All Forum Posts by: Matt K.

Quote from @Steven Lybeck:

Hi all -

I'm not (yet) a real estate person, but I'm interested in exploring opportunities for small-scale (2-6 unit) infill development in urban locations in California. I know there are a million reasons why it's difficult, but it seems like an underserved market and like maybe the political winds are shifting to make it possible to build business models around this kind of development...

I'd love to meet local folks who are interested in chatting about this - share ideas and knowledge, and just get to know each other. Considering hosting a meetup or networking event in the East Bay soon - would anyone be interested to join that kind of event?

You need big money and or a whole lot of support behind you. Maximizing bonus density and exemptions will make most the area around your project hate you, the ones that support you will lack any meaningful way to push your project fwd.

Land costs, permitting and all the backend stuff that goes into it, and time will be huge barrier to entry. If you pass that hurdle then you going to battle labor and material costs if you can even find a builder that will take on the project.

I have seen how much of a disaster a local project was locally as a resident of the town but also from the lens of an investor. It either fizzled out or went top secret... I've also seen similar in Walnut Creek and Lafayette...but from a much less in depth perspective.

Note, these projects were way bigger then 2-6 units, but again depending on the area the battles are likely similar....and you'd probably need extra units for something to pencil out.

These were also all new construction... Converting single family homes going to limit the amount of units which will significantly impact your costs because there's less units to spread them over...

How well networked are you on base? Put feelers out, maybe there's an opportunity to buy something before you leave and flip it to a rental once you get orders...

But, again this assumes the numbers even begin to make sense ...AND there's even a demand for your home.

You are the expert on the area, you know the bah, you know the tenant pool on base...you could find a deal and apply your knowledge to make it even sweeter.

Stay away from forcing a deal to work though, it either does or doesn't...and if it leans more to doesn't that's fine. You can work on saving money now by reducing your cost of living...and then make up some extra funds to top it off so you're better positioned at the new spot. Plus, you might have influence on where you go...some places are better then others start your due diligence now and work on improving your odds at getting orders to a place that helps.

You being in the military means you get a low but steady paycheck...loans are easy to get but harder to qualify for. You'll never make a lot of money all at once, but your paycheck will be extremely stable and if you maximize the allowances you can do pretty good.

Feel free to reach out, did 6yrs active and another 10 or so as a GS...

Quote from @Alexis Lauron:

What are some steps to take to research a city/area to find out if it's a good place to invest in for rental properties?

Figure out your budget first, no point in wasting time and energy on a market you can't afford.

Once you have budget dialed in, then find the markets that best fit your needs and goals....and from there zero in on the best one.

Quote from @Raenelle Reed:

Hello I'm new to Rental Property investing looking to get my foot in the door, someway and somehow!

You either need funds or time/skill set.....

so if you're lacking funds to get started, what is it that you do well and would benefit those who have the funds...sell them on your value and either make some money or get to be part of their network....

if you have funds but lack the time/skill set figure out what's needed and start looking for someone who's doing what you want to do well....and figure out a path to getting them funding....

Let's connect, I could probably help out. I'm over in Clayton so location wise would be perfect haha.

Mesaage me if you're interested.

Quote from @Nash Mittelman:

My buddy told me he bought a camper and is able to write off the interest because it’s a “second home”…

Which got me thinking…. Can I buy a sailboat as a second home, and write off the interest if it has a cabin? What are the rules that qualify it as a second home?? 

Thanks BP! 

 Buying something for the write off is never a good idea....and if that something is a boat it's even worse idea 😂

Do a deep dive on how much said sailboat going to cost you and how often you'll use it. If it still makes sense then start the talks with a CPA.

You "could" in theory do something similar to what you're thinking, but doesn't mean it makes sense.

Quote from @Colleen F.:

@Dell J.  I like the roku interface  and simple controller.   We are having trouble now with a smart TV that won't  let us delete our amazon account.   I have no problem with the rest but amazon you can order movies so I want to delete it. 

You should be able to put a pin required for purchases on that probably with in the settings of the app it self

I'm going Roku....

Guest mode, Pluto tv, rokus version of TV...and then all the popular apps. Guests can use their own log in or the free options.

Only thing missing would be locals, but I don't that many people (in Kansas City for my use case) care about that.

Do not look at things from simply dollars and cents, look at value.

A cheap house that likely needs more repairs and improvements then a more expensive house could and likely would be a worse value unless you have a cheap way of getting those things done.

Paying 20k more for example on a mortgage is almost nothing per month and small bump to the down payment.  Vs paying 20k for repairs and upgrades....

At the same time, getting capital is often the slowest/hardest part and if you blow it now on something you could set yourself up for failure on a better deal in the future.

With all that said, 700-800k better get you some crazy rent because that's a decent chunk to deploy elsewhere...

What helped me was coming up with a goal of what I wanted per month in profit...then I found the most efficient way to do that. It's all a balance, but again the better you can define what makes something valuable to you outside just money the better you can do when looking at deals ...

I'd find an agent that's used to working with investors, unless you going to deliver it vacant.

My opinion is you're too far away to really do this yourself and it's going to be much more of a headache to deal with it from that distance then hire an agent.

Now if you can't find an agent that would add value to the transaction, then you could totally list FSBO first and at least give it a shot. Then you'd likely have agents calling you trying to get the listing lol