All Forum Posts by: Wes Blackwell

@Zach Riegler

3 days. It's the same for all of California, not just Sacramento:

https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/eviction-notices-nonpayment-rent-california.html

http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=CCP§ionNum=1161.

@Charles Mull

Hey Charles! Welcome to BiggerPockets! You're in the right place!

Here are some articles I've written about Sacramento to help get you up to speed on the market:

• https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/621/topics/396725-millennial-migration-to-sacramento-2017---here-comes-the-rush
• https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/621/topics/586279-investing-in-sacramento-or-stockton-which-one-is-better
• https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/621/topics/585796-sacramento-rent-control-101-everything-you-need-to-know
• https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/621/topics/590913-rent-growth-in-sacramento-is-triple-the-national-average

Feel free to ask any questions about the Sacramento market or the investing process of buying and selling real estate and we'll be sure to get you pointed in the right direction :-)

@Chris Trefry

Scottsdale is much better suited for an AirBnB / VRBO type strategy, or for higher end vacation rentals for well-to-do snowbirds. Wouldn't recommend it for general buy-and-hold investing as your money will go much further elsewhere.

The two approaches to real estate investing are:

1) Find out what strategy works for you, then find a market that fits it

2) Find out what strategy works in your market, and then use that strategy

There are many other areas around the Phoenix metro that may be better for the strategy you're using, as others have mentioned. Best of luck!

@Robert Ferrell

My father-in-law happens to be a contractor, and has told me personally he hates flippers. And real estate agents. LOL. 

Why?

Because flippers are all about profit, and so many expect high quality work at a discounted price. And naturally, contractors hate that. It's much easier for them to be profitable (and less stressed) working for a homeowner who's living in the home that's being remodeled. 

That being said, I'll send you the contact information of a contractor I work with here in Sacramento. Not sure if he'll commute to Yuba City, and you might be better off posting an ad on Craigslist, Facebook marketplace, or calling everyone in the local phonebook. Best of luck!

@Justin F.

Generally speaking, the research shows it's bad for the local economy. Be sure to do your due diligence on this one:

• http://www.coba.unr.edu/faculty/nichols/research/c...
• https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/...
• https://www.encyclopedia.com/reference/social-scie...
• https://www.umass.edu/seigma/sites/default/files/E...

Folsom, Roseville and Rocklin will all still offer the same suburbia type feel that Elk Grove does without this wildcard in the mix. I suggest looking there if the potential effect of the casino worries you. 

Plus, there are areas of Sacramento itself worth looking into as well. Land Park, Carmichael, East Sac. They all might have what you're looking for. Probably worth hiring a local agent to help you if you're that unfamiliar with the area. 

@Michelle Berge

Was the property professionally managed? Even if it wasn't, your agent should've asked the seller to provide proof of deposit for the previous 12 months. In commercial multifamily this is known as "the trailing twelve" and it would've shown that the tenant had not paid rent on time for some of the previous months. This is part of your due diligence as a buyer. An agent experienced in negotiating multifamily deals in Sacramento could've helped you with that.

Even if the seller did disclose you still have to honor the current lease in place, even if it's month to month. Plus, we all fall on hard times occasionally, so perhaps the situation was just temporary and the tenant will have no issues paying the rent from here on out. Best of luck.

@Ryan Garcia

I can't remember which guru I heard say it, but the advice is to "keep your main thing your main thing."

Perfect example: I have a client here in Phoenix who is an oral surgeon and does very well. He recently got his real estate license because he wanted to get into flipping homes. Cool beans yo...

BUT --  the time and energy he spent on getting and now maintaining his license would've been much better spent growing his surgery business. Same thing goes for any other sort of professional. Programmers, doctors, lawyers, etc.

What do you think would increase your bottom line more?

• Spending 500 hours next year learning how to become a real estate agent?
• Spending 500 hours next year working on growing your existing insurance business?

I think if you just do a little brainstorming and run the numbers, you'll always come out on top if you keep your main thing your main thing.

I'm sure you could grow yourself as a professional by also becoming a CPA, an attorney, a loan officer, etc. but you'd probably get better results hiring an expert in those fields when you need them rather than trying to do it yourself.

That's what I always tell my clients... leave the real estate thing to me. I'm negotiating contracts and looking at properties daily. You'll never catch up if the only time you have to look at properties is on your lunch break. 

Same thing goes in reverse too. I could do a ton of research about what I should and shouldn't include in my insurance policy, but I'd much rather come to a professional like you and say "Here is my situation... tell me what I need."

And that's exactly what I do with my investor clients. I have a lot of business that comes in from the Bay Area looking in Stockton or Sacramento, and every investor's situation is different. Budget wise, financing, single family or multifamily, turnkey vs. remodel, etc. They tell me their situation, and I tell them where in town to look and provide them with some potential properties and a boatload of data to help them make the best possible investment decision. 

But if I was a brand new agent who didn't even know where to get crime data maps from the Sacramento Police Department or didn't have time to read the news and learn that Sacramento has triple the nation's rent growth rate because I was too busy running my insurance business, I would be doing a disservice to my clients that surely could've been done better by a professional who's doing it full time.

For example, I could get my insurance license and write insurance policies for every single one of my clients... but I don't. Why? Because my time would be better spent becoming a better real estate agent. And that's what I'd suggest for you too. 

One thing you could do though is get your license and then refer business out to some of those great agents you work with and collect 25% referral fees without having to lift a finger. That's what I recommend to my client who is an oral surgeon. He knows a ton of other people in the dental field and speaks directly with 10-20 patients a day and could surely drum up a bunch of business that way without having to learn how to sell a home, do an open house properly, etc.

