All Forum Posts by: Hubert H Byron III

@Krishna Chava, one thing you mentioned that is very interesting is the incremental increase to rents of $25 - are there other operational advantages to having this technology installed like any Op Ex savings or change in vacancy rates? 

@Mike B., @Sid Payne, @Chuck Kramer, @Richard Ibeh, @Mark S., @Lisa Graesser, @Luke Carl, with installing all this cool technology, are you able to charge a premium for rents? How has this helped things like your operating expense, net profit, tenant retention vs. competition, etc.? I am curious about what sort of benefits you've seen to the bottom-line/performance of your rentals. Thanks! 

Hi, I am looking for a SF Bay Area attorney that can help with estate planning and LLC formation for real estate investing. I would prefer the attorney to be in Silicon Valley between Palo Alto and Sunnyvale. Does anyone have any recommendations?

Thanks in advance.

@Krishna Chava it would be great to get the tech you are using via private message as well. Thanks!

@Krishna Chava, thanks for the thorough response. This is really helpful and makes sense based on how you describe your market characteristics. I've heard that if you change the lock over to the smart locks, you don't have to change locks when there is turn-over, just change the code and use the quick re-key system. If this is the case, based on how much it cost in the Bay Area to change locks using traditional/non-smart systems, that would be like $120-140/per door vs. a one-time install and then never really having to do it again. I was reading that the national avg for for apt turnover was something like 52% so if you had a 100 unit place, change doors would be about $6200/year vs. pretty much zero because re-keying doesn't require a locksmith.

For your smart home systems, are they wifi-based? I heard from one of my buddies who used to work for Analog Devices that there are new systems that use cell towers instead of wifi so work even if there is a power outage - that would've come in handy for me when the power went out for our whole block and no one realized it until the next morning. 

@Christian Hubbs understood - let me know what you find out!

@Krishna Chava, what made smart locks not a good ROI? Thanks!

@Christian Hubbs, are you just looking for standard data you get from MLS or loopnet or more interesting data like natural and man-made hazards like flood, wildfire, radon, crime, superfunds, brownfields? If the latter, I came across this company Hazardhub.com via my day job that has pretty powerful stuff for the US. They have an API and are open to working with smaller operations. Not sure about individuals just using it for their personal purposes but who knows!

Originally posted by @Diane G.:

It is a reflection of RE market cycle......

Whenever market is at its peak, whether RE or stock, it is flooded with newbies and the experienced already left the market.... If I look around myself, seasoned investors are all waiting for crash now....

@Diane G., I completely agree about waiting for the crash to deploy majority of cash. Do you think we'll see more of a 2000-01 dotcom correction of -10% or a 08-09 financial crisis drop of -27%, and when do you think the next crash/correction will occur? 

In the last month, I've noticed some indicators that suggest a potential correction is coming soon: the Bay Area market turning a little bit in favor of the buyer (but wonder if that's just seasonality) and there has been a lot of chatter in the equity/options/bond investor circles of a yield curve inversion quickly approaching (key indicator of approaching recession). 

But on the other side for investing now, there's rising interest rates and the fact that the huge PE investors are doubling down on Single-family, especially in secondary markets, and the position that the yield curve inversion this time around is a red herring because of other positive indicators that weren't in place in past cycles. These market indicators and market behaviors among big players tell me that if you're in it to buy and hold, believe a crash won't happen for at least another year or more, and that the correction will likely be like 2000-01, it may make sense to invest now even if there may be a crash/correction soon. 

What do those who've been through multiple major investment cycles think? What was successful for you during similar times in the past when moving into and out of past crashes? Are there RE investment strategies you recommend if you want to continue investing through a crash, similar to hedging strategies in the options/equities universe?

Thanks!

@Mike B., good to know - it definitely seems like it would make things easier. 

Thanks!