All Forum Posts by: J. Martin

Hi Jason , and welcome to BP! I’m a ‘fix and hold’ investor from the Bay Area in CA, and loving it! But you’ll find a variety of every type of investor on the site, and everyone is amazingly helpful. Some pointers for you: The "Learn" link across the top navigation bar has lots of great info, and so do BP members! You can click on the ‘vote’ button if you like someone's post or is helpful, and there are ‘awards’ to earn on your profile. And you can tag people by typing @ before you type their name, then clicking their name at the bottom of the message box. Welcome to the site, and good luck in everything!

@Shawn Thom and @Ed

@Ed O. undefined

, thanks for the respective cautions. I'll poke around on the voicemail issues when Adam gets back to me and I like the watermark idea.. Does Picasa have a watermark function? Or what's an easy way to do it Ed?

@Adam Hofmann , I don't think I need multiple numbers for now, but I am interested in full-featured (especially with sharing with VA..), skype connectability, forwarding capabilities maybe.. And I definitely want to get a local number (510 heavily preferred - but maybe 415..)

Same recommended companies as you had above? Or any different..?

@Marcus Maloney , bummer to hear that over a miscommunication. But when all is said and done, it could be a cheap lesson... Imagine if it was a much bigger deal, and you had your cash all-in on the EMD - or get burned on a flip gone bad. We just have to take our lumps, and take that lesson to the next deals.. I'm practically paranoid about monitoring my contingency dates and following up with selling agent to get extensions in writing.. They always say "don't worry.. they're not going to push the written issue if they verbally said they'll extend.." - but I just can't risk my cash on the line like that..

Thanks for sharing this with us. I won't feel as bad bugging someone the 2nd/3rd/4th time about getting something done if I'm not sure...!

@Marcia Maynard , wouldn't have guessed you were the enforcer too! But just shows, don't judge a book by it's (smiling) cover! lol Glad everything worked out when all was said and done. In all honesty, I haven't been checking on utilies for tenants, but I have one who has been habitually late on rent, so you have me wondering.. will do that this week.. or maybe I should start getting statements like you.. Maybe that's a responsibility I'll pass on to my handyman/property manager in his part of monitoring.. Thanks for turning me on to that!

@Jenna Stonecipher and @Aaron Junck , you are right for conventional financing. But unless something has changed in the last year, FHA underwriters use 75% of the actual rents on the non-owner-occupied units to qualify for DTI ratios (and in fact used 75% of market rents from the appraisal on my COMPLETELY VACANT REO 4plex I purchased last year.) So this amount, combined with your gross w2 income would need to clear the DTI ratios..

If you make less than $100K/yr, it will probably be difficult to do in SF right now(maybe in the Sunset or Bayview?) Or you can go to nice areas of Oakland, and may be able to qualify out there.. But to be honest, FHA loans are not the most competitive in this market.. Given the low rents, you might be able to find a duplex in SF if you have a decent salary.. Part of the reason I went to the East Bay.. I like your enthusiasm for going big though! I would have borrowed $1MM no problem if I could have found something I could get approved on.. and cover close enough..

Welcome to BP from the East Bay @Erik K. !

Thanks @Steve Cook for the shoutout on the East Bay Meetup on Jan 16th, and looking forward to seeing you there Erik! I'm a 'fix and hold' investor out in Richmond. (Thanks @Melvin Yuen for the Richmond shoutout too! But keep it quiet! lol). Sounds like you have your plans laid out already, so good luck! If you have something interesting in Richmond and want some local info - or potentially partner up on something, PM me..

A couple tips for the site: you can 'vote' on someone's post if you like, 'follow' members to get their updates, and 'tag' people by typing @ before their name, then clicking on their profile when it pops up at the bottom of the message box.

Anyway, looking forward to seeing you at the meetup! Welcome Erik!

Welcome @Auria Styles , from just above you in the East Bay! @Melvin Yuen is right about rent control in Oakland, in addition to SF and Berkeley - in addition to all sort of other tenant protections such as 'just cause' eviction protections and other tenant rights. I recommend getting a good tenant lawyer before you do any rent raises or anything else in Oakland if you're not familiar with the laws.. If your tenants are somewhere else w/o these restrictions, then never mind!

This site is a great resource, and everyone is super helpful. So utilize the forums for sure. The "Learn" tab on the top has great info too. You can also "vote" on someone post if you like it, or "follow" members to get updates.

If you can make it, I arranged a meet-up of Bay Area BP members on Jan 16th in Oakland (see link below). Looks like just over 15 members so far, so should be a good way to network with some fellow investors, and I can give you a run-down of Bay Area rent controls and rent levels in different areas (and resources to find more detailed info), if your properties or future investments are around here. Either way, should be a good time and good group of people..

Welcome to the site, and hope to talk to you more soon!

http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/517/topics/109953-east-bay-meetup---thurs-jan-16-2014-in-oakland

It's too late now (at least while this tenant is there), but I would have put a coin-op in the basement for both of you (especially if you are paying the basement water/electricity - I assume). Depends on what's normal in the rental market too though..

#1) You don't have to come out of pocket on their utilities (w/ unlimited use for them)
#2) You actually make extra income off of it.
#3) You don't have to take any favors from your tenants! I do not ask for or accept any favors from my tenants, because I don't want to be asked for favors either. I make a point of it. (Don't get me wrong - I do nice things for them as a landlord to keep them happy as a tenant - but no personal favors) Accepting favors is like issuing non-monetary debt.. Some day, they will want to cash it in.. And it will either cost you. Or they will probably be hostile from the perception that you didn't reciprocate. Either way, not a great place to be with your tenant IMHO..

PS. I really like that loan. Is that a local bank? Or national? (feel free to PM me if you don't want to post on here..) Thanks!

Not bad with 2 units vacant already.. but you usually have to pay up for that..(cover your ears 99% of BP members - yes, you pay a big premium for vacant, beatup units here lol). Of course, you lose the ability to owner-occ evict anyway with a vacant unit (I believe), so you only get 1 "net" vacant unit. But good nevertheless.

I see people budgeting $20-40K for tenant buyouts per unit in SF, depending on how far below market, and particular circumstances. But a colleague told me the other day he was able to get them to take $10K. Not crazy below market in that case.. More than well worth it in this market if you can afford it, even if you have to pay on the high side (especially for a protected tenant..). IMHO. @Amit M. has been in SF for a while, so you might want to chat with him more.. Turnarounds/new tenants are definitely the way to make $$ in SF..