All Forum Posts by: Valerie Poynor

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Long Beach.

Purchase price: $500,000
Cash invested: $27,000

This is my house hack property. It is 4 bd/1.75 bth and about 850 sq. ft.

How did you finance this deal?

I used lender credits to help with the closing cost as well the Homes for Heroes program which gave a reimbursement. I also accepted seller credits towards closing cost to repair the roof. I rent out half of my home and live in the other half, thus my cash flow is technically negative.

Hi BP community!

I hope everyone is keeping afloat with everything that is going on :/

I am looking to purchase my second investment property (hopefully in Sept/Oct) and am looking in the Long Beach area. I am thinking of using a FHA loan as I will be living in the property as well. I am open to single family or multifamily in the price range of $300,000 -$650,000. Would like to be West of 710 and South of 405. I do not have a lot of connections to the area so any advice or business connections (realtor/investor/lender) is greatly appreciated. :)

-Val

@Account Closed I prefer to not share pictures but I happy to discuss :) The property is worn down a bit (paint on trim needed to be scraped off and redone, broken fence in yard, minor things inside the units, etc.) but habitable.  In fact my tenants are currently inherited tenants.  We are trying to make updates while they are still occupying the units.  

@Cory Lucas That's awesome! Get 'er done!

@Jose Lopez I actually picked Bakersfield because I could afford it lol.  I figured for a first time property, it would be wise to start out in a lower priced market is case it all went to hell and I needed to cover the cost.  I was also raised in Bakersfield, hence Bakersfield over Fresno or another equivalent central valley city.  My opinion on Southern CA is to wait a year for prices to go down, but I'm no expert lol. Regardless of the cycle, If you find a deal where the numbers work then you should go for it!  Or you can always offer less to make the numbers work.  You never know.  

@Phil Denton Hi Phil! Welcome to BP! I am new as well, so we are learning together.  I finally figured out how to use the "@" thing correctly lol.  Yes, the property does cash flow at about $150 per unit (rent is $650 per unit currently).  This includes the fact that I currently pay for trash and water, but eventually want to have the tenants cover water expenses.  The rent is also below market rent, so over time I will be increasing the rent to $750 per unit.  My property management cut me a deal since I bought the property through their real estate team.  I pay 5% for property management.

@Ben Halabi @Alex Kay @Jennifer Pauyo Thank you :)

@Matt Bertsch The whole thing was a sort of in house job actually.  Mike and Jared (the agents) knew the seller personally.  The seller had been toying with the idea of selling it but had not listed it on the market, so I really found myself in the right place at the right time.  Everything kicked off so quickly, I struggled to keep up like "wait, I haven't read that Chapter yet!".  I walked into the bank asking for a loan like a hot mess lol. I hadn't even seen the property until after the offer had been accepted! 

There were some hiccups but all in all a smooth transaction, and nothing like that first rent check <3

I worked with Jared and Mike at Cope Realestate.  Everything went pretty smoothly, and they found exactly the type of property I was looking for.  They have a property management branch as well, so I am also utilizing them for managing the property.

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment in Bakersfield.

Purchase price: $145,000
Cash invested: $33,000

My first investment property, woot woot! Duplex 2bd/1bth per unit. The property never even hit the MLS the same company (different agents) represented both seller and buyer (that's me). Everything happened so fast I was struggling to keep up, but remembered what I learned from BiggerPockets and pressed on even when I felt like running away. Glad I didn't! Property company manages it, and I just have to say yay or nay to the big things. Nothing like getting that first month's rent!