At first glance, the title above seems pretty crazy, right? After all, writers are creative types. They spend their days conjuring stories from thin air to delight the public. Why should people like that be involved in the nitty-gritty of owning and managing apartments? Like many things in life, it comes down to money. Writers, … Continue reading “Why writers should own apartment buildings”
Category: What to buy
How to invest in real estate passively (part 1)
A few people have asked me recently how you can invest in real estate without doing it full time. It’s a good question, because, as a part-timer, you are competing with other investors who have some built-in advantages, including: Ability to buy all-cash and close quickly A network of brokers who funnel the best deals … Continue reading “How to invest in real estate passively (part 1)”
What about student housing?
An old friend from highschool recently posted on the blog asking what I think about student housing as an asset class. Thought I’d go ahead and answer publicly. First, take all this with a grain of salt. I’m not in the student housing business. But I have spent a fair amount of time looking into … Continue reading “What about student housing?”
Never Buy a Building with a Non-Conforming Unit
I was once in escrow to buy what I thought was a 16 unit building on Clinton St. in Echo Park, one unit in which was “non-conforming”. The owner had taken a common room and turned it into a studio apartment. The listing broker assured me that this was pretty normal in LA and, indeed, … Continue reading “Never Buy a Building with a Non-Conforming Unit”
14 unit re-positioning deal
The 14 unit deal I mentioned late last week is going out to the mailing list around 5pm today. If you want to understand how the numbers work on a larger apartment project, this is a good one to take a look at. To join the mailing list, click here and follow instructions. Should take … Continue reading “14 unit re-positioning deal”
Avoid problems with the Los Angeles Housing Department
Pro tip: You don’t want to buy a building, only to find yourself in the middle of a war with the Los Angeles Housing Department (LAHD). Under the standard California real estate sale contract between seller and buyer, the seller has a duty to disclose any on-going issues that may effect the value of the … Continue reading “Avoid problems with the Los Angeles Housing Department”
My problem
I have a problem: I find good deals every week but I don’t have the money to buy them all myself (even though I want to!). So my solution is to find like-minded people who want to own apartment buildings and help them buy the deals I find. But how do I find these wonderful … Continue reading “My problem”
What real estate success looks like
So far on this blog, we’ve spent most of our time talking about buying your first building. But what does the end-game look like? One thing to understand about real estate is that there’s literally no limit to how big you can get. If you’re disciplined about saving money and re-investing, you can keep growing … Continue reading “What real estate success looks like”
Buying a single family home for investment purposes
Recently, I’ve had some people approach me about buying houses for investment purposes. The concept is simple: There are loads of people out there who either can’t or won’t buy a house right now. They choose to rent (hopefully from me!) instead. But there are lots of people trying to sell their houses… both individual … Continue reading “Buying a single family home for investment purposes”
The numbers are in: South of the 101 is better than Silver Lake
On the numbers alone, buying income property south of the 101 beats buying in Silver Lake. There, we said it. Before we get to the numbers, the area we’re talking about includes part of Westlake/Historic Filipino Town and the southern part of Echo Park. We’re going to call it…”South of the 101″. Here’s a map: Here’s … Continue reading “The numbers are in: South of the 101 is better than Silver Lake”