All Forum Posts by: Michael Evans

Has anyone ever worked with New Western in Los Angeles. Just wondered how your deals went and if you were happy. Thanks

 They expect you to have cleaning people. They figure it's not their job to clean. I actually would rather they spend the time on the electrical at $120 per hour instead of cleaning at $15

Most GCs have cleaning people on their staff. Subs will never really clean up the right way.

A clean job site is priceless for your reputation. It's the last thing you want to cheap out on.

Mike Evans

General Contractor / Investor

You absolutely need to know who is staying in your property. To begin with, you can ask for a copy of his drivers license and try to do some background on him.

Good luck

Keep your powder dry for now. There will be buying opportunities coming up. 

Educate yourself!

Make sure you check the local rules and regulations on STR's. Some cities have a 30 day minimum stay required. When I first converted my home to an STR, I was surprised how much stuff you need to have for the guests. And I was also not prepared for how much work it is managing the calendars, checkins and check outs, doing background checks on who the guests are and the purpose of their stay. If they are planning to have parties, you will be in for a big surprise if you don't have clear house rules on no parties and the number of guests that will be staying. I always got the names and ages of each guest and made sure when they checked in that they were only the people on the reservation. NO visitors or extra guests without letting you know who and how many. Set up some exterior cameras and make sure it is in the listing that the property is protected by security.

Before deciding to sell your house, make sure you have another place to move to. I sold my house last November and had only 30 days to find another place to stay. There was nothing available to rent and buying back into this crazy hot market didn't make any sense.  I ended up buying a travel trailer and staying in a mobile home park to wait out the market. I had to rent storage units for all my stuff which is now costing me almost $1k a month!

Good point Dwayne, but may I add that there is an abundance of training you can do on your own. Going to as many conferences as you can, reading books and listening to the BP podcasts.

Go for it!

Regarding the question about a Real Estate agent, have you reached out to David Green?

I'm sure he has a lot of insight for you being from the Bay Area. 

Also consider whether or not you are willing to get your "hands dirty" if you find a property that needs some work. There are lots of great diy videos on Youtube, but you may not want to or have the time to become a handyman.

Good Luck

Rent control, which is really the goal here, is really the most effective way, next to bombing, to destroy cities.