All Forum Posts by: Julie L.

Sheldon Jones I believe once you get over four loans and under ten the number of lenders available becomes lower. Anything over ten you have to go to other options like portfolio loans.

Hi Sheldon Jones ! From what I understand if you plan to invest further you should combine into 1 loan.

@Scott Scharl I just pm'd you and would love to connect and get more information from you. Thanks! 

Hello fellow BP folks! I wanted to share one of the projects that I completed that led me to finding my way to BP's forums and has inspired me to start my journey on flipping homes. I also hope anyone reading this might find inspiration in my story to work toward their REI endeavors whether it be through investing, selling, strategizing or networking! For myself, I know I come to the Success Stories forum for all of the above :)

A couple years ago my husband and I were living in a 3/1 apartment here in the SF Bay Area and we were paying a ton of rent. After talking with my inlaws about our future plans I realized that they were sitting on unrealized cash potential. They owned a home that was being rented WAY BMR. The home had not seen any major repairs or modifications in over 25 years! In an effort to help my inlaws and our family I created a combo sweat equity/house hacking plan that would allow them to recoup their money in a few years (and start seeing a significant increase in cash flow thereafter) and would simultaneously allow us to have a home to live in that was newly remodeled for less than we were renting our apartment for. 

The house is a two level home with garage and back patio area. Upstairs is a 3/1 and downstairs is 1/1. The whole house was being rented for $2150/month to one family. I think they raised the rent once by $50 in the 8 years the tenants had lived there. I proposed we move the tenants out, spend 4 months on reno with a $60k budget, we live upstairs and pay the same the prior tenants were paying for the whole house and we rent the downstairs for a total rental income of $3850. By doing this I figured we would accomplish several things:

1. They make their $60k investment back in approximately 3 years.  

2. After which time they will start seeing a $1700 increase in their rental income.

3. They increase the equity of their home through forced appreciation. 

4. We have a nice new place to live for less than we were paying to live in a similar size old dingy apartment.

The proposal went well (budget stayed on track and estimated rents were achieved) and we have fulfilled all of the above goals and in 1 year from now, they will have made all their money back and can sit back and enjoy the $1700 increase in income! 

Here are some before and after pics for inspiration. As added inspiration, I managed the entire process of moving the tenants out, managing and completing the rehab, moving my family into the home, and getting the bottom unit rented to solid renters, all while being a mom to 2 kids under 2 and working a full time job :)

Here are the afters: 

Hopefully I inspire at least one person today to get moving towards achieving their REI dreams. I love the power of REI!!

Have a great day all! 

@Kimberly Keesler $150k for a complete rebuild including foundation? You must have a great contractor! We offered on a home SF that needed some foundation work and would have been almost a complete rebuild, salvaging some of the framework from the original home and we were looking at $500-600k. This was on a 2200 sf lot. 

Has anyone ever had the HOA on a rental unit change the bylaws restricting leasing of their unit? I am just wondering how often this happens and what folks have done with their property. If you don't or can't live there is selling your only option if you cant pay the mortgage in addition to your primary? Thanks BP!

Hello Ben Rice ! J. Martin posted something about two years ago regarding an investment he did in East Oakland that is cash flowing. I think opportunities are out there but you have to network and do lots of your own searching as well. I am currently working with a realtor in Sac for flips and or BRRR properties. I also started focusing on east bay as well. We put an offer on a flip in sf a few weeks ago and lost it, we were second in line. Put another offer on a flip in Sac and lost that one to an all cash buyer. There have been others but the numbers didn't look great so we walked. But I am not giving up just yet. I believe the two Ps (persistence and patience) will pay off even here in the Bay! Good luck on your investing journey!

@Kimberly Keesler interesting, was this an all cash offer as well? I am looking at a home in East Oakland for flip or possibly buy/hold if numbers work. 

@Chris Mason fannie mae financing for flips? Would love more info on this. 

Hello BP folks. Since I wasn't able to find an East Bay forum, I am posting here, please let me know if there is somewhere else I could post for better responses. Please send any referrals that come to mind. Specifically we are looking for someone who is willing to take the time to run comps, show properties and is someone who knows the east bay well. We are looking at purchasing fixers for flips. We have been bidding on SF fixers and are getting pushed out and are now looking to east bay, specifically West/East Oakland and Richmond. Thank you in advance!