All Forum Posts by: Luis Rubalcava-Cunan

Hello, my brothers and I just inherited some land and 100k, we live in rural northern California. The land we inherited is in the town that we live, and like most of California, our town has a housing crisis. We are complete newbies to real estate and are looking for some general guidance on where to get started. Currently we are looking at building a tiny home or maybe even a shipping container home, so that we can get our first unit down and generate passive income. We are aware however of how difficult building in California is, and this task seems particularly daunting. Any help is much appreciated. Thanks so much!!

I'm a medical student who has been sent home due to coronavirus. This means that I am living rent free at my parents while collecting $4,000 a month from unemployment. In looking for a way to invest the money I came across biggerpockets. I've now read "How to Invest in Real Estate" by Brandon Turner and Joshua Dorkin and am interested in buying a rental in my home town. I live in a small rural working class town of 7,000 in northern California. Given that I grew up here and know most of the locals I feel comfortable paying a friend of mine to property manage while I am away at medical school when I finally get to go back next year. I started looking around and quickly found a promising lead on Zillow.

The property is .29 acres, and has two units. One unit is 750 sq. feet and has two bedrooms, one bathroom (note: the bathroom is located via one of the bedrooms), propane heat, small front porch and side yard. It has a new carpet and monitor heater. Current tenants pay $750 per month. The second unit is a studio apartment, remodeled in 2006. It also has a fenced yard and a monitor heater. It has new flooring and interior paint. House is about 400 sq. feet. Current tenant pays $600 a month. On the side of both houses is a garage which also includes two bonus insulated side rooms.

For financing, my parents have said that they could provide the loan. They are nearing retirement age and are looking for places to put their money.

I'm making this post to ask for help analyzing the property. The property passes the one percent rule and looks to be in good condition. I used some educated guesses to fill out the rental calculator which can be seen here. To be honest though I dont really know what to do next. Hire someone to look at the units and tell me how good of condition they are? Any advice would be really appreciated.

Thanks