All Forum Posts by: J. Martin

Don’t miss this opportunity to network with these BP greats, LOTS of time for Questions & Answers, and networking with hundreds of other investors!! It’s the only time you’re going to see all these people in one place in your LIFETIME!!! Aug 27 & 28, 2016 in the SF Bay Area! Mark your calendar and get your ticket!!

www.sfbaysummit.com

Here are the CONFIRMED SPEAKERS from all over the country and a taste of their expertise:

Nav Athwal, CEO RealtyShares, Crowdfunding. San Francisco, CA

@Brian Burke , Syndications, Multifamily, Flipping. Santa Rosa, CA

@Jon Klaus , Developer, Flipping. Garland, TX

@Joel Owens , Commercial RE Investor. Retail, Net Leases.

@Jay Hinrichs , Developer, Private Lending, Everything! Lake Oswego, OR

@Michael Quarles , Marketing & Negotiation. Bakersfield, CA

@Dawn Anastasi , Peer-to-Peer Lending, Out of State Investing, Property Management. Milwaukee, WI

@Bryan Hancock , Crowdfunder, Developer. Round Rock, TX

@Ben Leybovich , Syndications, Multifamily. Lima, OH

@Chris Clothier , Turnkey, Out of State Investing, Property Management. Memphis, TN

@Brie Schmidt , Turnkey, Out of State Investing, Property Management. Chicago, IL

@Jeff Greenberg , Self-Storage, Mobile Home Parks. CA

@Serge S. , Multifamily, Notes, Everything! Gilbert, AZ

@Dave Van Horn , Note Investor/Buyer/Seller. Newton Square, PA

@Lynn Currie , Developer, Construction. Austin, TX

@Bill Exeter , 1031 Exchange Expert. San Diego, CA

@Rick H. , Probate and Title Expert. Carbon Canyon, CA

@Jerry Puckett , Marketing & Negotiation. Fort Worth, TX

@Engelo Rumora , "The Real Estate Dingo." Turnkey, Out of State Investing, Property Mgmt. Toledo, OH / Australia

@David Krulac , HUD, Commercial Real Estate, Tax Sales, Everything! Mechanicburg, PA

@Al Williamson , Furnished & Corporate Rentals. Sacramento, CA

Elizabeth Colegrove , Remote Property Management & Furnished Rentals.  Seattle,  WA

Last Summit I organized in the SF Bay Area

Topics will cover everything from syndication structuring, crowdfunding, out of state investing, furnished and corporate rentals, note investing, marketing and negotiation, construction and development, 1031 exchanges and tax savings, remote management of property, multifamily investing, fix and flip, and more!! Most importantly, there will be plenty of time for Questions and Answers to pick the brains of the speakers. And lots of time to network with speakers and other investors! Disclosure: This is NOT a Bigger Pockets event. It is organized by me, J Martin, and has no affiliation with Bigger Pockets.

The event will be roughly 8AM – 5PM on Saturday and Sunday, 8/27 & 8/28/16.
I’m also tentatively planning a Friday night happy hour and Saturday Night Speaker Reception/Dinner. The happy hour will probably be open, and the dinner will cost something extra besides the regular ticket price. Tickets will be $295/person for the 2-day event, but pre-sale tickets will be only $245.

2016 Venue: Oakland Scottish Rite, on beautiful Lake Merritt.

Are you coming out?
Who else would you like to see speaking at the event?
What topics are you most interested in?
Do you know someone else who might want to come? (Tag them!!)

I also want to give a big shoutout to @Daniel Hernandez, Al Williamson, and Elizabeth Colgrove for all their upcoming help organizing!! ;)

Some people on this site have used Bornstein and Bornstein for these types of questions, including eviction services and technical rent control questions in Oakland. They fight for landlords/owners. I have no affiliation with them and do your own due diligence..

Generally, the lawyers with lots of articles about local rent control are pretty knowledgeable. Although don't waste your time with Tobener. Although informative, he only plays on the other side of the tenant fence..

