All Forum Posts by: Johnson H.

For anyone thinking about buying @Rich Weese's book, do it! His book is an easy read and he is a great story teller. Also, his tips on saving on taxes is awesome. From buying single family homes, apartment buildings, entire subdivisions and building new development, I am not sure what Rich hasn't done! I met Rich at the BP summit back in 2012. He was nice enough to let me talk to him for 30 minutes with his undivided attention. He is the real deal and for anyone needing a little pick me up motivation, this book will cure it. If BP has another summit again, please let Rich speak. Thanks for coming back to BP after a long hiatus. 

@Rich Weese - Slowing down in real estate but not in life I bet. Still seeing the grandkids and taking your wife on world cruises I hope!

@Rich Weese - Great to see you around again. Not sure why BP would delete a wealth of information so it's everyone's loss. Are you still building in The Villages?

Hi Ethan,

Looks like you've gotten some great replies so far. I am always interested to hear the SF guru @Amit M. has to say. Interesting that he would rather go with the three unit if location wasn't a factor. But like I mentioned on the phone, if your plans are short term for the property then adding sq footage and adding the in law without calling it an in law in the SFH to flip would be a good option. Also, people are right that even with AirBnB, both units will be subject to rent control.

As for the loan, it sounds like the lender is quoting the conventional loan limit for one unit/SFH in SF which is currently $625.5k. You'll probably want to speak to a different lender for your jumbo loan options on investment property.

Finally, for structuring with partners there are a lot of methods. You can offer a preferred return and depending on how high/low the preferred return is, you can then have your equity split based high/low off of that. In addition, some sponsors would rather take equity than an hourly management project fee to keep skin in the game for the sponsor or the upside is higher for the sponsor, some sponsors want to take fees during the project to get paid and some are only fee based and have very little equity in the deal. If you do go with a jv, spell out in the operating agreement if things go south, what would happen, how will people contribute money for additional expenses, etc. If you don't, the jv can destroy your relationships. Good luck!

 I bet that never happens! :)

Hi Tom,

Welcome to BP. I use to run a SF meetup but @J. Martin found an excellent space in downtown SF so I leave that up to him while I continue one down in Milpitas. Lots of great meetups can be found at meetup.com and mines is in my signature link below.

@Jay Hinrichs - I've met Brian Burke at his office a few years ago and gave me some great advise on investing and syndication structuring. If I wasn't trying to do it myself I would invest with Brian too. We all got to start from somewhere, just trying to sow as many seeds as I can now and try to get lucky with a few flips and some value add MFH deals before the correction happens whenever that is. I just got to keep pounding the pavement until then.

I've been looking for deals to flip in Solano County for the past few months but nada. The court house steps has been tough cause Brian's guys are always there and his Praxis Realty listings are everywhere. It's tough for small time investor to compete with that big dog Brian Burke :)

Aaron, if you find something in the area, please hit me up!

Hi Marc, sent you a private message. I would be interested depending on location. Looking forward to hearing from you. 

@Saikat Bhadra - A good plan of action is to tour the property and measure the height yourself, view other properties in the neighborhood and see what has been allowed in the past, talk to the city about what you want to do to see what is allowed for the house and speak with a few contractors and architects that work in the city to get their ideas and ballpark cost estimates. I haven't personally done this myself but I know as a native, finishing the basement is common in many areas of this city. Due note that if you're going to finish the first floor, it's a great time to add earthquake anchor bolts to the foundation if you wish, add drainage to a concrete backyard and garage if there isn't any yet and update/add to the existing plumbing and electrical (also add Ethernet and new cable) before all areas get enclosed with Sheetrock. Just a few ideas, good luck and please let us know how it goes!