All Forum Posts by: Nick Hedberg

@Joshua Berliner - I know several hard money lenders, I'll PM you.

@Demetrius Reynolds - I think one of the keys is listening closely to their criteria and understanding how THEY run their numbers. Every investors is different and will go in with different assumptions. Ask them what their criteria is for pulling comps, if they have any rules of thumbs they use and if there are any recent properties they purchased. By seeing their purchased properties you can get a great idea of what they are likely to purchase in the future.

I would make sure their investment criteria is realistic, you can waste a huge amount of time working for investors with unrealistic expectations.  I constantly hear "I'm looking for a great deal".  I save my 'great deals' for investors I regularly do business with, trust and I know they can close. 

@Ian Dunross - I think your idea has merit and like @Jeff C. and @Hector Martinez mentioned you will have some obstacles.

I have a flip hitting the market in Hollywood Hills in June and the market is definitely slowing. Homes are taking longer to sell you you need to be conservative with your ARV.

Also renting the place while rehabbing will obviously be a major challenge, but if you have a good contractor you can certainly working around this by moving in phases and blacking our certain timeframes.

There are tons of people that Airbnb and rent out there homes for shoots so there is definitely money to be made. You just need to know your numbers and be aggressive. 

In Hollywood there are plenty of homes sitting on the market for a long period so send out some low balls. We landed our flip for $2.15m and it was orginally listed for $2.65m. Write some offers and see what sticks.

@Shawn Ward

@Salvador Jimenez is absolutely right. Costs can range tremendously based on the contractor you use and the quality of work you are getting.

Are you just looking at a property as a potential flip? Are you under contract? What's the square footage of the property?

I would call a couple kitchen places in Brentwood also to get a range of estimates.

Best of luck and let us know how it goes.

@Kevin Lefeuvre - Here is a graph for LA County showing we are starting to see a dip for $/SF.

http://themls.stats.10kresearch.com/infoserv/s-v1/...

More Info: 

Inventory: The volatility from the last report has stabilized in many areas, but inventory is still increasing across the board, faster than typical for the Fall.

Days On Market: Some volatility and increases but relatively steady across the board.

LA County increased from 23 days to 26 days on market, homes are taking longer to sell.

Consumer Confidence: Edged up to a near 18 year high in the overall economy.

Interest Rates: Are continuing their upward trend, eroding buyer’s purchasing power. If you need a loan and you are thinking about buying. I recommend you purchase before the next hike in interest rates. Current average is 4.83% for a 30 year fixed rate.

Sources:

Inventory:

• LA County: http://themls.stats.10kresearch.com/infoserv/s-v1/PeE8-V3K
• Venice: http://themls.stats.10kresearch.com/infoserv/s-v1/PeRB-yYY
• West Hollywood: http://themls.stats.10kresearch.com/infoserv/s-v1/PeR7-koK
• Inglewood: http://themls.stats.10kresearch.com/infoserv/s-v1/PeRs-grx
• Silver Lake: http://themls.stats.10kresearch.com/infoserv/s-v1/Pe8F-8vk

DOM:

• LA County: http://themls.stats.10kresearch.com/infoserv/s-v1/...
• Venice: http://themls.stats.10kresearch.com/infoserv/s-v1/Pewd-NXt
• West Hollywood: http://themls.stats.10kresearch.com/infoserv/s-v1/PewY-2ED
• Inglewood: http://themls.stats.10kresearch.com/infoserv/s-v1/Peww-0B4
• Silver Lake: http://themls.stats.10kresearch.com/infoserv/s-v1/...

Consumer Confidence: https://www.conference-board.org/data/consumerconfidence.cfm

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-economy-confidence/us-consumer-confidence-hits-18-year-high-house-prices-slowing-idUSKCN1M51YY

@Cornelius Charles - Good to know. Are you seeing anything else change?

@Chuy Gonzalez - Thanks for the info, I would have thought Riverside would have been a later place to shift but it appears buyer's are getting fatigued there as well.

High priced areas shift first and some (not all) areas are seeing months of supply increase. Most lower priced areas are still red hot. What are you seeing?

Data: (Single Family Residential)

• Los Angeles County
  • Months of supply has increased to 5.1 months. The last time we had 5.1 months of inventory was in August 2012! Last year supply was around 3 months.
  • Pending Sales have also dropped significantly (4087 vs. 7096 for August of last year)
• Venice - 3.8 to 12.2 months of inventory
• West Hollywood - 7.8 to 29 months
• Inglewood - 3.2 months of inventory (Still hot)
• Compton - 3.4 months of inventory (Still hot)
• Culver City - 2.0 months of inventory (Still hot)
• Silver Lake - 1.7 months of inventory (Still hot)

What have you noticed? How would a potential market shift change your strategy? These statistics fluctuate and data can be misleading. Please do your own due diligence. 

@James Yoo - @Steve Jones hit the nail on the head. Follow his advice and unfortunately there is no quick and easy solution. This is a pervasive issue across LA and we all need to work together to improve our city.

I live in Venice and this situation is common. I had a listing where I received an offer for $1.55M, they drove by the property at night and saw people camping out and dropped the offer price to $1.25M!

Some local areas have been having success installing planter boxes on extra wide sidewalks. Legally sidewalks must be accessible for wheelchairs (ADA) and the planters take up the extra space. If they block the sidewalk the police can ask them to relocate. However I'm not sure if this is applicable in your situation.

If they see anything illegal they should report it to the police immediately. Best of luck and let us know if you come across any good solutions.