I'm sure you've checked out the rest of the Oakland Landlord Resources on Oakland's website, so you can be as informed as possible before speaking with him, to understand what's going on, and minimize unnecessary billed time..

http://www2.oaklandnet.com/Government/o/hcd/s/LandlordResources/index.htm

Good luck Daniel!!
Oakland rocks!!!! ;)

@Arlen Chou,

I think it will get worse before/if it gets better. So hold onto your *** and watch your back! It's like when I hear SF investors complain about new landlord-unfriendly legislation/rules.. what do you expect here!?!

@Daniel Gonzalez

Read this first:

http://www2.oaklandnet.com/oakca1/groups/ceda/documents/agenda/oak058135.pdf

@Wes Brand ,

My intent and I'm sure @Arlen Chou 's intent on this thread is not to criticize you. I'm not trying to say you are lazy (and never did). I'm trying to share what has worked for me, and try to answer your questions the best I can with what I have seen others do, and my personal experiences. And that at the end of the day, HARD WORK tends to be what produces results (in my experience).

Wes:
"So, given my constraints, can it work? How does it work? Do the people who make the area work do the work themselves on a run down property, or do a FHA loan on a primary residence? Or do they only make it work because they bought in 3 years ago when the prices were lower?...

No "house hacking" outside of SF proper. No personal sweat-equity rehab projects... ...it's been there for 45 days so there's probably something wrong with it). Do I need to spend hours a day walking around Oakland in the hopes of stumbling across a good deal? It feels like there should be a better way..."

I currently enjoy an apartment in the center of the city with a 15 minute walking commute to everything (and under 5 minutes to grocery stores). To give that up would be a significant quality of life hit, but...I can take that hit if I see a clear path to improving the situation in the short to medium term.

Response:
In my experience, the "people who make the area work" put in the work to make the area work. (Or they had good timing during downturns, or both). You missed the timing. So you're left with putting in work.. There are a lot of different strategies outlined by a lot of great investors in these forums - many from the San Francisco Bay Area.

Highly successful strategies in the Bay Area do not always require a ton of capital. The strategies don't always required a ton of experience. The strategies don't always require a ton of personal labor/sweat equity in physical work on the property.

But most people who are successful in the San Francisco Bay Area that I have met have put in a lot of hard work, research, growing pains, calculated risks, etc to make it work well. For every one of those investors, there are probably 10 investors that have questions just like you. Unfortunately, I don't think the latter group of investors do as well as the former...

So at the end of the day, I guess the answer is:

If you don't want to put in the work, you're probably not going to get a good deal.

Tips to Try:
1) As we said, definitely network in person if you can. Too bad you can't make it Johnson's. It's a great group. Sounds like I'll see you in SF on Thurs for mine..
2) Don't ignore long-on-market deals. Seek them out. Or get a hungry agent to scour them, contact the listing agents, and find out what is wrong for you, so you don't have to spend time on it (to meet your low-time goals)
3) Give up or wait? If you don't want to do any of these things: network, find an agent to scour deals, consider deals that are too long on market, research and implement a strategy that works, house-hack, NOR any other effort that typically produces a better investment... Then you may want to consider waiting until the economy softens, choose a more passive investment that does not require your time/effort, or partner up with someone who has the time, effort, and capability to do a great deal. I am not accepting money from outside investors, and not trying to pitch to say to partner with someone. But I'm not sure if your situation from what you stated best lends itself to getting a good deal on RE in this environment..  What do you think?
4) Short/Medium Term? Or Long Term? You said you would be willing to make a sacrifice if you could improve your situation over the short/medium term. What do you think about the long term? Is it important to you? I agree with Arlen that your situation is living on borrowed time. Just like you are looking at all the rent control exemptions in Oakland to get a great deal on a buy, some owner in SF is looking at how to get your @ss out of there, and there will probably come a day of reckoning... It would be highly profitable for someone to throw your @ss out of the apartment.

