All Forum Posts by: Jeff Keller

@Christopher Kerby ... Normally when a mortgage is taken out on a home the lender will require flood insurance if it is in a FEMA special hazard area. Nearly all homes in Palo Alto are in a "flood zone" with a risk of flooding, but for most the likelihood of a flood being deep enough to cause damage is very remote (not in 100 year flood zone).

Whether anything can be economically done depends upon the type of flooding that may occur. In Palo Alto, there was a creek overflow at a bridge where the creek channel narrowed. The water went down the nearby storm sewers then came up about a mile away flooding the homes there. The only thing a homeowner could do would be to put his home on a higher foundation.

In some areas where flooding is likely, the ground floor is treated as auxiliary space (not sure of exact word used). If it floods the damage may not be considered to damage the value of the home. In reality, the homeowners typically use the ground floor as ordinary living space.

If your home has a problem unique to it, a general contractor may have a way to cope with the problem (sump pump, grading, etc)

@Moncy Samuel what real estate agents are told to do is don't make assumptions outside of their area of expertise. If they are representing a buyer to buy a home, the agent needs to flag a potential mold problem by saying there are dark stains on a wall that should be investigated.

In your case, get the "mold" quickly looked at and remediated. If the expert says it is a health hazard then tell your tenants.

Congratulations on your duplex purchase!

@Tiffany Shan  ... The lender wants to have the ability to sell the home if the mortgage isn't paid. The lender wants all "owners" to be on the mortgage so that they will have no problem using the property to cover a default.

The only way I could imagine not having both buyers applying for a joint mortgage would be if both of the buyers could borrow money from a different source, either equity on a different property or investment.

Unless real estate agents have special training it is very risky for them to promote themselves as being any kind of financial advisor, tax advisor or legal advisor. Generally they will tell you important things you should consider then recommend you seek professional advice in that area. Promoting themselves as having professional capabilities in any of these areas without specific certification or license would likely lead to problems with their local board of realtors and to law suits from clients.

Most real estate agents earn their living selling homes with 1-4 units for whoever will buy or sell. It would be very rare that an agent could create a better business for himself by specializing  in representing investors.

You would be best served by finding a top real estate agent to get you the best purchase terms but using a financial advisor to guide you with what you would benefit most from.

It might be called something different in Virgina: when a house is put up for sale, the real estate agents put signs around the neighborhood inviting people to come see it. The agent or an open house host is there to answer questions and keep the home safe. Typically this is done on a Sunday afternoon however if there are many buyers looking, it may be done on both Saturday and Sunday.

Congratulations! Hopefully and most likely it will be a good decision. Even in the less likely situation where you end up with questionable results, the hands on education will get you going in a valuable direction.

I think it would be a good idea to build expectations in a professional direction and manner. If it is just word of mouth, expectations my drift in a direction you don't want them to.

Realistically you would probably never take legal action to enforce this. However you don't want your tenant eventually thinking he can run an airBnB whenever he is on vacation or on a business trip.

The City of Mountain View has been pro high density housing for decades. They have a high percentage of renters. They've also had an increase in demand by high tech employees with the growth of Google and other companies. There has been little room to build new housing (although it looks like land near the S.F. Bay is going to be developed for new high density housing). Mountain View was positioned for rent control to pass.

The new housing (much to be built by Google & other high tech employers) will probably help affordability but the rent control won't. The rent control will only transfer wealth from property owners to the existing tenants. With the larger units run by corporations with more means to adapt to and reduce the impact, small investors will probably be hurt the most.

The differences between the southwest end of Mountain View which is more suburban and the northeast end near downtown and high tech employers is probably going to become very pronounced.

It's interesting the desire which many investors here have to get a real estate agent license. In most of Silicon Valley there is no more room to build more homes. Existing homes are either torn down to build higher density housing or to build luxury homes. Much of this is done by small builders. Very few of these small builders want to get a real estate license even when they like to help their agent hold homes open with the intent of getting clients who will hire them to build a new home.

If you are wanting to get real estate sales experience, you might be able to find a real estate agent who would have you help hold homes open. That would give you an opportunity to learn what is important to buyers. To flip a home you have to make it more desirable.

@Kate Stephens ... $180,000 cash flow on $1.1M equity will surely require pretty heavy leverage. It sounds as if you've had the CA properties for long enough that the prop 13 tax savings is not something you would want to lose.

Using the suggestion of @Luke Mitchell to get cash should be a good plan. To get cash flow quickly, you probably need to improve the properties you are already invested in and plan on investing in properties you can improve to build quick equity.