All Forum Posts by: Jin Kim

A son of tenant(section 8) has been getting paid $100 per month from the previous owner to sweep and do the garbage duties once a week. but I found that he does garbage, but not sweep. also he accumulated LOTS OF HIS JUNKS in the laundry room, and basically uses as his storage room. What is the best way to iron out this situation. He became my first headache since the acquisition. 

Thanks for your input. What I was thinking was petition for historically low income. And I talked to the agent about it, but found out the Berkeley rent board has made it very difficult to approve rent increases based on historically low rents. It is an allowable increase but I have not heard many success stories using that as the reason for the increase.

One of agents emailed me a deal today. It's a 6 unit property in Berkeley. All 2 bed 1 bath. 4 of them pay $600 per month which is only about 30% of the market rate. Is this deal something we should avoid? This is something we can work it out after purchase? I wonder how difficult it would be to push them at least up to 60% of the current rate.

When there's a choice between

1. upgraded, need to find tenants, but 100K higher than similar type of house
2. dated, old, tenants (who pay way under market value) will continue
living there, 100K lower than case 1.

both are duplex, both have 2 bd room each. which is better option?

We've had a good mortgage broker for our 1st home. But he does only for residential property. Any seasoned lenders who can help with both residential and investment properties? Thanks a lot.

This is a hypothetical scenario. Let’s say

• you have 400,000 you can invest on RE
• there’s property(A) you want to buy. The price is 500,000, And it is expected to go down to about 450,000 in 4 years.
• when you make 125,000 (loan is 375,000) downpayment, cash flow will be zero. when you put down 250,000, you can get positive cash flow (2000 monthly)
• The amount of conventional loan you can get is 37,500 at max.

Here are questions;

1. Which is better? Down 125,000 (25%) and save the rest for later? Or down 250,000 (50%), enjoy the cash flow (.8% ROI), and refinance it when things are ready to buy another property?
2. you have 37,500 left. That would be enough to buy another similar property(B). However, because you already have a loan from the property A, you can’t borrow anymore. Is there anyway you can purchase another property without waiting for 2 years to prove the bank the property (A) is self sufficient?
3. should we still purchase property (A) even when you know it’s completely overpriced and it’s not a good time to buy, because you understand 2 year requirement and you’d like to move on to leverage to purchase another property (B) sooner?
4. Let’s say you bought property (B) after 2 years, and you have 15,000 left for another down payment for property (C). Do we need to wait for another 2 years?
5. After 4 years, it got changed to buyers’ market. However you used all of your money to buy properties A, B, C. if you refinance from property A and B, you will be able to get some cash to buy property (D), but property (A) and (B) will generate negative cash flow. it’s certain that appreciation of (D) will be pretty good just in a few years, following the historical pattern of the cycle. Would you risk to put up with negative cash flow for property (D)’s appreciation value? If so, how much would you borrow and risk?

 Hi Arlen,

Thanks for your comment earlier. 

How about staying in Mt view rental house and buying a multi home somewhere in san jose, and save some for another either investment or for our own home later. 

What are the disadvantages when it's owner occupant multi home? How much more tax and how much more mortgage rate? 

My spreadsheet (buying a house vs buying a MFH) shows me that (rental + own 1 multi home) is still better than (1 SFR) in cash flow.

Thank you!

I learned from BP that living at one of the multi home you bought would be the best choice to save more money. but we are leaning toward not to stay together with tenants. 

If you are planning to buy both and are able to by both, what should I get first? My own home? or multi home for investing? when we know SF bay area appreciation is so high, it's not good to live on rent. 

I wonder if there are anything other reasons besides FHA loan (only 3.5% down right? I'm learning a lot everyday) BP community recommends owner occupied multi home as a starter? As long as you can down 20-25%, you wouldn't need FHA loan, right? Is there any other advantages living together with tenants?