All Forum Posts by: J. Martin

 Glen,
I refunded your ticket price due to your medical issue. Paypal says 3-5 days to process.
It was 2 days between your first series of emails (beginning Sept 5), and you posting this on BP (Sept 7), while I was vacationing on the San Juan Islands. I didn't see any missed calls or texts from you.
I was not refusing to return your emails or trying to be rude or unprofessional. I just don't sit down at a desk every day.
Thank you for your patience Glen. I know it can be tough and frustrating to have medical issues pop up, and wish you the best with what you're dealing with. 

***ALL OTHER SUMMIT ATTENDEES***
We do our best to answer the [email protected] emails quickly. But shoot me a text and/or give me a call on the number on my profile if anything is extremely urgent and you don't get a reply quickly enough. Everything is on track with the planning to have another awesome event!

I want everyone to have a great time, learn a lot, and especially to GET CONNECTED. If you got a ticket already, you'll be receiving more info about the event, and within a couple weeks, a link to our networking app, so you can get even better connected before, during, and after the event. We have over 200 (and growing) excited investors already coming out, so welcome out to the 3rd SF Bay Summit!

@Ethan Cooke, 

Yes, what we discussed previously and what @Ariel Smith says rings true.  (btw, had drinks w/ David Adams the other night in Seattle - blast from the past!)

You can go for students by the room at SFSU during the school year, and you know the summer is easy. I think there is plenty of demand for all-school-year students at SFSU in individual furnished rooms. Then they'll leave during the summer when you can get plenty of demand anyway.

Also, like you said, check with realtors, and check online for insurance relocation companies. They will both have demand from families looking for temporary furnished housing over a month. But they usually want a flexible check-out date, which makes it tough to plan ahead.. 

Beyond making more money on the SF houses over unfurnished rents, it depends how much more you make for your time (after subtracting all your hard costs of course). If you were to make $5,300/mo instead of $5,000, I'm sure it would not be worth your time. What would make it worth it? $6,000? $7,000? (net)

As I said, I have mostly small units, so don't know exactly how the houses will perform. Except for my more recent room rental experience in SF.  
I will say that Ariel probably knows more about who is looking than anyone else around, due to her experience.. 

@Ryan K.,

Here's some ideas to get the seller more on board with your line of thinking.. 
Why are you offering that amount? 

Talk directly to the owner if you can. 
Has she walked through the house? 
Got a contractor quote? 

What do you want to do with the property? Flip it? 
Live in it? 

If you talk to her and say, "You know, I think it's probably worth $175K after it's all fixed up, I think it will take me $60K with with all the known and unknown work, plus 6 months of my own time (@$4k/mo), interest on the loan, insurance, permits, etc etc, so subtracting that from the final value, I can offer about $50-60K." 

That might be something they could wrap their head around (although they still very well may disagree), instead of what just looks like a crazy lowball number, without a reason. 

Also, tell the owner what you plan on doing with it. If you plan on moving in, tell them why it's important to you and what it will do for you. If you're going to flip it, tell them the vision for how you want to improve the units to get good families in there and take care of their former property the way it should be. 

Some wealthy folks like you're describing will throw people a bone every once in a while. 
I think your odds are small, but greatly improved if you approach them with your logic, and as a human. 

Good luck!

@Paul Bryzek, 

I second @Taylor Ferris to go out to @Katie P.'s meetup. Glad you can make it. If I'm not still in Seattle by then, I'll see you there! The Summit will be a cool place to get familiar with the Bay and build your network if you can make it. Thanks for the shout out Taylor. Building a network it was allowed me to find deals, borrow money, build my biz, and quit my job. So I can't speak enough to going out to meet other investors. 

Paul,
If you weren't aware, you can get exempt from rent control in Oakland by owner-occupying a duplex or triplex for 2 years. Then you'd be able to get rents up to market. Not for a 4plex though. So keep that in mind when you're looking around.. I owner-occupied a 4plex w/ an FHA loan for my first purchase in the East Bay. It's a great use of capital if you find the right deal that fits your needs.

http://rapwp.oaklandnet.com/issues/exemptions/

@Bryan Pham,

Congrats on finding a place!
Hopefully will meet you out here soon also.

I own a duplex in West Oakland, and frankly think it's a bit overpriced. (West Oakland is usually 2 steps forward, 1 to 2 steps back through each economic cycle.) Of course, everyone thinks this is the time it will "make it" and not slip back to its old ways.. Time will tell. I also own a 4plex in East Oakland. 

Paul, these lower-end areas tend to be the places where you can cash flow like you're describing, in addition to Richmond, Vallejo.. 
Let me know if you have any questions. 

