All Forum Posts by: J. Martin

Hi @Ari Archer,

I own properties in Oakland and Richmond that I bought back from 2012-2014 (house-hacked first 4plex in Richmond), so have a similar experience in regards to your situation.

First, it sounds like you have a single family home. Is that right?

#2, have you thought about building an accessory unit (small "granny" house) in the back, living back there, and renting out the main house?

Personally, I wouldn't want to prepay my mortgage below 4%, or accelerate payments on a 15yr mortgage to save 1% extra, when I believe I can earn significantly more investing my money.

I recently moved my stuff back to a cheap room in San Francisco I used to live in, and have all my furnished rentals to live in when I want..

@Chris May, interesting you actually sold.. Berkeley is on fire, so I understand.. Interesting that you are looking to buy something else, although sounds like maybe a duplex.. Although, getting the homeowner exemption, maybe not as big a deal selling..

I haven't sold any of my properties - although would potentially consider selling one (shared driveway w/ PITA neighbors), and West Oakland has gone WAY up with rent controlled tenants.. Perfect owner-occ opportunity... But there are both specific reasons..

I prefer to hold real estate forever :)

Come out to some meetups and network with other investors!

@Harman N.,

Glad you could make it out to the meetup, and congrats on getting active on BP!

I've never been the "save for a long time" type of guy (and accumulated ?$1MM in debt by the time I hit 30yo - but to each their own! ;) @Chris M is a lender if you're looking for someone who knows their stuff..

Sorry the rehab's going a bit long, but yes, you should be adding equity. Definitely heed the word of @Amit M. - tread carefully. Amit, I told Harman he might be able to get you lunch and pick your brain about adding a unit in SF if he comes out to the Mission..

There are successful out of state investors, but many have not done it right also.. Takes a lot of up-front research work.. There will be SF Bay and Out of State pros at the Summit next weekend if you can make it.. (see signature link) @Charlie Brown, I'll see you there!

@Account Closed's REI BAR camp last weekend, and he's been crushing it taking the "non-turnkey" route. He has a podcast, and was generous in sharing how he does it at the meetup. I think he'll be out at the Summit to chat too if he can make it ;)

@Avi Garg,

Coming all the way from San Mateo.. There are people coming from across the country!! lol So glad you can make it out! It's going to be an awesome time!!! What topics are you most interested in?

@Rachel Bier,

Just saw you pop across.. glad you can (hopefully!) make it down from Napa!! :)  What speaker(s) are you really looking forward to meeting?

@Mary lou L., I recommend taking a 15min walk or quick uber/taxi ride from the hotel to the event space, as parking will most likely be 2 blocks away in a paid garage.  Glad you can make it out from Livingston!

@Deepika Tandon, if you're coming down from Chico, be sure to hook up with @Al Williamson , @David Oldenburg and the rest of the Sacramento crew. Al & Dave, are there a couple speakers in particular that you were looking forward to meeting?

Looking forward to seeing everyone there!

www.SFbaySummit.com

@Jay Hinrichs and @Brie Schmidt,

Wine tasting sounds awesome! I'm sure I'll be busy getting ready for the event, but I'll catch up with you on Friday evening for happy hour in Oakland.

@Chris Mason, join the wine trip! Are you going to make it to the Summit..?

 I wanted to come down to yours too Johnson, but next time ;)

Another Speaker!

Stoked to have Jason Buzi joining in to share at the Summit!

Jason makes a BOATLOAD in the SF Bay Area wholesaling, wholetailing, double-closing, and building high-end homes - some over $3MM.  Jason will share how NOT rehabbing properties might just make you the same amount of money with less risk, time, and capital, and share about how he's catapulted himself to millions in profit in an area where they say it's too high-cost and can't be done..

Check out an interview with Jason Buzi here:

http://reidiamonds.com/18-jason-buzi.html

Just sent you a PM / Colleague request. You might need to be colleagues to read it..
You can quit your job too.. Just network with people who are successful, keep learning, try something, and replicate what works!
 

