All Forum Posts by: Jeff Zimmerman

Hey Craig, I'm a little late to this thread but had some thoughts that are hopefully helpful.  

I think buying local for your first one is always the right move, even if the return isn't as great as you can get somewhere else.  Being able to be at your investment whenever you want to, doing the work yourself and managing yourself are all great ways to gain experience and the mistakes you make will be far less consequential since you are so close.  

I like to see my stable properties at least once a month.  If they are still in process of being stabilized I may check on them more often.  I don't manage them myself though. 

To find a reputable agent in any market you can start with your local trusted agent and ask if they refer to anyone in the areas you are looking at, that gives you a good starting point.  Then you can check out the other agents reviews etc. and see if they are someone with the type of experience you are looking for. 

 You can also ask the BP community which agents they've worked with before, I've always received great answers from the BP community for agents, you will get a lot of responses from agents themselves offering to work with you so be prepared to scroll through to find actual recommendations from other investors. 

Good luck!  Message me if you think I can help further! 

hey Victor, great questions.  If you need a good CPA in Fresno to sort things out for you and find the best strategy for you and your dad please let me know. 

Hey Mike, Fresno has been good to me. There are pretty good opportunities here for multi family. Using your VA loan outside of SF will be a little tricky as lenders prefer buyers to be about 90min - 2 hours away from work, but there are strategies to make this workable for VA buyers. I'm more than happy to discuss if you'd like to know more.

@Jeaneen Caillier good idea.  I'd definitely attend. Been wanting to go to one for a while. 

Hi Danita, congrats on getting started!  You are way ahead of the game for your age.  

The Central Valley of CA in general will likely be the most affordable place to get started in CA.  A duplex that fits your criteria in Fresno will sell for about $400k-$500k, which means you would need about $30k for your down payment and closing costs, although sometimes we can weave closing costs into the purchase price either through the loan or by having the seller pay a portion, which may lower your cash needed.   

I highly suggest narrowing down to 2 or 3 cities/areas you like and then taking a drive through those places to see if they are the kinds of places you want to live.  You can even speak with a broker or agent ahead of time and ask them to give you some idea of which neighborhoods to drive through.  The right agent will be a wealth of knowledge and can help you narrow down neighborhoods, blocks and streets in their area based on your goals. They can even give you an idea of what the rent to cost to appreciation ratio will be in different places.  But overall, always put "boots on the ground" first, that's the biggest mistake I see new investors make, they don't know the area before buying. 

One last note on RE agents and brokers, get recommendations for agents from BP, friends, etc...Call and interview them and if they don't seem to have the knowledge you need or be the kind of person you want to work with, keep looking.  All agents will want you as a client and will say they work with investors, and they probably do to some extent, but their main goal will be to close instead of help you analyze something correctly.    Being an RE agent, I'm more than happy to give you some good questions to ask agents so you can screen them correctly.  Feel free to DM me if I can help more.  Good luck! 

Congrats Carlos, I'm glad that model is working well for you. You've received some good advice so far so I don't have much to add. One of the things that will be important moving forward is making sure you have enough parking for each tenant at the next home you purchase.  One of the issues I've seen repeatadly is that when investors buy homes for nurses there may not be enough parking in front of the house which causes tenants to park in front of the neighbors.  This is legal however sometimes it can upset the neighbors over time since they may not be able to park in front of their homes or all the different cars can make them nervous.  This can begin un-wanted attention on you and your business.  Neighbors tend to be nervous living next to short term rentals anyways so you want to do anything you can go keep them happy.  Good luck and let me know if I can help further! 

@Anurag T. good luck!  

Hey @Anurag T., new homes in Madera are fairly easy to rent out if they are in Tesoro Viejo or Riverstone.  They both have easy access to HWY 41 into Fresno.  Most of the people who are buying homes in those 2 communities are commuting into Fresno for work or school. Riverstone homes often come with extra requirements for water filtration on the homes, therefore some people prefer Tesoro but they are both great places. 

Other zip codes you can look into that are in Fresno or Clovis are 93720, 93730, 93619,93612,93611,93737,93727 (the SE areas of this zip code with newer homes that are in Sanger Unified).   3/2 newer homes that are the easiest to rent out are generally in the Clovis Unified Boundaries and in some cases the Sanger Unified boundaries.  Good luck! 

What's up Miguel, congrats on starting out.  I've been an investor in Fresno and Tulare county since 2011.  Feel free to reach out if you'd like to ask any questions about starting out or anything RE investment related.  Good luck! 

hey @Andrew Albritton, sorry that's a tough situation.  Best thing to do would be to speak with a good local CPA who can guide you through all of that.  I have one in Fresno, Roeser Accountancy that could help with this.  I also have a client in Turlock who could rec a good CPA up there as well.  Feel free to message me if you'd like to connect with him. Good luck!