All Forum Posts by: Jennifer Nguyen
Jennifer Nguyen has started 9 posts and replied 33 times.
Post: Living in an expensive area...where should I invest?
- Orange, CA
- Posts 36
- Votes 4
Originally posted by @Nick Thomas:
Podcast 173 helps out a lot with this question. I'd highly suggest listening to it.
Thanks, Nick. I recently listened to that podcast and it seemed like he invested additional amounts of money to rehab properties he purchased to increase the value of the property even more (do-able if you have more cash to invest). I'd like to put in 20k for a down payment (20% down), which would only afford me a house priced at 80k. I don't see any homes in LA or OC in this price range, just land. Would it be best to just save more money and wait for the market to cool down, and later on just invest in a more expensive property locally? Every time I listen to bigger pockets podcasts, I always hear about people getting really inexpensive deals in other parts of the U.S. and seem to be cash flowing well. I'd like to take action and thinking of pursuing out of state since it seems that's what I can afford, but wanted to get opinions from the group. Thank you!!!
Post: Living in an expensive area...where should I invest?
- Orange, CA
- Posts 36
- Votes 4
Hi! I'm a real estate newbie and interested in investing in "buy and hold" real-estate, preferably a SFR in the 80k price range. Where I'm at in So Cal, the cheapest homes are 400-500k and even if I go East of my location it's still in the 250k range. What would be the next step? Invest out of state? It's a bit overwhelming trying to pick a random starting point since within my radius I haven't been able to find a deal in the price range I'm looking for.
Post: How's the SoCal rental market?
- Orange, CA
- Posts 36
- Votes 4
Originally posted by @David Faulkner:
Welcome! The SoCal market is really difficult right now for acquiring new rentals. The cash flow generally gets better the further East you go, but even there you'd be hard pressed to find anything that meets the rules you mention. Buying distressed assets at a discount and then adding value via remodel is another important way to get better returns. This is a great way to go since it makes helps the cash flow and gives you an equity cushion which opens up options for alternate exit strategies (like sell at profit) and insulates you from downturns.
Finally, my observation from doing this over the last 12 years is that we are in a highly cyclical market and sometimes buy-and-hold is not the best, or even a feasible strategy. That means you will either need to sit on the sidelines from time to time and wait until buy-and-holds make more sense, be fexible and adapt your strategies to the changing market conditions (eg: transitioning from buy-and-hold to flips, and back again), or seek investments out of state. A lot of newbies pursue out of state investments, but I've been there, done that, and strongly advise against it ... that leaves you the first 2 options to consider.
Good luck and feel free to reach out further if I can be of assistance (I'm not selling anything, just giving away advice for free).
Can you tell me a bit more about why you would strongly advise against out of state investments?