When I lived out in your neck of the woods (San Diego), I used to travel to or through San Bernardino, Riverside, Los Angeles, and Orange Counties on a fairly regular basis. I seem to recall that with something like 20,000 square miles, San Bernardino was the largest county in the entire lower 48 states. Alaska has some counties that are more than twice that size, but who wants to trudge through six feet of snow and ice to do a deal? (smile)
Seriously though, when I read your post I figured that when you wrote ?smaller? that you were referring to population and not geographic size.
BTW, of all the places I have lived, San Diego is one of my all-time favorites! Fantastic weather, lots of things to do, and great people!! Almost as good a place to live as Texas. LOL Every time I see a post by you, Dirk or Jeanne Roach, JP or Terry Vaughn, and all the others in sunny Southern California, it makes me nostalgically yearn to be back in that “Paradise on Earth”.
Does anyone on this site invest in Southern California Real Estate… Everything I read in the success area is in the price range of $20,000… That is just what I paid for my new truck… Real Estate here in Southern California is$100,000 to $130,000 for a decent 3bdrm/2bath… Unless you buy a HUD at 9% down… But I am not a fixer upper… Someone please give me some hope for California… Thank You and this site is still the BEST on the net
Todd
Posted by Mark (SDCA) on December 08, 1999 at 09:39:25:
yes… There are investors in SoCal. In fact, there is a web site devoted to SoCal creative investing. I would post the URL but that would ensure that my post will be deleted instead of just a 50% chance. Email me if you want the URL.
You DO have to re-think your strategy. Buy and hold is not a great strategy, especially in the larger your counties. Rehabs do work. Or go into the smaller counties like San Bernadino or Riverside. Or go for multi units. LO (sandwich leases) also work.
Hope this helps,
Posted by Jim Pasquini on December 07, 1999 at 20:43:21:
Yes it can be done. It may be done a little differently since the numbers are larger but many of the techniques are similar.
You might try attending meetings with the following group.
Real Estate Investor’s Club Of Los Angeles
Contact: Phyllis Rockover
Telephone: (310) 353-8498 http://members.aol.com/lainvestor
When: 2nd Tuesday of the Month 7:30pm
Where: Ramada Hotel, Culver City
Two sources for training that I know work in California are North American Real Estate Services (Bill Gatten and crew with the PACTrust) and The Wealth Institute (Tim and Alexis McGee et al). Ther may be others but I know their stuff works.