All Forum Posts by: Peter Mckernan

Hello @Adam Shindler

I hope all is well! Glad you made it to the site! As with any investing in life a person should know a bit about the actual investment prior to moving their money into that specific investment. With stocks, 401K, and IRA the investment is very passive with really no thoughts at all after the research is done and the money is placed.

The house rental, apartment rental, or landlord investment position is completely different. As a landlord without a property management company that person that owns the rental will be the point of contact for anything that comes up with that property. As a landlord with a property management company the person owning the property is still the point of contact, which can be getting called about once every few months, or twice a month dependent on the circumstances of the tenants, the area the property is in and the condition of the property when bought. Thus the buy and hold method still has aspects of non-passive characteristic. 

Hey @Daniel Cuevas good job on the deal out of state. There are a couple things I would ask for...

I would ask for:

-utilities bills

-see if each unit has it’s own utilities (which makes the property a true triplex if they do)

-see what repairs have been done in the past couple of years

-get an inspection done on the property 

-see what the properties rental comps in the area and see with some rehab work if you can raise the rent once the work is done, or even raising the rent right away.

-gather all other expenses and see what other landlords in the area are charging the tenants to pay for (i.e. waste, water, electricity, gas)? Those will determine your expenses and what you can factor into the rental for expenses-gross income = net income.

@Alan Reza check last post! 

Actually @Vincent Guerrero just sent me a message stating there will be one in North OC May 10, 2016.

Hey @Alan Reza

Unfortunately not as of now, I know that one gentleman stated he was going to look into starting one very soon; however, for now the highest up is Costa Mesa. One is the OCRIA and the other is the OCFIBI.

Welcome @Reggie B Jackson

Glad you are jumping in! I'm not too far away from you and I frequent the real estate meet ups in  Orange County. There are three that I have been attending to network with more people in the investing and real estate communities. 

If you get a chance to go to one of the meet ups give me a heads up and we can chat! As for now this website is a great place to network with people, grab free education and ask for help when you need it! 

Good luck! 

Hello @Arjan Amiri

Owning properties in an LLC protects a person from getting sued for all their real estate holdings, or all their assets. One tip is to keep only a few properties within an LLC and then form another one to place a few other properties within. This will prevent a person from being able to sue someone for their whole net worth. A person would be able to sue one entity, and that's why it's better to spread rentals across different LLCs.

In regards to someone trying to sue for all the equity in a home you can look at the Homestead Exemptions in the state you are looking to purchase property. For example, this exemption is placed for homeowners to keep their homes by keeping a certain amount of equity, which is state dependent. California only allows up to $75,000 in one single property to go untouched from anyone else coming in and trying to take that money through a judgement. Other states are different, for example Texas has an unlimited amount. These are only owner occupied properties. Link below shows all 50 states.

http://www.lawchek.net/resources/forms/que/homeste...

That's a crazy story and probably true! Both are pretty entertaining! 

@Ron H.

@Kevin Crosson

Good Luck!! 

Yeah, it is for sure tough to find a good positive cash flowing property in this area. If you do, this is the website to bounce questions off an experienced investors, and find investors in areas that can help you if you decide to go out of state!! @Maylisse Matos

Hello @Maylisse Matos

Welcome to the site! It sounds like you have jumped in on the learning side of investing, and got started on the actual doing with your condo. That's great you are able to pull some cash out of it and move it to another property. Where are you looking to invest next? There are many different areas that are good for single family homes around you and other bordering cities, which you will not get catch with HOA fees are anything that will increase your monthly costs.