All Forum Posts by: Shiva Bhaskar

Hi Sidney, you may want to follow Marc Gilbert on Twitter. He runs a firm that exclusively buys properties (small to medium sized multifamily mostly) in NJ. Seems to do very well and shares lots of great insights. 

I've been thinking about this a lot. We focus in one market (Los Angeles), and have a strategy that has thus far worked. I've had folks tell me the market we're investing in is a good place to by real estate, and others tell me that it's a terrible one. I've heard the same about Cleveland, Tampa, New York City, Phoenix, Detroit, and every other metro area in the country. 

This got me thinking. I know someone who is based in and operates in Detroit (which gets beat up on constantly in investing circles), doing flips and the BRRRR strategy for medium term holds. He's done very well, by any measure of returns. Yet, I'm sure others in Detroit, using the same strategy, or a different one, have had trouble. Know folks in Cleveland with similar situations.

 Locally, in LA, I've seen folks get burned, despite how "good" of a market we're in. Often, their strategy was off, or they didn't execute well.

So, this raises the question: Are there any "good" markets? Or, is that different for each person? My view has been that the operator and the strategy is at least as important as market, but open to hearing otherwise.   

Thanks Brad! Definitely signing up for this. 

I'm an investor in Los Angeles. We put together multifamily deals locally, and also run a monthly meetup group. Along these lines, we send out a weekly newsletter to our list, sharing things going on in our market, as well as more macro, in the real estate market and economy.

I am always looking for good sources of information, which I might share with our friends who are reading. I'm on the Stessa newsletter, which is very useful. Can anyone else suggest other real estate or economic newsletters where I can get big picture news on the real estate markets and economy? 

Hi Brandon, I'm an attorney as well as investor locally, so I have a few thoughts:

Yes, you can evict them if this is primary residence. You'll need an attorney (or should hire one), and it can  take some time and cost money. Are you getting a decent discount on the property, in exchange for taking it with these tenants?  If so, it could make sense to proceed. 

Background checks are standard. Under no circumstances should you agree to this. 

We put together deals and invest alongside LP's in a very competitive coastal market (Los Angeles). We underwrote very conservatively relative to what we had done in previous deals and what the market bears, and using those metrics, showed an IRR of slightly under 11%, on a long term hold.

We had great interest in the deal, but I had a few LP's tell me that they were not interested because some guys were sending deals with 19% to 22% IRR mostly out of state, and they were believing these crazy numbers. At first, I was a little disappointed, but I realized that I can live with it.

We'll likely beat the IRR we listed by a decent amount, and will definitely cash flow well. More importantly, the investors who can with us are realistic in their goals, and want to work with an honest operator who will preserve capital. I have definitely seen that building such trust means you'll sleep at night, and have referrals to more investors in the future.

I suspect many of the deals we're seeing are being pushed because of low rates, and lots of people joining the syndication bootcamps, and figuring that they can do it. As a result, there are a lot of bad transactions getting done. Most of these won't end up in foreclosure of course, but the investors will get mediocre returns and be disappointed. 

So it goes I suppose. Smart underwriting is the only way to preserve wealth long term.  

All cash and refinance later is a great strategy. You can get some nice discounts that way too. We did this with a 7 unit property here in Los Angeles recently (14 day closing, private money) and got a great deal. I am a fan of smart use of debt and leverage where needed, but sometimes you can "steal" a deal by going all cash. In such situations, do it if you can afford to. 

Hi Colby, I am an LA multifamily investor. At first glance, I would suggest renting for at least a little while. Get to know the market. There are many good areas for buying one unit and renting others. I know a great agent for folks looking to househack if you want the referral. 

We buy multifamily in very different areas (from where you mentioned) in LA County. We are still seeing strong deals and returns, but the neighborhoods are of course very different.