Welcome to the site Paul, and keep networking!! :)

@Scott Hibbert,

Welcome out to Oakland!! One of my favorite cities in the USA :) 

Congrats on keeping and renting out your SFR in Boulder with positive cash flow. I said when I started that I would never sell a property, and so far have not (knock on wood.) I own and operate around the Bay Area, and lived on the Eastlake side of Lake Merritt for a while.

RENTAL
I have some furnished rentals near Lake Merritt and elsewhere in Oakland, but wouldn't be able to quite get to your price point. (these are all private (not shared) places.) But Craigslist is the #1 place for sure. Look for shared housing. Good for you for keeping your rent low for the area and saving your cash. 

RENTAL TERMS
I respectfully disagree with @Robert Marston on his security deposit statement:
"It is my understanding that you will pay first/last but not an additional security on top of that unless you have a pet." 

And I say this specifically because I believe that's an extremely poor landlord practice, don't want you to do it when you become a landlord, and is not consistent with the market.

If you're taking 2 months worth of cash, half should ALWAYS be the SECURITY DEPOSIT, and specifically state in the lease that the money CANNOT be used for the last month's rent. I believe it's in the standard CAR lease. If they give their 30 days' notice and apply any monies with the owner to the last 30 days while they live there, you have zero deposit.

This puts the ball in the tenant's court. You have to come try to get the money for any cleaning, repairs, etc. Instead of them having an incentive to get their money back rightfully from you. No no no. And don't expect to get that treatment as a tenant. Unless you can find the right sucker. (Robert, no personal offense. But I strongly believe in everything I say above.)

I also have a meetup in Oakland with just fun stuff - totally not related to real estate. I think the name on Meetup is Lake Merritt, Oakland, and Beyond. 

Duplex - 4plex for sale in Oakland
I own a duplex in West Oakland with a partner on BP. Wouldn't be insulted by an offer. To really unlock the value of the property, someone needs to owner-occupy the property to utilize the owner-occupant rent control exemption. We do not plan to do so right now. So surprise us ;)

Networking
The Summit is awesome if you can make it and a great way to get introduced to the area and different topics from BP folks all in one weekend. We'll also be having an "investing in the SF Bay" panel with successful local investors making it work in a higher-cost area. Definitely go to the local meetups on BP, and there are some good ones on Meetup too. @Johnson H.'s in Milpitas is my favorite.

@Dan Mackin

Thanks for the shout out, and all your help on the Summit last year! That was amazing!

Rent Control
Yes, there is an issue with your problem to fix, then evict/move, then evict/move. If you're living in a unit in the building, it would be extremely difficult if not impossible to evict an additional unit as an Owner Move-In (OMI). Especially repeatedly. I can barely touch the tip of the iceberg on this, but here's the relevant info:

Here is an (older) summary from legal counsel:
"Once a landlord has recovered possession of a rental unit for either the landlord’s use or the use of a relative, no other unit may be evicted for owner/relative move-in. Any future evictions taking place in the same building for an owner/relative move-in must be on that same unit."

https://www.tobenerlaw.com/oakland-rent-control/

And the city's rules and regs:
http://rapwp.oaklandnet.com/resources/faq/

I'll be in Seattle for the next couple weeks, but hope to meet you in person when I get back or at the Summit :)

@Ethan Cooke,

Nice chatting the other day, and good luck on your next step! Kimberly Smith, the CEO of Corporate Housing by Owner will be out to share in a breakout session where you can ask her questions directly, and @Al Williamson is our resident expert on furnished rentals and especially the travel nurse community. You should talk to him too at the Summit (or before). He also has a course that runs down how to get everything setup. And I'm happy to give you some more tips too.  @Andrew Wong has also been growing his furnished rental biz.. I'm sure others will also be interested to know how you did so well in San Francisco...

@Jay Hinrichs,

I'll give you a ring to see if you know when you're available during the Summit, so we can work you in to share some advice, if you're up for it.. Thanks for the shout out for our event! Can I quote you on that testimonial?  ;) Glad to have you out again from Lake Oswego / Portland area. 

@Senika Levias,

Welcome out to my fellow Richmond investors! Your knowledge that comes from living in the area so long is awesome! You'll find lots of experienced investors at the Summit. Lots that have done flips. We'd definitely appreciate your help raising money for our charity, and to get the word out about yours. So sorry to hear what happened to your daughter. @Jeff Pollack does flips and has a great meetup down in San Jose (worth the drive down). 

Andrew, 

Welcome back out from down in Milpitas!! I'm sure others will be interested in your short term rental experience and out of state experience in Memphis. And there are plenty of landlords. I'll try to think of someone that does elderly care stuff... 

