All Forum Posts by: Robert Whitelaw

Russell, you are right on the money with this. Anyone who considers these anything more than heavily scripted "reality show" fiction with a veneer of interesting stuff relating to design choices is fooling themselves.

I may be alone in this one, but I tend to go with a garage door upgrade on homes where it is clearly the first thing that your eye is drawn to. I don't mean go to home depot or get the cheapest option out there. Something more decorative and attractive. You do mention the garage door in your post, I would take it up a notch tho. Again, others may not agree. You might want to resurface the driveway if those cracks are as bad as they look in the photos. You want some awesome ideas? Head over to pinterest and search on the subject. I find great stuff there for remodels of all kinds.

Always good to check on crime in the area, which is why I usually at least take a look at this:

https://www.trulia.com/homes/California/Sacramento...

Scroll down to the map and click on the police/crime icon to view reported incidents. This property is in a higher crime area.

R

Any lawyers want to chime in with suggestions on how to prevent this or at least minimize it in the future? Get things written perhaps? If this seller had walked in with a contract to review instead of a verbal agreement, would the circumstances have likely been different or effected the outcome?

In this case, I know I would have created a document outlining the agreement between the seller and myself.

R

Not from MA, but no matter where you are, it's about your data. You put together your info (which you may have gotten from using the investment calculators here on BP) and assemble a packet that explains your plan clearly and what they payoff is for your "partner". You can then use this with folks within your sphere, or even here on BP to find someone.

Hope that helps,

R

Hi Dan,

It's all math baby! You just plug in the numbers and see if a positive number poops out the other end! I have dabbled in at least analyzing properties in San Francisco and it is not easy to get positive cash flow. I know some investors that simply count on appreciation to eventually make up the difference which is a tad scary if you end up being at a peak.

I have said this before on my show, but let me share it here, if rate of return on your investment is your thing, and you have over 1 million to spend - which is less than the average in San Francisco, you would be better off buying 4 houses in other markets with greater rates of return today than buying in San Francisco. Over the past year San Francisco has not even made it onto any of the top ten lists when measuring rate of return.

Just something to think about anyway. If you like the market, keep plugging away to see what you can find, but you might want to look in surrounding areas for better deals. The numbers show that buyers have been doing the same thing already in response to the ridiculous high prices in San Fran.

Cheers,

R

So for a room in general, I know folks that use the cost per square foot to estimate. This can change from area to area, but if you are including everything from wood, labor and roofing something in the area of $110 has been used by some folks I have worked with. Of course, this will be a higher number for a bathroom.

Something else to consider (and I am not sure if this applies in Oakland as well) adding a toilet is a bigger pain than it should be. I have seen folks add rooms, turn 1/2 baths into full baths - but as soon as they add a toilet a whole new level of annoying gets kicked into gear in terms of permits and getting approved.

Cheers,
R

Well, speak of the devil! 

http://www.latimes.com/sd-fi-deca-condo-20161207-s...

Here is an example of California apartments going Condo!

R

 Some recent pundits observations say that Sacramento is set to see lots of growth over the next year. You can google it, but several different stories have come out with this idea. I know that I am currently looking for a multi-family in the greater Sacramento area.

Cheers,
R

Hi Perla,

This is something you usually need to sniff out yourself. I know that when I come across something that looks vacant, the last thing I do is post it on a forum! ;-)

You need to drive areas you like and keep an eye out for the signs that a property may be vacant. Then you need to do a search to find out if the mailing address for the owner is the same as the address for the property. If it isn't, send them a card to express interest in buying.

I am guessing that this info can be gotten online at the city or county you are in. However, if you are working with a real estate agent, the MLS links with state tax records so we can just look up an address and find out if the mailing address is different.

Hope that helps. 

Cheers,

R