All Forum Posts by: Jon Schwartz

I am located in a pretty small town in western Massachusetts and I am not feeling hot about investing here, I would like to find a place not too far for my first investment so I could manage the property. What do you consider when selecting a location and where do you find data?

I have 100k and live in SoCal. I am in between building an additional unit on my duplex property. This would generate 2k a month which would have me living for free and generating 1k in income a month with current numbers. It would also cash flow 3k once I move out the front.   Or should invest outside of California, do to the extremes regulations they continue to pass in the state and the city. My return may be higher here in this move but the state has me thinking otherwise.

I am considering getting into real estate investing through House Hacking. 

I currently own a property that I would turn into a long-term rental after I move into a new primary residence. Then I would be renting a room or two in my new primary as a short- or mid- term option and eventually grow from there.

My question is related to analyzing the new primary. 

Should I be concerned with potential cash flow of the new property? Since I will be living there for a while I am thinking cash flow would not matter at first, instead appreciation would be a more important factor. How should I assess the potential ROI or cash flow of that property once I am ready to move it to a full-time rental? Would you use whatever is left on the loan amount to analyze the return or would you use the original purchase price?

Looking forward to feedback from the community!

Hello,

We have $890K of cash waiting in our 1031 exchange and we can't decide if we should buy properties for short-term or long-term rental. We live in Los Angeles. We are currently looking into multi unit properties in the $1.5 M range in L.A. or 2 vacation homes ( 1 will be paid in cash) for STR somewhere in the Big Bear Lake/ Lake arrowhead area. We just want positive cashflow monthly and dont want to make a bad move. any advise?

I tried searching and didn't find much results on this. Currently trying to get an offer accepted on a duplex out here in Los Angeles. One unit will be delivered vacant and other unit has a long term tenant that has been there over 10 years. The tenant is defintely under market but based on pictures and what the listing agent says the tenant is great and no problems. How does a buyer actually verify if a tenant is up to date on rent? I know you can request estoppels but does that actually tell you everything you need to know when it comes to tenants payment history. I will try to get the lease and security deposit of the inherited tenant but if the tenant is trouble i may want to back of the deal completely since the numbers will be even more lean towards negative cash flow. 

Hello all! New member here! My name is Juan, I am a real estate agent and a first time buyer looking to house hack in Southern California (preferably south west Riverside county or north San Diego county). I’ve just started learning about real estate investing strategies a little less than a year ago.

I am interested in utilizing the FHA 203k loan or Fannie Mae Homestyle conventional loan because of less competition against other buyers, and I wouldn't mind doing some work to force appreciation. Since I'm a licensed real estate agent, I have MLS access but I'm also open to finding off market deals. I spoke with a couple of lenders today and they said there aren't many lenders that currently handle renovation loans since there is too much risk. I plan on doing some more shopping around for a lender but thought I'd reach out on the BP forums. Anyone have lender referrals for renovation loans or advice on House Hacking in SoCal?

The strategies that I'm interested in for real estate investing, other than HH, are out of state rentals (I feel that the capital I have can go a lot further in a market outside CA), and BRRRR (mainly with out of state rentals). But I currently live with my parents after several years of renting throughout college so my priority is a primary residence but if long distance investing can help me get there quicker, I can put up with my living situation for a bit longer. It's allowed me to save up about $10k in a year but that's not enough to cover a down payment and closing costs in my area.

Anyway, I look forward to connecting learning, and growing with this amazing community!

Hi all! Looking for our first duplex to house hack in Los Angeles, and would love to hear your thoughts on the Highland Park / Glendale / Echo Park area. Open to expanding a little further south as well, but would love to stay north of the 10/101. How do you go about researching new development going in? Where are the cool new spots going in? Where are the best up-and-coming spots? 

I'm planning to spend some time in the coming weeks driving the neighborhoods, talking to people, checking out the shopping areas, etc. Anything else I can do online to maximize my time when I hit the pavement? Thanks for any advice you can offer!

Hello! 

I currently own a property with section 8 tenants - all contracts are expired month to month contracts. These units are also rent controlled.

Can I serve these tenants notice since their contract expired? 

Anyone have any advice or someone they can refer me to that can advise?

Thanks in advanced :)

Hi All - 

I'm a relatively new investor who is seeking to grow a appreciating portfolio first, followed by cash flowing properties.  I have enough assets that I'm not in need of cash flow at this moment, and I'd like to focus on assets that will build me more wealth long term. (that said - since I rely heavily on dividends for income, I don't want to completely negate cash flow either. Nor do I particularly want to lose money). 

I have a property I think I can get under contract in a prime Los Angeles location. It was listed @ 1.6, but I think it will sell closer to 1.8.  It is in an AA+ neighborhood that is hard to replace, and it's really beautiful. It is a turn key property - so not something I can build equity into. 

The rent will just break even with my P+I+taxes and insurance (9,500k monthly) and maybe even fall short. It will not cash flow, unless i turn it into an Airbnb and then maybe... though Ive never owned an airbbnb and that would be a learning curve.  It has 2 bedrooms, a pool and a guest house, so  maybe not ideal for airbnb (i'm told airbnb thrives with 4 bedrooms) but still an excellent property. 

My question is it worth buying and holding even if it doesn't cash flow, and may in fact cost me money? I know many believe we're at the top of  the market, and that there may be a correction in the future. However, this is the type of property (in the right area) that could very well appreciate almost a million dollars in the next seven - ten years. 

I've heard others say that with inflation, they're banking on appreciation and buying high desirable properties to profit from it. That is in essence what I would be doing with this property - buying a high value assets that may cost me money in the short term, but in the long term will grow in value. That's real estate investing 101, but I guess I'm wondering if that's worth doing in such choppy economic times?

I wouldn't be considering this investment strategy if i didn't believe the property was valuable. Otherwise, I would much prefer a BRRR strategy or cash flow or something that I have a cleaner exit on. However, I thought I'd ask you more experienced investors if you have any thoughts about this. Any and all are appreciated.

Thank you!  

Hey y'all,

I'm looking to purchase my first house hacking deal later in the year when my lease ends. Should I only be looking for properties that would cash flow when I move out and keep the property as a rental property (and ideally be house hacking another house), or is simply "getting in the game" and living for free and building equity more important? Or does it really just depend on what my goals are? I'm worried I will spend too much time analyzing deals trying to find the "perfect" one and potentially delay when I would be moving. If you think the latter is more important, do you think it makes more sense to try to be a home in a great location to hopefully have some more appreciation? 

Additionally, since I know when my move out date is, how far in advance should I start working with an agent and lender? 

Any advice is appreciated!