All Forum Posts by: Ori Skloot

@Mike Lambert agreed on Playa del Carmen.  

@Heidy Fu I love Bacalar.  We stayed at the Me Querido Tulum Houses a few times. I know someone is building a house nearby and that it will be for sale (the guard told me).  I love Puerto Morelos and the area around there.  Holbox is amazing (no cars!).  

Great info @Mike Lambert!   
Heidy, I am also looking for opportunities in the area but personally I have ruled out Tulum.  Have you considered other nearby areas that are perhaps just as nice but don’t carry the Tulum price tag?

This seems like a GREAT deal to me.  I would whatever you can to make it happen.   It's not easy breaking into the Bay Area market and your family is offering you a wonderful opportunity.  I would do your due diligence and then go for it if things look good!

@Amanda Coggins I think this could be an amazing opportunity and you should definitely see if you can find a win-win solution.  I have been down this rabbit hole and just want to convey to you my own experience.  It's a cautionary tale, but your results may be very different so just go in with eyes wide open.  

Long-story made short: I found a property that had been sitting abandoned for many years in an extremely desirable part of Rockridge, Oakland.  I called up the owner, a very sweet elderly man, and met with him.   We hit if off and he expressed interest in selling the property, however he did not want to pay the cap gains taxes and thought he should wait until he passed so his beneficiaries would receive it tax-free.  I proposed a lease with an option to buy agreement and explained to him all the benefits.  I would contractually control the property but the sale wouldn't go through until after his death.   He liked the idea a lot and we met several times to discuss the house, his life, my goals, etc.  I genuinely enjoyed the connection, until I met his life-partner who clearly didn't trust me and my whole "scheme".  Nonetheless, the owner was the one on title and the one who would make the decision and he assured me that his partner would come around.  I went ahead and hired a lawyer and paid about $5000 to have her draft an Option To Buy Agreement, Purchase Agreement and Lease (3 separate documents that all would be signed together).   With this in hand, the many delays and many excuses by the seller start.  His partner consulted a realtor friend who claimed that the sales price was way under-market and that I was probably one of those flippers that takes advantage of people and is looking for a quick buck (his actual words).  The owner finally called me and sadly told me that he felt it was out of his hands because he didn't want to go against his partner's wishes.   Again, I'm making a long drawn-out story very short, as this was over a period of about 10 months in which I put in a ton of time and cash.

In the end, I let it go and chalked it up to a learning experience.  I still think the solution was a win-win and the contract that the lawyer drew-up for me was very clear and fair.   Guess what happened in the end?  Several months after my last call with the owner I saw that the house was on the market and that realtor who called me an evil filler was the listing agent.  The final sales price, after considering the 6% for agent fees, was a little LESS than what I had offered the owner.  Not to mention that now he would pay cap gains tax on the sale.  

Moral of the story?  I really loved this property and the location and I ignored the red flags each time they popped up.  I believed that I could plow forward and win over the owner with my charm and reasoning.  But I did not pay enough attention to who was pulling the decision strings in the background and I didn't demand to sit down with his partner and convince him to get on board.  

@Jeffrey Ji.  I have properties in both the iron triangle and north Richmond.  They have done very well and I have had relatively great tenants over the years.  North Richmond is tougher than the iron triangle, but it is unincorporated so it falls under County of Contra Costa and not under City of Richmond tent control which is a big plus.  Lots of realtors out there that can help you look in these areas.  Good luck. 

@Account Closed how much of a cost are you talking about here?  I imagine it’s in the hundreds of dollars, in which case I agree with Michael. I would just let it go and enjoy your new home.  Congrats!

@Christine Lee I’ve dealt with many red-tagged homes.  Usually, the code inspectors are by the book yet reasonable working with you to get the property back to good standing.  I’ve also found that the reason behind the red tag can influence how hard or lenient they are with you.  In your case, I think it’s going to be tough to justify an entire building without permits.  Do your best to create a good relationship with the inspector and then cross your fingers.   

@Suzanne Player   Yes, the 60 day-notice is a good one!  I use standard forms, but add that language in an addendum.   Tracking contractor expenses is great.   I use Traveling Mailbox.  I live in Berkeley, CA but have all my mail forwarded to their postal address.

@Filipe Pereira  Thanks for sharing your previous post, super informative.  When dealing with such a high volume of applicants it makes a lot of sense to automate this part.

What are the systems you put in place that have helped you streamline and automate the management of your investment properties?   I know, I know, hire a property manager.  That aside, I’m curious to hear specific practices, tools, staffing, operational changes, etc. that have worked for people who self-manage. It could be something huge or a small change that was helpful. I’m looking for the pearls! Below are a few examples of systems improvements that made a difference for me.

- All my physical mail is forwarded to an online mailbox where I can review a scanned copy of every piece of mail. I don’t have to open the mail and scan it. I just save it to my dropbox folder and then forward it to whoever. Super convenient and well worth the $50/month I pay for the service. Downside: when I receive the occasional check or document where I need the physical copy, I then need to have those forwarded back to my living address for me to deal with. Regardless, it’s still worth it.

- Hiring a real bookkeeper. In my case, one of my good friends decided to become a bookkeeper and he is super detail oriented and on top of it. Over the years I have started relying on him more and more and letting go of the admin work. Before I was trying to outsource stuff to a VA that was super cheap, but inevitably he would make mistakes or miss something that would cause an issue. When I reluctantly bit the bullet to hire my bookkeeper at a considerable hourly rate I was pleased to discover that he was catching all sorts of issues (mortgage payments not getting updated with revised new escrow amounts, checks that didn't clear, tenants not paying the right amount, etc.) not to mention that at tax time I felt much more confident about my books when handing them to my CPA.

- Putting a reminder in my calendar 3 and 2 months ahead of time for when a tenant’s lease is expiring. I haven’t signed up for a property management software, which would probably address this. But until I get to that point, having a simple reminder rather than scrambling 30 days before the lease is up is a good start.

- Online lease forms from the California Association of Apartments. All the forms are updated every year per local laws, all my tenants info is already in there, and it’s super easy to copy templates and create new leases. Then I send the lease digitally for the tenants and myself to sign and for everyone to get a signed copy.

- Creating a real estate schedule in excel that has all the details about every property I own. Every time I go to get a commercial loan the banks ask for this and ask me to fill out their real estate schedule. Now, when I fill out their application I just reference and send my own real estate schedule which saves a ton of time.

- I use dropbox religiously. Every property has a folder and subfolders and absolutely everything goes in there. Unless it’s a deed or something I have to keep, I shred the paper file and only keep a digital copy. My bookkeeper has access to all those folders and can look for the information he needs rather than bugging me.

- When doing a rehab, I take a photo, or some kind of digital copy, of all the materials and appliances make/model I used in the rehab (all goes into the dropbox folder). Now I’m not scrambling to find out what model fridge I have in an apartment when I need to call for a repair. Or, even better, the paint code for whatever paint I used for the place.

- For a rehab, I buy extra LVP flooring and keep it onsite. It may become discontinued and I will never be able to match it when I need to make a floor repair.

Many more come to mind….but really I want to hear from other people. What worked for you????