All Forum Posts by: Karl B.

This is a great question. For me, I had traditionally invested in stocks. I made money but then got burned when our family friend financial advisory made some stupid decisions with my money.

I sold a lot of stock to buy my primary residence in Los Angeles. 

I had (and still have) a small wholesaling business and worked in film and there were times when money was tight (bills, putting money into the house, etc.). 

I watched my savings dwindle and realized I needed to find a new vehicle for making money and was lucky enough to stumble on a Facebook ad for a RE "guru". 

I attended, was wise enough not to give him a few grand, and when I Googled his name with the word 'scam' I found an article on BP and learned real estate for free. 

So the thing that caused me to start was the fact I was burning my savings - I needed to find an ongoing way of making money and real estate has been great. 

This post is less about me doing it and more about me sharing an article forum members might find interesting.

Here's an interesting article from Zillow concerning expected higher rents for properties having central A/C (in various US markets). I did the math based on a 5% premium and realized it would behoove me to consider adding central A/C in my multi-family properties. 

Article link: https://www.zillow.com/rental-manager/resources/what-renters-pay-for-central-ac

Hello. For my first multi-family (four-unit) I had an awesome loan officer who got me a good interest rate at 20% down. The funny thing is the bank that gave me the loan (after my loan officer did all the paperwork and shopped for a loan) had previously denied me for a loan for the very same property (and so I worked with a loan officer). 

Apparently, the difference (between a 'no' and a 'yes') was the insane amount of information/paperwork/etc. my loan officer submitted (plus the bank knows her well and that no surely helped also). 

Look on Craig's List and any local Facebook marketplace buying/selling groups for your hometown to see if your items are for sale. If you see them, contact the 'seller' to buy them and give the contact information/e-mails to the police. 

Did they happen to tell you how long they've been together? 

If they're both on the lease they're both on the hook, even if they break up and one moves out. If all looks good credit and criminal-wise and they meet your rental criteria I would 100% rent to them.  

Personally, I would sell the condo and use a 1031 exchange on a larger multi-family (in a market with solid return where you're cash-flowing nicely) so you don't have to pay taxes on the condo sale. 

As far as a remodel or not, that depends on if it's worth doing. Do some research to see how much return you can get for a remodel (if spending 20K on a remodel means you selling the property for 200K instead of 150K then that would be a good decision).

Ask your realtor why the updated information wasn't included and why you received the DocuSign without proper time to review.

I would be pretty mad.  

However, this isn't on the seller or his or her agent. You shouldn't have signed and submitted prior to reading. You should be mad at yourself and if what you say is true, even madder at your realtor for dropping the ball.

Remember, there are websites where you can review an agent's performance (Zillow, Trulia, even Yelp and Google+). 

You learned a valuable lesson. We all learn from our real estate mistakes. On my first multi-family deal I didn't walk the property PRIOR to closing and when I got the keys to the property after closing I realized a few things weren't done the seller had agreed to do that were listed in the final contract. 

I was ignorant to the fact that I needed to verify it prior to closing. I thought my RE attorney would tell me these things and I learned the hard way. I didn't use that  RE attorney again and took it as a lesson learned. 

Dave Van Horn, a fellow Bigger-Pocketer, is very good. You can read his articles on this website and check out his website PPR Note Co. or watch one of his many videos such as this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHZIN_5bEUA

Hi, Lulli, it can be mind-boggling, I know. After all, there are a lot of things to consider (some subjective, some numbers-related), and it can be tougher when not familiar with an area or market. 

I would start by looking at areas where the numbers make sense, return-wise and then by looking at overall taxes.. Then look at the numbers (% of renters, if there's population growth, business and economy-related statistics, etc.). 

It's a longer process - one must learn about the area, its various areas, the economy, growth, taxes, local laws and much more. But it's essential!