@Dante G.,

Offering up your vacant room for someone to stay for the Summit? (Or is this Airbnb?) Either way, nice of you!
My first place was a house-hack 4plex in Richmond, and several others here have done it also. We're also doing a little renting by the room. 

@Beverly Buella,

Welcome out from Philadelphia! You'll be in good company with @Dave Van Horn and @J Scott coming out from the East Coast. I'm not sure who else is coming from NYC, Baltimore, Washington DC. @Brie Schmidt and @Danny Duran are bringing a group from Chicago. Other speakers and investors are coming from Austin,  And @Troy Fisher is coming down with a group from Seattle. So you'll be in good company from the East Coast, Midwest, Northwest, Texas, and folks from SoCal: San Diego, LA. Sacramento, and the SF Bay :)

@Bac Nguyen, 

I Just sent you a private message.. 

@Nichole Stohler,
Congrats on your hotel deal!  And welcome out from Scottsdale! I think we have some Phoenix folks also. I really like the lodging industry, and was hoping to pick something up when ADR's and multiples are a bit lower. That's great you found a property that works.  Interested to hear more about it..  

Looking forward to seeing everyone there!!
www.sfbaysummit.com

Tag me if you have any questions :)

@Account Closed,

It sounds like you're familiar with some of the central valley markets and out of state - so in regards to your question about how people make it work locally...

Quite a few folks here buy a 2-4 unit property, and live in one unit. Some, like myself, also rent bedrooms/units out on Airbnb to get some extra income. Many will move to a different nearby city to make it work. e.g., Finding a duplex to 4plex in Oakland instead of SF. Oakland has an owner-occupant exemption from rent control for triplexes and duplexes, so you can get market rent after 2 years.. 

From a downpayment perspective, there are FHA loans for 3.5% down, SF Owner-occupied loans for 0% down, and other 5-10% downpayment programs for homeowners.

I don't think it's a great risk/reward time to buy in the Bay right now, but I'm still a believer in the long term, and this is exactly how I bought the first of 4 properties in the SF Bay Area.. 

Whatever you decide, good luck!

@Micah M.,

Welcome to BP! I own property in the East Bay and have some furnished rentals in Mountain View and Redwood City. The market is definitely hot down there, but I love Silicon Valley over the long term. (Would rather see a recession first, personally...) But when you look at the long-term employment growth in the large, more stable tech companies (e.g., look how much property Google has bought in Sunnyvale recently, Apple's space ship, I believe Adobe is hiring more in San Jose, etc.. They want to be there for the long term. You work in biotech? Or are the South San Francisco stereotypes not totally true? lol

As I recommend to everyone, meeting people in person is always a great way to get connected and talk to other owners down in the South Bay. @Johnson H. has a great meetup in Milpitas, with some local owners. @Anthony Addessi is the kind of Redwood City, so if you're looking for more insights into that city, he's the one to talk to. Just don't buy any of his prospects!! lol

What do you think about the commute from Pacifica? Do you work remotely a lot? Or are you good with it? I recommend driving it a few times during your normal commute hours if you're looking out there.. A lot of people bought in Santa Cruz to work in San Jose, and I think some have come to regret it later. Different area, but similar coastal to inland commute with small roads and high demand. Also, don't get one too close to the cliffs that's going to fall into the ocean!! lol (google pacific apartments cliff)

Hopefully I'll meet you in person at one of the meetups when I get back to the Bay. Enjoy BP, and go meet some other local investors! :)

@Layla Niu, 

Welcome to BiggerPockets from up in the East Bay! I bought some property in Oakland and Richmond during the financial crisis- but I agree, things are a little hot in the Bay right now.. I don't invest out of state, but you'll get a lot of folks jumping in here. I second what @Sahana R. to vet anyone well that you plan on working with. 

I highly recommend you go meet with some investors over at @Johnson H.'s meetup in Milpitas each month.  And @Jeff Pollack's in San Jose at the Hoffbrau. There are some out of state investors over there too. Nothing better than to hear from the people who are doing it. We're also going to have several podcast interviewees and people who wrote biggerpockets' books out in Oakland in Oct - along with a bunch of multifamily folks and out of state investors. If you can make it out, will be a great way to meet the folks doing what you want to do.  Either way, get out and meet your fellow investors. It's invaluable. 

It sounds like you're taking your investing pretty seriously, and gobbling up all the information you can. If you stay diligent and network with other investors, I'm sure you can turn that education and enthusiasm into success :)

 20 listings (maybe a couple more). I think 18  or 19 units now. I mostly rent out entire apartments. 

Have had maybe 300 Airbnb guests or so. About 75% of our business is through Airbnb.