@Ryan Garcia

I may be biased as a professional full-time agent, but let me ask you this...

• Would you buy commercial insurance from an agent who worked part time? 
• Would you recommend any of your clients purchase commercial insurance from a part time agent?
• Would you recommend any of your friends and family get commercial insurance from a part time agent?

If you answered no to any of the above, then perhaps you should reconsider.

Frankly, part-time agents are the bane of this industry. In 2015 the National Association of Realtors conducted a study called the "Danger Report" and the #1 threat to the industry was "Masses of Marginal Agents Destroy Reputation."

https://www.dangerreport.com/usa/dangers/agents

"The real estate industry is saddled with a large number of part-time, untrained, unethical, and/or incompetent agents. This knowledge gap threatens the credibility of the industry."

Threat #2 was commissions spiraling downward... gee, I wonder why? ;-)

There are like 45,000 licensees in the Phoenix area and I'd bet 90% of them sell 1-2 houses or less per year. And that's because lots of people think it's get-rich-quick or a great way to make some extra money by selling their friends and family's houses every now and then.

But if you really cared about your friends and family, you'd tell them to hire a experienced veteran who really knows what they're doing and can help them sell their home for more. 

What you need to realize is that you're dealing with likely the most valuable asset in their lives, and if you screw up because you don't know what you're doing you could cost them tens of thousands of dollars. Have fun seeing grandma at Christmas every year when you totally screwed up the sale of her house.

I'm not trying to discourage new agents from getting into the business, but if you're going to get in, be all-in. Or if you're an investor who deals regularly enough it's worth getting your license. 

But if this is a side-hustle for you, you're probably going to do a terrible job and cost your friends and family money. It's just the truth. I see it happen all the time. 

Either leave it to the professionals, or aim to become a professional yourself. If not, please stay out. Just closed an escrow last month in Sacramento where the listing agent had the seller and tenants fill out the lease incorrectly and left the tenants paying all utilities and even included their refrigerator in the purchase contract. 

Even better? The seller and the tenants were related. That amateur agent just cost the tenants $300 extra per month and cost the seller a new refrigerator owed to my client. Plus it strained the relationship between the seller and tenant. The seller told the tenants they would continue not to pay water / sewer / garbage, and then once the house was sold she had to explain that her agent messed up the lease agreement and now it's going to cost them several hundred extra per month to stay there. No bueno.

There are a MILLION other horror stories like this... don't be one of them. Stay out unless you're going in full-time.

@Katherine Ming

Hey Katherine! You've come to the right place!

Here's some posts I've written to help Bay Area investors like you get the pulse for what's going on in Sacramento:

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/621/topics/396725-millennial-migration-to-sacramento-2017---here-comes-the-rush

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/621/topics/586279-investing-in-sacramento-or-stockton-which-one-is-better

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/621/topics/585796-sacramento-rent-control-101-everything-you-need-to-know

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/621/topics/590913-rent-growth-in-sacramento-is-triple-the-national-average

Regarding Oak Park, here's an article about the gentrification and some of my thoughts on it:

https://www.kcet.org/shows/city-rising/the-gentrification-of-sacramentos-oak-park

"A new mural rests on the outer red brick wall of Arthur Henry’s Supper Club in the North Oak Park area of Sacramento. The painting resembles a colorful and abstract view of the workings of human organs, yet it’s one unwanted addition to the mural that stands out the most.

"Gentrify 101: Make it hip! (**** that)" is tagged in white at the bottom of the art. It’s an obvious slight toward the ever-expanding gentrification of one of Sacramento’s toughest neighborhoods.

And, to an extent, the anonymous tagger is correct. The mural is just one of several attempts at addressing blight in the area by bringing in new upscale housing in the form of lofts, new businesses and, in this case, art."

"Gentrify 101: Make it hip! (*** that)" has got to be the best thing I've seen all year bahahahahahahahahaahahahahaahahahasoiahfojsndflksdmfskdfm

For those of you not in the know, Oak Park is one of Sacramento's most contentious neighborhoods as of the past few years, and the extreme discount afforded in comparison to Midtown and East Sac and the ever-growing UC Davis Med Center have brought in a new, "hip" young crowd and driven up the demand like crazy.

The price to buy a home Oak Park has risen 10 percent in the last year alone. Rents for a two-bedroom in the neighborhood have reached upwards of $1,500 per month, and some houses are selling for close to $450,000. That's crazy mang.

Now, local businesses are being replaced by health bars, coffee shops, breweries and boutique shops. The red-brick buildings once left abandoned and battered are now covered in colorful, cartoonish murals.

This trend will NOT slow down folks.

As more and more people come here from the Bay Area, expect to see more and more of them heading into the neighborhood in full opposition of the "*** that" mentality of some of Oak Park's residents.

...

You probably won't have enough cash to build an ADU, so instead I'd opt to looking for a duplex or two homes on one lot. Depending on your financing, you should be able to find cashflow.

I just sold this home here at the bottom end of your price range, and it would rent for $1,800 to $1,900/mo easily:

https://www.redfin.com/CA/Sacramento/3928-23rd-Ave-95820/home/19407351

With 25% down and a 5% interest rate, your PITI would be $1,366 which leaves about $500/mo gross cashflow before management, utilities, repairs, etc.

Have any other specific questions about the Sacramento market, just ask and we'll try to get you pointed in the right direction :-)

@Adrian Hollifield

Yes I do... it's my mom's old house in Stockton. Decent C+ / B- area, she bought it back in 1999 for under $100k. Worth like $250k now :-) Might pull the trigger on another one soon but dealing in so many areas I have opportunity overload lol.