All Forum Posts by: JJ P.

I agree with the PAY CASH advice.  Buying with your cash saves you the nearly 9% interest that your bank loan would cost.  That's real money that you are keeping in your pocket each and every month.  I call that putting your money to work for you.  

If you end up needing that cash somewhere down the road, you have options. You can always refinance the new house or HELOC your current one, but I'd do that based on need.

Hi, please come and visit Dallas before you invest. You should lay eyes on the neighborhoods.  It will be worth every moment/shekel that you spend.  

There’s some very good insight in this thread.  
I’ve considered cashing out on our San Diego Class A ages for the high returns of other areas.  We already did that in Oregon and doubled our cash flow but stalled out on the appreciation.  Our small town Oregon houses are nice, class A, I suppose, but the economy is just tremendously different.  Our expectations had to pivot according and that’s not even when targeting/catering to lower income people. 
Class D-F purchases can be a great way to get started with limited finances, but it really is a Baptism by Fire.  We developed our landlording skills over years and made lots of mistakes along the way.  If we’d started out with challenging properties and tenants, I don’t think we’d have ended up sticking it out. 

Our Oregon Properties are insured with Pacific Casualty. SFR Rentals and vacation home. The rates are ok. We haven't made any claims, so I can't speak to that aspect.

I'd like to know your analysis of Roseburg, AJ.  It was on our radar, but it looks a bit rough to me.  

I inherited a section 8 tenant in my first Four plex.  She was tidy and paid her copayment on time.  She lived there throughout the time we owned it and probably still does.  It was a nice unit in a B neighborhood.  
It was a positive experience overall, but I’ve learned a lot since then.  In a nutshell, screen your tenant well no matter what the rental is.  Hold out for a good tenant even if the wait seems endless, because a bad tenant is the most expensive thing you can have.  

I just used the apartments.com lease for an out of state property, and found it easy to customize.  I've used their free payment collection service, and it was easy peasy, too. 

Apartments.com and Zillow will populate ads on different sister websites, so be sure to use both. 

You have the most strength in negotiation BEFORE escrow closes. It's something that you can request as a condition of COE, and a good realtor working on your behalf would have known this.   Unfortunately, you missed this opportunity.  

You can do things like request updated tenant information, new signed leases that kick in at close of escrow, rekey or get key copies, estoppel agreements (outlining the deposits held by the selling owner),  etc.  

You have the luxury of being young, ambitious and making an investment without the concerns of keeping yourself housed and fed.  That is a very, very big luxury.  

Find the bargain in your greater neighborhood, where you can drive over, have a look.  I'd say no more than 2 hours away, with an hour or less being better.  You've got the benefit of a dad that might help and perhaps some  resources such as trusted tradesmen and fixit people.  You know these neighborhoods well, and you know what a bargain looks like.  Get your ducks in a row, meaning decide the type of house you want, the neighborhoods, the down payment and lending, etc.  Look every day.   There are motivated sellers in every.single.market.  You just need to know what a deal looks like and move quickly.  Hang tight until you find a good deal, then nab it.   

Out of state investing is fraught with issues large and small, so stay close to home and avoid the hassles OOS involve.  Here are some logistical examples:  

-Our OOS investments (Oregon Coast) are a 3 hour drive from the nearest Home Depot.  Yup, that factors in when you need something and it takes half a day to go get it.  

-We also find that deliveries... a non issue in So. California, where they show up when they say they will... are very, very hard to reliably schedule on the Oregon Coast.  They mostly show up late, but sometimes they show up early.   You can't leave your stuff sitting unattended on a porch until you come back. 

-We've been scheduled to fly into the local airport and, instead, weather related issues cause overnight snags and we've only got a few days budgeted for the trip.  Can't do a three day job in half the time. 

-We've replaced a dishwasher that was most likely running perfectly because someone didn't check the shut off valve.  If we'd been there, we would have caught it.    The list goes on and on...

You've got the resources to buy in a better area close to  home... do it!  

We have several investments and a second home in Coos County.  One of the huge appeals to us is the airport in North Bend.  Like Arcata and a few other Northern California areas, it is served by United Express from SFO.  When we were considering where to invest, and whether or not to self manage those investments, proximity by car or flights was a huge factor.  For any out of state investor, it's worth checking the airline schedule from your local airport to see if you can get there quickly and relatively inexpensively, door to door.  
 I can leave my house in San Diego in the morning, fly up,  swing by the rentals to check in,  and take a walk on Bandon Beach long before sunset.   If necessary, we can fly into Medford or Eugene, nonstop from So. Cal,  on several different airlines.  If we have to, or want to, we can drive.  At approximately 800 miles, it's a long drive, but doable compared to say, St. Louis, Cleveland, Florida or the Carolinas- all places that we were on our short list for investment properties.