All Forum Posts by: Lupe Rodriguez

@Derek Dombeck

How does this look in a contract? As a new investor should I offer this to a seller on my first project? I’m familiar with the idea but I don’t know how to word it.

I'm a Nor Cal RE newbie trying to get my first deal under my belt. FYI not an agent, and I appreciate in advance any well wishing lamentations of those who might strongly feel that I should become an agent after reading this. I've been trying to wholesale and have learned a good bit about the theory and tools behind off market marketing/deals. Very recently I've learned through an agent that there's an off-market 4plex who's owners want to downsize locally into a duplex. The agent can't find anything on the market that works, so I figure I'll put on my hustle hat and see if I can find one that nobody's wanted to sell, but I don't want to look/walk/talk/sound like an agent. 

SO

I'm trying to structure this as some sort of partnership where I talk about the off market 4plex and how I need a partner with a duplex that wants to upgrade. I can bring about 20k to the deal, but really I'd rather just cut myself out of the deal, keep my money liquid, enjoy the privilege of the experience, and move on to my next deal. My initial instict is to get the first property under contract, assign it to a buyer with a duplex that they would put up as sort of an equity trade, and move on. But I realize that I might need to think outside the wholesaler box on this one.

Their 4plex needs work. The words 'dry rot' were mentioned but I didn't see any when I gave it a walk around. Pictures from the inside show popcorn ceilings and *uuuuhhglyy* linoleum. It's on a crummy looking street in a good area (half the surrounding properties made my budding wholesaler Spidey-sense tingle), a healthy but not unreasonable bike ride from a strong tenant draw and stumbling distance from nightlife. Mom and Pop manage it, with their motivation to sell being health and age related. Rents are undervalued due to differed maintenance.  Tenants are good, stay for years, and likely don't make waves because the rent is cheap. 

My questions are as follows: 

Can someone put a house into escrow as a value/equity trade? Would the duplex need to be liquidated first? 

Is there any way for me to get a quick turnaround on this deal other than assigning the contract? Quick being in the next six months. If I put 10k into the deal and had my partner buy me out at closing, how much riskier would that be relative to the added legitimacy? 

I'm still networking to find a potential partner. I figure I would just be careful about how I talk about the place, always mentioning that I'm in talks with a buyer and a stipulation to them giving me the contract is that I bring them a duplex. Does that sound kosher? 

One of my concerns is the 200k owed on the place. I don't know if it's a reasonable concern or not, but it limits the people I can approach to partner with in this deal. Many duplexes are market valued within 200k of the current value of this fourplex. 

Thanks for reading!

@David H. For the sake of defining terms, what are the ‘basic rules’?

I very recently read (audiobooked) 'Invested' by Danielle Town. Its focus is on stocks, but it's modeled after how Warren Buffet, Charlie Munger, and her own father Phil Town use Rule #1 Value Investing to pick a stock. It's a good read for anyone looking to round out their theory on how to invest in a property/area. The best part of the book is its format. It gives the reader a whole month to study one specific topic or aspect of investing over the course of a year. 

I'd like to formulate a similar system and structure, but for buy and hold/flipping. I've already listened to Brandon Turner's Ultimate Beginner's Guide, as well as Long Distance Real Estate Investing by David Greene. Pretty sure I'm ripping off the common ideas in both books because I'm so new I don't know what I need to know beyond what they've mentioned. Here's what I have come up with so far (not definitively and in no particular order):

1. Buy your first property
2. Learn how to settle on a city/cities
3. Learn how to analyze a property
4. Learn how to build a team
5. Learn how to make offers
6. Learn how to estimate rehab costs
7. Learn how to pick and buy rehab materials/interior design/permitting
8. Learn what lines of credit are needed how to set them up
9. Learn how to put systems in place
10. Learn how to make a business plan
11. Learn how to finance deals
12. ?? (legal/tax ideas and suggestions?)

What should be added/swapped out/combined /Omitted? What order makes the most sense? What things take the longest to learn how to do? What book or two goes best with each topic? No need to get into depth on each topic just yet, those are later posts...

I googled 'Vallejo ferry ridership trends' and found this article:

http://www.timesheraldonline.com/general-news/2018...

"The Vallejo Ferry, as part of the Bay Area-wide Water Emergency Transportation Authority system, is doing so well, officials are finding it challenging to keep up, they said. Big plans are underway and more are on the horizon, they said.

The Vallejo/San Francisco ferry run represents nearly half the area’s annual ridership, Vallejo Economic Development Director Ron Gerber said.

“I understand the final numbers are 1.2 million of 2.8 million annual ridership,” he said. “The three-year increase is apparently quite an increase trend. Vallejo’s ridership is substantial.”..."

Is there a way to find out if this is new ridership, or just people tired of traffic? Does anyone think this an indicator of growing interest in Vallejo due to rising prices? Would this trend hold out in the face of a market correction? Thoughts? 

I've called the ferry administration looking for information, and they gave me an email address. I emailed them asking for statistics for the last few years, esp where the Vallejo ferries have been dropping off. If anyone wants an update and I forget to post here, send me a message. 

Hey all! I'm reviving this topic because I'd like to know where Stockton is, where it's going, and what parts are worth investing in. Any advice?

Are there any quantifiable rules of thumb for these things? What's the best, most time effective resources for finding out actual numbers aside from the forums (I trust but verify)? PM Companies? Attorneys? Are eviction proceedings timelines ever codified/set into law?

First of all, thank you for opening this Can of worms!! So much good information out of it!! Second - and apologies if this was mentioned already, my brain had gone to bed - but it’s ten per person right? Did you put all the previous loans in you and your wife’s name? If not, can’t you put the next house in your wife’s name?

Welcome and much fortune to you!

I hope you have a clause that lets you out of this. Bite the bullet and pay to talk to a lawyer and a CPA that specialize in real estate. $4-500 is cheaper than a bad investment. Plus if you can’t turn this around, they might be able to find creative ways to help you manage your losses.