Hi @Jill Rio,

Still rocking in SF! We'll have having a meetup this Thursday, 8/11/16 in downtown SF near Embarcadero BART station. . Generally, you can find them in the events & networking section of BP when they are coming up, for meetups hosted by BP members. Hope to meet you out there! I'll open up the waitlist so you can make it in too ;)

@Arlen Chou and @Julie L.,

@Ben Rice,

How's it going? I understand it can be frustrating.. but there are a lot of people crushing it in the Bay Area, despite (and sometimes because of) the high cost.

 I got started buying property in the East Bay from 2012 through 2014, and used lower-end rentals in Oakland and Richmond to get started with more cash flow, did a house-hack 4plex deal to start, networked to get a great wholesale probate deal for the least one, and a foreclosure and another one in between.

As prices got to be more than I liked, I started a highly successful furnished rental business in the last year and a half, and quit my W2 job at 31yo.

is a link to a post I wrote with links to other posts with more specifics.

There are also lots of folks buying good deals regularly and making good cash flow. You should read through posts from guys like @Account Closed 's podcast. @Jason Buzi isn't active on BP, but he's crushing it in the Bay ($1MM+/yr) still today... He'll be out at the Summit too..

@Jose Alvarado,

Welcome to BP! Funny... I own property in Oakland, but just got a rental in San Francisco! lol So we've switched!

 I house-hacked a 4plex in the East Bay for my first property, and own some buildings in East Oakland and West Oakland. I think the triplex owner-occ exemption is a great opportunity, if it doesn't get taken away.. You have a pretty good rent price in SF, but if you can find a property that works for you, it might be a good opportunity. Personally, I'm waiting until unemployment is high before I buy something else (unless I really love it!)

Regarding financing, I used FHA on the first house-hack, but I don't think banks were as loose on offering the 5 or 10% down then. Either way, I just barely scraped together the cash for the downpayment at 3.5%. To me, cash was very precious at the time, so I probably still would have paid the low downpayment and saved any extra cash I had.

I believe one of the big differences b/t FHA and low-down conventional is that FHA Mortgage Insurance doesn't go away any more (unless they re-changed it) - whereas conventional normally goes away after you get to 74.9 or 79.9% LTV.. whatever their requirement is..

@Chris Mason could give you a better comparison. He's a lender. I don't know all the technical details and tradeoff here..

What areas to avoid in Oakland?

- depends on what you're looking for. My best cash flow property that I wish I had more of is my property on 82nd Ave in deep East Oakland. I also own in West Oakland, which is more up and coming. But still spotty. If you're going to be living there, you'll have to think about for how long and what you're willing to sacrifice. A lot of people like stuff near BART, Fruitvale is up and coming, Eastlake is going to explode IMHO (I have some rentals near 2nd & International and lived over there), North Oakland / NOBE is already there (have some rentals near 55th & Genoa), as is downtown - uptown is getting "hipper" and a lot more restaurants and bars moving in (check out the hive). It's all a tradeoff..

- When to apply for pre-approval? Before or after I find a property?

Before!!!! Market is too competitive to screw around with that after..

@Eric Clayton,

"Unless your job is in the East Bay and you need to be in or around Oakland, I would avoid that all together."

Where's the love for Oakland Eric!?! lol It's blowing up!! Seemed like no one paid too much attention until Uber decided to move downtown Oakland, but anyway.. Send some of those Oakland wholesale deals you don't want over this way!! Contact info in my signature.

@Chris May pointed out more of the established "nice" places. Harder to make the numbers work there sometimes, but probably less variability in where they are going.. a little more "tried and true."

@Brent Tarnow,

Preach it!! lol I own there and have lived there. A lot of people that don't like Oakland have spent little or no time there.

@Amit M. has points too. Easy come, easy go for some of Oakland.... West Oakland is getting overheated and probably the best representation of what Amit is talking about IMHO. 100yr old duplexes split into 2 condos and sold for $500/sq ft apiece, with a project or people getting shot around the corner.. It's close to SF - and I think it will have a higher "floor" than the last crisis (probably won't go back to $100/sq ft) - but I think it will take a dip. We'll see when unemployment gets to 6, 7, 8%+..