All Forum Posts by: Greg R.

Would like to get a few opinions on how others select a lender for a primary/ principal home. I usually have pretty specific goals for an investment loan. However, I'm going to be buying a new primary home soon - not an investment. 

In this scenario do you use your same investment lender, or do you work with a different lender? If so why?

Quote from @Christian Beyer:

@Greg R.

Great question.

All the people who buy are out there buying. All the people who are waiting are posting on bigger pockets.

Does that give you any indicator?

Not sure what information you’re using to make this statement. I just closed on a luxury STR less than 60 days ago. 

Assuming the renter pays utilities it might make sense. I look at this through a very simple lens. Will I be able to charge more for a rental w/ a EV charger? If so, then how much more? If the answer is no, then that's your answer. If its something like a STR and I'm paying the utilities, there's no way in hell. Especially if the unit is in California where electric is sky high.

Edit: You can survey the market through zillow, craigslist, etc., to see if rentals with an EV are commanding higher rents. Or, maybe in your listing you can offer something like "x" without and EV charger, or if I install one $100-150 more per month. 

Not sure if I'd recommend spending 5k for a spreadsheet or 10k+ for a subscription. There's no easy easy way, you have to put in the time. A lot of time, a lot of phone calls, a lot of research. Get very familiar w/ Airbnb & vrbo apps and how to analyze calendars for occupancy/ vacancy, etc. Sites like Airdna can offer some valuable data, but starting out you'll need all the capital you have to purchase and furnish/ decorate the home.

I wouldn't expect any investors to tip you off to hot deals. Try to find a good realtor in the area who can help locate some potential deals. Also, if you want to find a good deal, you better be ready to invest a lot of time and energy to find the right deal. Also, learn how to analyze deals to know what makes sense.

@Bud Gaffney, thanks for the reply. So your position is that prices are lower now than they'll ever be in the future?  

I would personally advise against "traditional" college degree programs. They are a huge money suck and it's unlikely that she'll gain much usable knowledge. I don't see a lot of benefit for an investor to incur hundreds of thousands of student loan debt. Colleges now are basically high-priced indoctrination camps. And this is coming from someone with two degrees. 

I would say to maybe study for a real estate license and perhaps a few finance courses. Do that and start working and saving money for her first deal. Or, consider the military. Put in 4 years and then get the most powerful loan in all of real estate - the VA loan. If she goes that route she'll also get the GI bill which will cover tuition for a degree program if that's the route she really wants to go.

I once knew a guy who had rentals in NJ and he said that he would send "a guy" over to have a nice talk with problem tenants. He told me that the guy was a member of a local hells angels chapter. He claimed to have a 100% success rate with that strategy and said that the tenants were out within a matter of days lol. True story. 

Obviously not something I'm recommending; just thought I'd share.

Kyle, as someone who's been in SD for about 15 years, I've seen a dramatic change over the last couple years. To be honest I don't know how this is going to play out. I'm very concerned with the "regular" people here...by regular I mean non-investors, just normal folks working a 9-5 and living check to check (like most people do). Rents have increased substantially. Utilities are the highest in the nation, gas well over $5 per gallon. As you said, pay rates are not increasing enough to keep up with the cost of living. Without the "normal" people earning a respectable wage and having reasonable living expenses, I fear that we're going to see homelessness increase. This is a very similar scenario to what played out in San Francisco. Again, not sure how this is going to play out, but I'm more concerned about the SD market now than I've ever been. I'm employed by a company that's working to increase wages, it's going to take some time to increase wages to match the cost of living. Probably at least 5 years. And if this does happen, you know what else is going to go up? Cost of living... groceries, a cup of coffee, a haircut, landscaping, handyman services, etc. There's no way that employers can raise employee pay that much without raising the cost on their products/ services. This will inevitably cause a waterfall effect and the entire market will suffer. This will also be amplified by property managers & complexes increasing rent. I currently have a studio that renting well below market average. I was looking at Zillow last night to get some comps and I was absolutely floored to see current rates for 400 sq ft lofts. Unbelievable. 

I'm not 100% sure on the law, but I know that if you don't clean a dryer vent it's possible to become a fire hazard in time. At that point it would certainly be a liability. It shouldn't be too much money to get it cleaned out. Someone with a good shop vac that has a long hose can get it cleaned out pretty easily.