All Forum Posts by: Max Gradowitz

Forgive me, but the whole coaching thing is nonsense in my opinion. You can coach someone on how to ride a bike, but they will never learn how to actually ride a bike until they actually do it themselves. Commercial RE is more advanced than residential, a lot more financial savviness is involved. You gotta learn how to ride a bike first before competing in the X Games. I think most people will agree that it's best to start off investing in residential properties, learn and get used to the income/expense involved, then go small scale commercial at some point. I don't think I know anyone who went from complete RE newbie to commercial RE investor without anything in between.

If you have 30k to spend on "coaching", you should really consider getting preapproved for a 25% down conventional loan and buying a house in an inexpensive area of central California and renting it out.

If you are looking to stay within CA, you have two options: Pay cash for a very small house in a rural area of the state (I'd recommend rural parts of the San Joaquin Valley) which will be difficult, but not impossible, to do. Or use the funds you saved up for a down payment on a conventional loan and use that on a 1-4 unit property, which would be a lot easier to do. I'd still recommend the San Joaquin Valley part of the state, as Northern and Southern CA has become too expensive to make financial sense.

I've had good luck with rural parts of CA, but I think in any state if you go too "rural" then it just doesn't make financial sense because the rental market may be too sparse.

Nice to meet you. Southern Central Valley here.

If you plan to fix it up yourself, I imagine you are looking at buying within the state? Most parts of Northern and Southern California has become so expensive that it is becoming very difficult to make good passive income with buying rental properties. Consider Central CA. There are areas in the San Joaquin Valley part of the state where you can buy homes in the $100k to $200k range, and 2-4 unit properties in the $200k to $300k range, that make financial sense for a passive income rental property.

Consider central California. There are small cities/towns inland above LA County that have solid rental markets where you can buy a small house in that price range.

Having a solid partnership agreement is highly recommended, if you don't already have one. It could save you from costly litigation if one partner wants to sue the other. Good luck with your investment plan!

Evictions are not impossible right now, it's just a little more difficult to evict based on non-payment of rent. Breach of lease terms (other than non-payment of rent) proceed as normal.

For non-payment or partial payment of rent, the difference is now you must provide them with 15 days notice and a specific form that tells them their rights while the COVID moratorium is in effect. The form says they must sign and return a declaration to the landlord stating they can't pay the full amount due to a COVID related reason, and that they must at least pay a certain % of the rent. I think its 25% right now but it is always subject to change every time the moratorium gets extended. If they don't return the form to you in 15 days, or don't pay the minimum % of the rent amount, you can proceed with eviction. If they return the signed declaration to you within 15 days and keep paying at least the required % amount, you can't. But, you are able to serve them this 15 day notice every payment period, so they have to keep declaring each payment period that they can't pay due to COVID related reasons. If at any point they don't return the declaration, you can proceed with eviction.

It's a great city to house hack in. 2-4 unit properties are easy to find in the older neighborhoods and they are surprisingly inexpensive. I've seen this work well in North and Northeast parts of town particularly. If you are financing the purchase, I recommend getting prequalified with a lender that knows that you intend to purchase a multi-unit property as a primary residence, then getting connected with a local Realtor who understands your goals and can help you find the perfect property for that. Good luck!

I'd consider that a bit high for such a short document. You can likely find someone local to do it for less.