Seriously, if you are going to buy a place to move into, you should ask your landlord if they want to buy you out. I hate to say it, but you could probably get a chunk of that downpayment money!!

I know @Anja Brey has put in the hard work to research what works and what does not, although it can be frustrating trying to find something that matches what you need for your situation.. Any advice for SF-rent-control Mr. Wes here..?

@Perry Z. ,

"Wow, J, how did you guys stumble upon this?"

haha I didn't STUMBLE across it!! I NETWORKED into it!!! I go to lots of meetups and tell people if they ever have a wholesale deal in Oakland, something they can't flip, problems with tenants, etc to give me a call. Eventually, one of those people called me (another BP member and meetup attendee). I took a quick peak. Gave him a non-refundable check for $20K wholesale fee, and bought it shortly thereafter. Not too shabby, eh..? Just took more than all of the purchase price and rehab money back out with a cash-out loan 18 months later.. Wish every deal was like that!! But had a lot of issues with it (probate deal, below-market rents, deferred maintenance..). So it fit my model for getting a great deal but not some folks' criteria..

I think this just goes back to the comments from @Wes Brand above..
"No "house hacking" outside of SF proper. No personal sweat-equity rehab projects... ...it's been there for 45 days so there's probably something wrong with it). Do I need to spend hours a day walking around Oakland in the hopes of stumbling across a good deal? It feels like there should be a better way..."

I wish I were rich and beautiful, with no work required, but here I am stuck in reality with the rest of you suckers!!! lol  @Arlen Chou , can I forward your long email about the value of hard work to Wes, on the comments above..? lol Wes, at least go check out some meetups. Mine is on Thursday. @Johnson H. 's tomorrow. Look on meetup.com. There are tons!!!

@Calvin Kwan and @Luke Mccandless , you guys know much about West Oakland? Tell me what price you think would make sense on this. This ~2500 sq ft Victorian duplex on ~5,000 sq ft lot, adjacent to Steelworks lofts, has more than 3br/2ba in each unit, some extra space, nice size backyard, and a quick walk to Emeryville shopping centers and some new development. Can probably rent for about $3k/unit, for a total of $72K in gross rents on an investment basis. But would have to do owner-occ as discussed above to get to market rents..

Still could probably pay the note with just one unit remodeled and live in a beautiful Victorian apt in a gentrifying neighborhood close to SF, for almost free. Or house-hack your unit too for $800-$1k/mo/bedroom, and cover everything and have some extra pocket change. (Oh yeah, and get a 3% sellers' credit to cover the downpayment so you barely have to put a few dollars down hehe) Or turn them into condos and sell them for $500K+/apiece.

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/3039-Chestnut-St-Oakland-CA-94608/24740050_zpid/

The Zillow estimate of $900K is wrong. But what do you think this property is worth? Knowing that you could get to $72K in gross rents in just over a year, with some remodeling..? What would you pay for it if you could do it with an FHA loan and the seller were to fix issues before loan closing to make it pass the FHA inspection/appraisal..? Some owners are a little more flexible with their buyers than others, when they are not in a hurry  ;)  Let's hear it!!! (Ignore the purchase price from 2014 lol, and look at the opportunity ahead!!!)

@Jonny C. ,
"Great knowledge. Thanks again !"

Appreciate it Jonny. Always happy to share ;)

@Wes Brand,

SF MEETUP
"I'd love to join you guys, but I can't seem to find real estate meetups in SF...can you send me details on where/what time it is?"

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/521/topics/29...

OWNER-OCC EXEMPTIONI
"If I'm understanding the owner-occupied exemption right, you buy the property, live in it for a year, and then raise the rents to current-market. Then you move out and the unit becomes rent controlled again, but you're now getting current market rents at 1 year ago prices?"

Yes, that's basically it. 

