All Forum Posts by: Johnson H.

@David C. @BeBe Cheng @J. Martin

Just tagging a few people that maybe interested. Good luck Peter!

@Gary F. - Click on my signature link to register for the meetup and you'll be notified of the next one!

For everyone else, I'll be there around 4pm. Looking forward to tonight!

@Gary F. - Looking forward to meeting you at one of these meetups!

I can make it at 4pm if anyone wants to join me early. Let me know!

@Karen Margrave

I visited his open house yesterday and it is a really nice place. The open floor plan and the custom windows are amazing! Take a look here:

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2685-Glen-Elk-Ct-San-Jose-CA-95148/19732121_zpid/

 Hi Jay, what area of Portland is this? I think the Portland market is a great long term play. Great standard of living in the area and its still relatively affordable, especially at less than $300k. 

Hi Brian,

Welcome to Biggerpockets. First off, I want to say congrats on investing for such a long period of time and having the wisdom of buying and holding properties long term in the Bay Area. You're in a great position with a couple of free and clear properties and have many options for your next step. 

In my opinion, before making any moves you should ask yourself what do you want out of your investment portfolio and how active of an investor do you want to be? Is there a certain amount of cash flow that you want to achieve coupled with your consulting earnings and social security, are you looking for capital preservation, are you looking to continue to build wealth to hand it down to your children, relatives and charity, or all of the above? Also, do you want to be an active investor and like managing rentals, rehabs and making deals or do you like the passive approach and hold steady hassle free properties? Answering these questions will help you develop a strategy for your retirement lifestyle and investing plans. Don't chase yield for the sake of making money when all you want is a headache free lifestyle. 

If I were in your shoes, I would first take inventory of my entire balance sheet. I would want to feel comfortable with a certain level of cash on hand and very safe gov't bonds for any emergency to handle. Peace of mind is very high on my list and having cash on hand can solve many of life's problems. Then, figure out how much income you have coming in and ask yourself is this enough or need more and how much more. Once you have a number in mind, it will be easy to figure out the rest. As for the investment properties, if you like holding on to single family homes and its been hassle free, I would take Minh's advise and raise them to close to market rent for additional cash flow. If you want a big hunk of cash, refi one of the properties but make sure your cash flow can service the debt and then some. If you do want to sell a property or two to 1031 exchange, I would find your most problem properties and/or those far away to be difficult to self manage to sell. Before you sell, figure out what you want to invest in and where. 

There are many strategies in real estate, with many types of properties to buy in all different areas. If you're looking to stay passive, I would keep it simple. Sometimes the best strategy is to do nothing at all. Don't get caught up in all the hype of investing in something sexy, you have free and clear properties spinning off cash flow even in a down market with low properties taxes and no debt to answer to. That is a fortress balance sheet and you should have nothing to fear in any economic cycle. However, if you're looking to be active and make a move with your properties, the sky is the limit. Have fun finding new properties and making those deals!

Just my two cents from someone far away from retirement :) Thanks for the tags @Account Closed and @Kathryn M.. Please come by to a meetup if you can, I'm sure a lot of investors would like to pick your brain on how you got this far and you can pick other peoples brains on where you would like to go on your next steps in the real estate game. Good luck!

Nhi just posted pictures of his build and it looks awesome! I am going to try to check it out Saturday morning. 

On another note, I want let everyone know that @Nhi Nguyen has finished his new single family home build and will have open house times this coming week! Nhi was gracious enough to invite us to his construction site a few months ago, gave us a tour and answered all of our questions. He told me staging will occur Monday and he will have pictures up shortly. Take a look if you're interested! http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2685-Glen-Elk-Ct-San-Jose-CA-95148/19732121_zpid/

Tagging the regulars:

@Account Closed  @David C. @J. Martin @Arlen Chou @BeBe Cheng @Yuliany W. @Abhay K. @Susan Gong @Sandeep S. @Helen Chau @Jay Y. @Ezra Nugroho @Kathryn M. @Peter K.

Hi All,

It's another month and time for another real estate meetup! These meetups have had 15-40 BP and Meetup.com members chatting about investing in the San Jose area and also out of state. Bay Area and out of state investor @Jay Y. initially suggested this meetup and I have been keeping it going ever since. Regular experienced investors such as @J Martin from Oakland and @Minh Le in San Jose have been regularly attending. We welcome anyone who would like to attend!

When: Friday, July 17th, 2015, 7:00pm

Where: Whispers Cafe and Creperie (Outside Patio)

(The cafe is in the same complex as City Sports and in the same building as Five Guys on the opposite side of the building.)

1085 E Brokaw Rd
Ste 10
San Jose, CA 95131

Please support the small business by spending some money and tipping for the great service we receive every month! (I don't pay for the space nor do I receive anything from the restaurant)

Looking forward to meeting new investors and seeing familiar faces.

Regards,

Johnson

Keywords:

South Bay , South Bay Meetup , Bay Area , Meetup , Meet up , Meet-up , San Francisco , Oakland , Berkeley , Alameda County , Contra Costa County , Solano County , Richmond , Hercules , Concord , Albany , Pittsburgh , Marin San Rafael , South Bay , Peninsula , Walnut Creek , Pittsburgh , Antioch , Pleasanton , Fremont , Castro Valley, San Jose, Milpitas, Sunnyvale, Fremont, Palo Alto, Santa Clara, Mountain View, Gilroy, Santa Cruz

One thing to note, I won't be there early at the usual 4pm time. I should be there around 6:15pm due to work. Feel free to occupy the patio area if you get there early, thanks!