All Forum Posts by: Payam Dastmalchi

Welcome to BP @Lenzy Ruffin.  Stay focus, network hustle and deals will follow. 

I just sent you a request.  Please add me to your list of buyers and drop me a note if you come across a rehab opportunity in DC. 

Anyone has a referral for an architect engineer to do a quick draw and mechanical planning for a small single family rehab in Washington DC? We need to apply for building permits and the architect that we've used in the past has proven to be unreliable so far and we are looking at alternatives. 

Any and all referrals are greatly appreciated. 

It all depends on what is known as OCC or "Opportunity Cost of Capital".  That is are you better off investing your capital in a different investment? It is basically the difference of the return of this investment vs another investment (buying bonds or another RE property) that you choose not to make. If you expect higher returns on this investment in X years then sure it makes sense to purchase. You obviously want to run these numbers and hopefully negotiate on your buy price based on the net present and future values but you already knew that :)

BTW, this is a very common investment technique for private equities, hedge funds and most other savvy CRE operators. You want to speculate on potentials and buy distressed properties in the hopes of flipping for profits.

The hottest housing market is Brooklyn, NYC.  Many of the young and recent college graduate millennials working in Manhattan are getting priced out of living in the city so they've been moving to Brooklyn and this trend will continue in 2015.

Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham, Portland, Denver and Atlanta are also in top 10 markets. 

It is really not rocket science to predict which markets will do well...Follow the education system and STEM jobs growth and you have a good indicator of solid housing markets. 

I just finished reading through this year's RE trends study done by Urban Land Institute and PwC.  This is actually one of the better industry publications and it covers everything from commercial, hotels, residential and market rankings. For the most part; their trends predications have been spot on the past few years! 

You could go to ULI's website and get the free PDF copy there but according to the study and as far as housing and Apartments are concerned; 2015 will help shape the template for future trends and several markets such as Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham will continue to offer strong investment returns. 

I would suggest everyone to skim through the study and look at their respective markets to see if it matches with their own expectations. It was defiantly interesting to me to read that Washington DC is one of the "risky" real estate bets this year :)

Welcome @Sandra Holt .  There are a lot of active members on this forum from the DMV area that I am sure you will get to meet.  We also have a monthly Meetup in DC focused on real estate investing.  The link to the meetup is on my profile page if you ever want to network. Good luck with all your plans. 

1- Yes

2- Early to mid 2016; just in time for the Presidential election

However, my gut feeling is that this will be a much shorter crash and less severe than 2008 as there are plenty of individuals, institutions and foreign investors with a considerable amount of reserved cash that are waiting on the sideline to scoop up properties. 

Pro-Tip: If you really want to know what is happening in global real estate; then follow Jon Gray's moves.  He is the head of Blackstone group's real estate division and is also the chairman of board of Hilton hotels.  These guys pretty much control the game and if they are selling their most attractive possessions (like Waldorft NYC Hotel) then you know something is happening. 

Welcome @Blake Stout . 

Anacostia is an interesting place in DC as it is going through a transformation and the future defiantly looks bright (at-least on the paper).  We've looked at a couple of different rehab projects there but haven't pulled the trigger yet.  The available inventory seems low compared to other parts of DC. If your strategy is buy and hold for rental then that is a different story. 

I would be interested in having a chat and comparing notes.  Feel free to drop me a PM. 

We just recently looked at a 12 unit multi and had a 50 page certified and audited document that included all the financials for the past 5 years as well as an individual breakdown of expenses for each unit within 2 minutes of signing the NDA. As others have mentioned; you may need to find a new agent that understands and specializes in such transactions. 

Well....I am not even going to say the prices in the Washington DC area because they are just outrageous.