LONG DAYS ON MARKET NOT A DEAL?
"And the deals not even appearing on MLS seems to be one of the big sticking points. Most of the ones on MLS/Loopnet are not exactly great (there's one in the Richmond I was interested in, but it's been there for 45 days so there's probably something wrong with it). "

I think you are kind right here, and kinda wrong. If it's been on the market for a while, then yes, there may be something wrong or funky with it - but when most people are thinking like you, you have a better chance of getting a deal!!! My best cash flow property that I wish I could get another one of is my 82nd Ave 4plex in Oakland. Killer cash flow. 200 something days on market when I bought it. @Arlen Chou 's 2 most recent purchases were a) many many days on market b) on market long enough that it dropped off. And both were good deals!!! 

THERE'S GOT TO BE A BETTER WAY!

"Do I need to spend hours a day walking around Oakland in the hopes of stumbling across a good deal? It feels like there should be a better way..."

You don't have to walk around Oakland, but if you want a deal with no rehab needed, and not too many days on market, and don't want to dig, spend time calling expired listing, driving by properties, finding out what's wrong, finding a solution that works..  - then you have to go chase 1st week on market deals that are move-in ready with the rest of the retail folks who want a place for them and their kids!! There are better ways than walking around neighborhoods, but maybe not as easy as you might want it. If it were that easy, there would be any good deals out there! How much work are you prepared to do? Or invest in something more passive.. 

3 YEARS VS 1 ON OWNER-OCC EXEMPTION
@Calvin Kwan

"House-hacking would definitely be a good idea, but I believe if you evict and occupy a unit, you have to live there for 36 months (folks can correct me if I'm wrong)."

I just sent this to @Jonny C. .. you are exempt at 1 year, but you are presumed to be in violation (rebuttable presumbtion) if you don't stay there for 3 years. (Basically, you would need to justify why you moved earlier, and basically meet the spirit of the statute, as assessed by Oakland RAP. 

Repeating the owner-occ eviction

http://www2.oaklandnet.com/oakca1/groups/ceda/documents/policy/dowd008116.pdf

9. The owner of record seeks in good faith, without ulterior reasons and with honest intent, to recover possession for his or her own use and occupancy as his or her principal residence, or for the use and occupancy as a principal residence by the owner of record’s spouse, domestic partner, child, parent, or grandparent.

a. Here the owner of record recovers possession under this Subsection (9) [Paragraph 8.22.360 A.9], and where continuous occupancy for the purpose of recovery is less than thirty-six (36) months, such recovery of the residential unit shall be a presumed violation of this chapter.

b. The owner of record may not recover possession pursuant to this subsection more than once in any thirty-six (36) month period,

Here are a lot of good links from Oakland RAP:
http://www2.oaklandnet.com/Government/o/hcd/s/Land...

You can also walk into their offices at Frank Ogawa at Civic Center and write your name down for an unscheduled appointment (check hours). They are pretty helpful down there if you speak to one of the regular folks (not talking about RAP Board) And aren't landlord haters (at least to your face!!! ;)

Good luck guys!!! :)

@Wes Brand ,

"I realized that I dismissed Oakland / SF / the relatively close area out of hand -- thinking it can't possibly work because the buy ins are too high, and the cash ROI is too low, but I never actually seriously investigated how people who are here are making it work"

I answered the email you sent to me about your question, but wanted to hop on here and try to help out. First, are you up for buying a duplex or triplex in Oakland or the East Bay, and renting out the other units? What are your goals exactly, and what do you want out of this property? Or are you just looking for a single family home?

There are still 4plexes in your price range in Richmond TODAY where you could hit around the "1% rule" after raising rents (don't have to take a time machine back 3 years...) Should produce about 10% cash on cash with a conventional loan. Just set up a search on redfin for whatever criteria you are looking for, under $600K, and start looking at everything. Do some research on the market rents. Oakland has the owner-occ exemption for duplexes and triplexes after 1 year of living there. 

