All Forum Posts by: Aaron Norris

The Norris Group's 9th Annual Charity Gala,  I Survived Real Estate, is Friday, October 21 at the incredible Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, CA. While the live event is sold out, our media partner, HousingWire, is offering a free live stream via Facebook (technology willing). 

We've invited a number of thought leaders from all over the real estate space to discuss trends, regulation/legislation, and forecasts for the real estate market ahead. Are we in a bubble? What will the election mean for real estate? Are Millenials ever going to become homeowners? Will homeownership ever get back to the 70% mark? You'll have to join us to find out!

Our panel of experts include:

• Nick Bailey, VP of Broker Relations, Zillow
• Gary Acosta, CEO of National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals
• John Burn, John Burns Real Estate Consulting
• Doug Duncan, Chief Economist of Fannie Mae
• Sean O’Toole, CEO of PropertyRadar.com
• Bruce Norris, President of The Norris Group

To find out more about how to tune in live, visit the video page on the  event website. The live feed will begin on Friday, October 21st at 7pm PDT. Pre-event radio interviews with these experts and more started on the radio show in August. NAR, Appraisal Institute, CMBA, Fannie Mae, Zillow, and many more have helped create this unusual event with incredible insights. the live feed is free, and all for a great cause. Check it out online.

@Brandon Holcomb True story, and very random, I have a lunch meeting in Temecula tomorrow. Might you have time for a coffee after? I might be able to save you a trip. 

Yes, Riverside and San Bernardino are two of the largest counties in the nation. tons of pockets of possibilities but I agree, you have to narrow it down. Many cities here also have different rules on land lording, signage rules, etc., so it behooves you to plug in and do it right. Riverside charges $100 a day for bandit signs! Hang 10 of those up and leave them up for a week? Ouch!

Areas in San Bernardino you may consider is the high Desert (Victorville, Hesperia, Apple Valley). Don't discount areas with newer inventory that is slightly larger in places like Murrieta. the price per square foot may be lower that a place like Moreno Valley, but the product is new, in a nicer area, and might rent even easier. And, while you're in town, swing by and say hello. I can give you some tips at the office. 

Thanks for the love @Alex Franks! @Mabel L. , just be careful in markets like Bakersfield. There are good parts and really rough parts. Not only is some of the housing in poor condition, the market is very dependent on a few industries. I am in your age range and also looking for cash flow here and out of state. Have you looked in San Jacinto/Hemet area?  Still some decent finds. not home runs, but I feel more comfortable being close to some larger job pools that aren't so reliant on specific industries. Also, I'm always approaching my rentals with the viewpoint I am going very long. I don't care if they fluctuate in value. 

I've been doing lots of research this week on HUD and VA foreclosures this week. Don't assume cash Buyers have done their homework. Some of the agents I even interviewing tell me investors lock up the property but only go and see it once they won the bid. In the case of HUD, it's strictly the highest net offer wins so investors doing this give us Sudha had name. I would ask the selling agent to represent me as the buyer. Or, someone in their office. Typically, that leads to more honest information on what's going on and gives you some intel on the property. It also motivates them because they double end it. I've purchased two houses against all cash and on one case I was not the highest. However, I was the most flexible. I allowed the seller to rent back for two months while their new home was being renovated.

@David Lowe the 70% rule is what we teach only because it's conservative. Yes, it's possible. Will you be outbid? Yes, many times in competitive markets like San Diego, it's very difficult to buy at that level unless you're finding deals that are never going to be listed. More sophisticated investors have a very good idea on how to be more competitive by doing things like becoming a listing agent to save money after the rehab, maybe the become a GC so they soft cost of labor, or maybe they just have a crazy good rate for materials. But, you can't arbitrarily start buying at 85% minus repairs hoping to make money on a flip. When people call in for our hard money and they give me numbers like that, I immediately challenge them.  

Few options beyond mailers/calls to people with equity:

Adding square footage: Great in high-dollar markets like San Diego, Palm Springs, Orange and Los Angeles. This strategy allows investors to pay up to full listing price, knowing they will add square footage and add value. So, taking a 2/1 and turning it into a legit 3/2. Or, some very experienced folks are doing crazy beautiful work along the beach tearing down homes and building new homes. Be careful of changing rules as some areas are tired of seeing McMansions built in once-upon-a-time quaint neighborhoods. Codes may be changing and that can happen at the city level and would be a total bummer if you didn't check that out!

Find the hard ones: I'm not just talking about absentee owners and sending out yellow letters. It's networking with people that are connectors to people with real estate and people issues (4Ds = death, disease, divorce, drugs, etc).  So that can include CPAs, attorneys, estate planners, financial planners, etc. In my experience, this network is HIGHLY suspicious of investors. In some cases, it's taken me five years for them to ask me, "What is it that you do?" Join a local nonprofit board, join the chamber, and network outside of the typical real estate space. You might be surprised at what you find. It's all about long-term relationships. 

Both these strategies are a little dependent on skillset, financial badwidth and personailty type. But, these strategies are less chased. 

@Michael Reyes welcome to BP. You're lucky that you live in San Diego. So many great clubs. None of the clubs are focused on the run-to-the-back-of-the-room. You've got SDCIA, NSDREI, and San Diego FIBI. I will actually be speaking on marketing and branding next week at SDCIA! I think it helps a great deal to have a face-to-face network of local people working in different facets of the business. It's also very motivating to see that it's possible by networking with people that are really doing the businesses where you live. California is challenging. it's a little hard to find deals right now. But, the pros are still at it. 

Thanks for listening @Jose Morales ! The cool thing about a charitable remainder trust (CRT) is it behaves a lot like a self-directed IRA in as much as you have some control of the asset. It's an irrevocable trust that you can still have some control of asset management while the trust is in play. And, you can arrange to receive income. It can definitely get complicated when you start talking about flip trusts (very cool when dealing with raw land). Constructed by a professional, such a cool and powerful estate planning tool. Then, layer in the power of Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust (ILIT) and this stuff gets crazy weird. I don't think a lot of real estate professionals even know about.

In a CRT, you can take income and it's taxed under the WIFI model (Worst In First Out). Meaning the most expensive taxes you pay first (ordinary income, capital gains, nontaxable income, corpus). Unless there's been some change I don't know about, there's no way to avoid the taxes, you're just not paying it all at once and you get the charitable write off when you donate the property into the trust. Hopefully, they are working with an attorney and CPA who really know what they are doing because you don't want to do it incorrectly. 

Found this CRT case study you might like on the Planned Giving Design Center. I've studied this stuff for about a year and it occasionally still makes my eyes cross. And you thought creative real estate could get complicated?! Wait until you find out what creative estate planning can add to the party. 

I do a ton of charity work so decided to get my Certified Specialist in Planned Giving designation. What an education. 

I stand by his record @Account Closed . Then again, I'm biased. :) 

His market timing reports are about 250 pages with 400 charts each time he decides to do one. The goal is never to tell people what to do. He only shares why he's done the research, findings he's used in deciding how to move forward, and share sourced data so our investors can come to their own conclusions on what to do with their money. Have you ever been to one of our 8-hour market timing events? Not the evening events at the clubs? 

P.S. This year, thus far, we have Doug Duncan returning and John Burns. Very excited because these two have so much wonderful knowledge. John, in particular, does a ton of consulting in the building industry and hedge fund world. Should be a very interesting night.