All Forum Posts by: Nabil Suleiman

@Sanjay Sharma

I always start at a higher number if I’m not in a huge rush to get it rented right away. Lowering prices on rentals is never an issue and is not looked at the same way as doing a price reduction on a home. If after a week you have no attention, drop to your next number and test it out again. 

@Karo Darmandzhyan

You should continue to explore at the point you are at now. You will have people tell you out of state is best and LA is too hard, but LA is not too hard, and Im not sure how it would be safer either. But just like everything else the only person that should form that final opinion is you. Find articles of people that successfully invest in LA, when meetups open back up go to as many of those as possible to meet people that invest here AND invest out of state so you can get the horror and success stories from both. if you are in LA, check out FIBI and LAREI. They are both doing online meetups. Find out what kind of investor you want to be and always do your due diligence before investing into anything or anyone that is trying to sell you on something or some place. 

@Alex Stewart Yes I understand that, I referenced the idea of buying and building new because we have prop 13 out here. So if you wanted to compare tax rates from one place to the next utilizing something that you can purchase at 1m building your preferred home for $X, your tax rate will be based on the 1m purchase price vs what the value of your home is after you build it. Obviously this only works if you have the time to work with the construction process vs buying and moving in right away. Just a thought on how to get you into whichever place you love most and save you some tax dollars while your at it. Then when you go to sell you have that forced appreciation, so #1 is taken care of. Then 1-5 all fall into place nicely. 

@Alex Stewart 

Hi Alex. Since you are on Bigger Pockets I would assume buying something at retail would not be your go to option. For Appreciation, I have a lot of clients buying smaller, older homes on larger lots and building new. Keeping their tax bill lower and having the new construction fit their criteria.  When it comes to LA and Orange County the neighborhoods are very different and may or may not fit the profile or lifestyle you are looking for. If you like the beach lifestyle and walkability anything in the proximity of Culver City is becoming more and more popular. There is a lot of new construction and large developments so the area will be providing you both easy access to the beach and things like Cumulus, Culver Steps, and Culver Public Market (feel free to google those projects). This will also be central to getting to Hollywood, Inglewood (especially when the stadium is up) and a lot more. 

If you like to be closer to the Mountains and want to see some incredible homes and architecture, Pasadena, South Pasadena, La Canada, San Marino would be some of the place I would look up. Old Town Pasadena is a favorite of many, and there are a lot of local hiking trails and mountains to complement many of the neighborhoods that will fit your needs. 

Anyways, there are many great neighborhoods between the ones I have described, but those are some of my favorites you can look into. Good Luck with your hunt and let me know if you have any questions about those areas or LA in general. Always enjoy sharing it.  

@Gina Kim

Hi Gina, Sent you a PM on some ideas. There are endless options for you when it comes to investing but like you said it will depend on your comfort levels and it will depend on how much you want to start with and how active/ involved you want to be in the entire process. Hopefully the message gives some ideas of options you can take on. 

@Benton S.

Agree with Lee, by the time you pay legal fees, relocation fees for both tenants and PITI for the length of time you hold it from close date to new tenants in after rehab, you just spent the money on buying that single family home and making an incredible new ADU for it.

@Ryan Chatterton

Hi Ryan and Brigitte, I invest in So Cal only (so far). I'll send you a PM. 

@Minka Sha

Hi Minka, few questions that will either make some of the above options, not options at all, and maybe some alternative options to think about. 

1. Is this your personal residence currently? if So 1031 is not an option.

2. Is there a reason you are needing to rent or sell (i.e moving away, found a better place etc)

3. have you looked at refinance options? not sure what your rate is currently, but maybe there are alternatives such as ARM's you could consider to make renting it make more sense until you have it rented long enough to qualify for a 1031.

4. If you do end up staying for a total of 2 years in it as your personal residence and then sell it, you can keep all your profit tax free (its up to 250 for an individual 500 couple but you already stated your profit margin) 

5. If you have to sell it and have no other idea what to do and you have capital gains to deal with you can look at opportunity zones as options to invest those gains, make tax free money on the investment, and pay those original gains 10 years from now. 

No order to the thoughts above. Good Luck!

@James Creech My pleasure, good luck!

@Alejandro Garcia

Inspections, due diligence on the property, decide if you are leaving as is or adding square footage, invite GC's and or subs to come in and quote for work at the same time as inspections so you aren't being rude to the occupant and respecting their time, invite architects if you are modifying anything, also invite them if you are converting the garage into an ADU, if you are terrible and design, find someone who isn't, most GC's are so don't rely on their sense of design. If you want to do everything yourself look at the list above and start putting together all the things you would need, the subs you would manage, the materials you want for finishes, if you are upgrading panels, plumbing, windows, or anything major familiarize yourself with LADBS. thats what immediately comes to mind without knowing many details of your purchase or your goals.

edit: 

Rum comps for rehabbed duplex in the area, see what budget you may be able to refinance into in 6-12 months. if there are tri or quads in the area then consider an ADU(or two) on your lot. consider the square footage of your comps and what opportunities you have. read about ADU laws and familiarize yourself with the opportunities.