Regarding rehab and costs, if you plan well, you should be able to add more value to the property than it costs to pay someone to do the repairs, so as long as you have a little cash, you should be  able to get a return on the rehab. That's what many of the rest of us are doing. I buy crappy buildings, but don't do any of the work myself, and it has worked well for me so far.. 

"Most of the investment property purchases that cross my desk these days aren't in Oakland/SF/Berkeley/SanJose proper, but in outlying communities. I can only assume that if there were more deals to be had in our core owner-occupant markets, more would cross my desk. YMMV and feel free to prove me wrong! It'll all come out if it's not a good deal when the appraisal comes back."

I can't speak to @Chris Mason and myself in Oakland, and you'll have a better idea of how investors are playing in this sandbox.. You may consider doing a JV deal if you don't have the right entry dollars, or you may have to venture up to more outlying areas like Richmond (which I like, since it still has BART).

Hope that helps!! Best of luck Wes! Meetup on April 7 in SF if you'd like to join us and see what others are up to.. 

Hello BP!

I'm looking for a full-time virtual assistant (remote work) to help manage short-term rentals. Most are 3-month rentals, so there is not constant turnover. But there are several units to manage, and some other online jobs.

EXPERIENCE
Airbnb, VRBO, and other short-term rental experience is preferred. Any rental or property management experience is helpful. Must have good written English, and good customer service skills. 

RESPONSIBILITIES
Primary job responsibilities include posting property details and updating listings, responding to guest inquiries, booking/confirming guest stays, emailing "canned" responses, responding ad-hoc to issues that arise, etc. Other online projects.

PAY & HOURS
Full-time (40 hours per week). I can/will pay on the high end of prevailing market wages in lower-cost countries (from $3-6/hr to start). There is room for growth and higher wages with success. (in addition to other job for qualified friends and family). If you are living in a higher-cost country where these wages are not good pay for you, this may not be the best fit at this time. I think the Philippines have wages in line with what I was thinking. If you live in an even lower-cost country, I will still pay you these wages, based on your experience. 

Tag me, send me a message, email, or text, with my contact information from my signature/profile. Ready for someone to start right away! Thank you for your interest! 

*If you know someone who may be interested, send me their contact info!*

Come on out to another great real estate networking meetup in SF! 
***** SPECIAL "QUIT MY JOB" EDITION *****
Downtown SF Financial District near Embarcadero Station, in office building (then bar later!!) There are 45 people RSVP'd so far. 
**** ALSO, BIG RE NETWORKING SUMMIT ****
Click the blue letters above to check out this massive event! Even better than the last! Be sure to post and tag me on the link, so I can tag you when the details are finalized. 

If I could have gone back and done one thing differently, I would have started going to meetups earlier and more often and networked more! You never know what you'll learn or who you'll meet!

This will be my 25th or so meetup I have hosted in almost the last 2 years, and we usually have about 40-50 fun and knowledgeable investors out to network. I also quit my job last week! So we'll talk a little bit about goals and how to get there. About 1 1/2 hours of networking. And about 20min to a half hour of talking about the topic. Time to get the hammock and ukulele ready!! :) 

Also, @Johnson H. has graciously agreed to keep the meetup going while I am out of town. Whether it be quarterly or whatever, there will still be a chance to get together, and I will be back to host some too! 

RSVP at this link: 
http://www.meetup.com/REmeetup/events/229901915/

If you are in the San Francisco Bay Area: Oakland, Berkeley Hayward, Fremont, Marin, San Rafael, Redwood City, Walnut Creek, Dublin, Pleasanton area, come out and join us! Always a great time, good people, ideas, drinks, a little nonsense..

A few BP names that will be present include Johnson H, @Mel Selvidge,  @Jonny C. ,  @Benjamin S. better get his @$$ up here too!  ;) My last meetup for a while, Minh! Come on!! 

Looking forward to seeing everyone out there!
- J

@Jeff A.undefined