed most of your rent and sometimes 100% of rent. If you are in the business of renting then do everything you can to assure your rents. Once you have so many properties that one or two non paying tenants will not throw you off your game plan then you can try socialism because you can afford it. 

It is not to be inhumane it is to protect your business.

@Brent Mattison

You are right Brent. Chicago near south and south shore are excellent rental markets and offer cash flow up the Ying Yang. Sure it is a depressed and troubled market but if cash flow is your game there are few places that are doing as well. That still make sense to me where I can buy a property for $60K and cash flow over $500.00 per month after expenses. The problem is people want to own "A" class properties and cash flow the same. Its not going to happen ever. What is everyone looking for ? Everyone is looking for "A" class properties that cash flow and typically those are a needle in a hay stack especially in the real estate markets of today. Honestly I think the days are gone where you could expect to buy good quality properties at reasonable prices, that is what competition has done. The internet has contributed allot to this because of the ease with which we can access information and network together. Everyone is becoming more investor savvy including home sellers. By the time something is up for sale people are pricing their properties at full potential regardless whether or not their properties in their present condition are basically junk, simply because the demand is there and real estate offers much higher return on investment than your standard bond, mutual fund, stocks for the most part. Some stocks may offer stiff competition to real estate but those are complicated to understand and the risks are much higher. 

One example is where can you still buy a 13 unit apartment building for $130K. If you buy this property there is no question you are going to cash flow seeing the lowest rents for a one bed room is $500.00/mo. in the area or even within the entire city. Of course you would not expect such a building to exist in anything better than a C class asset. 

Its pretty much take it or leave if folks or be prepared to take your time to cherry pick and be alert and ready to pounce.

Take it that the 2X4 wall is load baring. However you can install a couple of large footings at the end of each wall and install a beam, maybe a steel I bean into the ceiling and to which the cross ceiling joists connect using joist hangers. This will allow you to properly support the overhead weight plus support your ceiling joist expansion lengths. I would check this with a structural engineer. 

Its going to happen people. The average LA house will be going for near to $1M same as in San Francisco. Its just a matter of time. The market and expectations from the LA real estate market favor the buy and hold strategy although you can still get in some fix and flips. Also depends on the entry point and less barriers if that is a consideration for you. 

The story never changes money begets money and money attracts money. Are you looking for an ideal place to live or just a good place to invest? 

While maybe posing challenges to entry for newbies LA is certainly setting itself up to pay those who are better well healed financially very handsomely. 

That is my take on things with regards to California. 

I thought folks were crazy out of their minds when they started to buy the median prices house at $250K in San Francisco but look what has happened over the years. Now the cheapest property you can buy in San Francisco is near to $750K and above for the most part. 

on opening day people come in groves and form lines to buy a fixer upper for over $1M and most are getting offers above asking price. 

Is this good or bad? I do not know but someone is making allot of money that is all I can say. 

A 100 year old apartment building which I was sure would be torn down just sold for over $20M

Wouldn't it be nice if things were only that simple? Do not forget Uncle Sam will be there to take his cut in taxes should you decide to sell. However if you have a good number of years left to live you could think that your mortgage or mortgages will some day be paid off and you could have two rental incomes coming in versus only one or however many you have coming in now they will be increased by one more unit rents.