// the mood & vibes this week
— hi, friends :) writing this to you from my bedroom at my family's house in norcal. i'm here for a week-long vacation ~ at my old favorite haunts, hanging with friends, and taking the annual family trip to tahoe. but mostly, i just can't believe that we're already halfway through august. where has this summer gone?
— i feel like i say this every year, but i'm really not ready for it to be anywhere close to over. i almost want to rewind the tape to june, or late may, when i knew i just had months ahead of perfection. because the truth is: i feel so alive and radiant and beautiful and myself during these moons. i'm not ready to give that up just yet. but i feel it slipping, without my consent.
— i can see out of the corner of my eye the kiddos going back to school, the evenings getting cooler. watching the days march closer to september. fall brings its own joys, this is true, but summer is the one i hang onto off the cliff, nails dug into the edge, unwilling to let go. maybe it's because i feel like i haven't summered perfectly. like i talked about in our last newsletter, it's been a grinding season for me - not the kind of summer i want to repeat forever. i've been busy kicking booty - selling houses and renovating my own! but i almost want to click my heels and have another summer to travel, to backpack, to spend five days looking at tree stumps and falling into books on beaches. for their to be endless more episodes of the summer i turned pretty + and just like that (the SATC reboot which sadly got canceled). but whether i like it or not, things are changing, and i feel them. or rather - i feel them about to change, scent of the wind on the horizon. and i guess it helps to talk about it.
— but for now, we are still here-still in the thick of august, and i'm going to sink into it with every bite, every hour.
— as you know, renovating my triplex is taking up most of my time. we're beginning the work on unit 2 next week, and landscaping started this week! both are huge projects, and i'm excited to see how it will look when it's done. y'all should know, landscaping isn't just plants - it's cutting up concrete, laying tile, fabricating new gates, etc etc ETC.
— one of the biggest things i have to figure out next is what i'm actually going to rent the units for. i have an idea, this is true, but i won't really know the number until everything's done, and i can kind of look at everything from above and see the overall package. this isn't a scenario where i can afford to like, overprice a unit and let it sit on the market for 40 days. MAMA'S GOTTA COVER HER MORTGAGE! and even though this whole unexpected reno is stressful, it's ultimately a good thing. i will be paying much less to live here then if my old tenants had stayed. and like, the goal was always to - after receiving monthly rental income - be paying a nominal amount of the mortgage. which is very close to being achieved. we love that!
— i think it's important to note here that i am not doing this whole ‘buying my first house thing’ in the absence of fear. in fact, i'm totally freaked out. which is OK!!! i think the biggest mistake investors or just buyers in general make is waiting for the PERFECT property, waiting to feel no fear. like, get this.
— yesterday, friend A invited me to friend B's house in my hometown. friend B had friend C over at the time. friend C was telling me that she and her husband have been offering on houses for ten years. TEN YEARS!?!???!?!?!? BRUH. so like, that's a little bit insane. no shade to her, but like - them waiting 10 years to buy is not the best financial decision.
— let's say their budget was $1.5M in 2015 & 2025. if they bought something in LA in 2015 for $1.5M, and factored in annual appreciation of 5% (which is conservative for LA), their house in 2025 would be worth $2.4M. that's about 900K of equity built just from buying earlier. if they bought in 2025 with that same budget of 1.5M, they would be stuck buying a lower quality house than if they'd bought in 2015, because it wouldn't have as much purchasing power in the market.
— OKAY SORRY FOR THE MATH INTERVENTION I KNOW SOME OF US HAVE MATH TRAUMA (cough cough meeeee). the point is — if you're going to invest in real estate, you better get your butt off the bench and buy a property that's 80% right. because whatever it is, you'll figure it out, and time will do the work for you.
— that math i did up there? appreciation math? that's only ONE of the wealth generators of real estate investing. i'm not even counting the amount of your loan you'd pay down in 10 years as opposed to renting.
— so this is to say. even though i know a lot about this stuff, and practiced what i preach - jumping into the market into a house that's 80% right - i'm still scared as F*CK. what if i f*ck up with this renovation? what if i don't get the rents i want? what if things break? should i have bought something “better,” whatever that means? i could ask myself questions and fear monger until the cows come home. but what's more productive is to look at the GD facts, and feel great about the fact that i got into the market, in at least an 80% right house. because in 10 years, i'll be reaping those benefits enough to go get whatever next property i want. but let's be real, i'm tryna buy my second in 2-3 years lmao.
— in terms of the market - things are def heating up! like i said in my last newsletter, bidding wars are alive and well. i've been in like four in the last month. i just offered on
this insane vintage midcentury house in marin for the coolest clients, and we lost, but it was okay. what some of y'all might not know is that in addition to my main LA client base, i have a great group of clients on the norcal coast as well! hit me up norcal baddies!
— in terms of what's coming up … continually on the hunt with my slew of buyers. prepping houses with the team to launch.
— if you're looking to buy a wood house elsewhere in CA + the US, there's a good chance i can refer you to an agent in your city. referrals are a great way to support me. whenever i send a client to one of my cool out-of-area agent friends, i actually receive a portion of that commission! and like most things in life, a recommendation from a friend is the way to go. if that's you, respond to this email and i'd be happy to connect you.
— as always, with the houses i feature below, if you're interested in more details, respond to this email. TODAY IS A SPECIAL NORCAL HOUSES EDITION!
— talk to you soon, and sending love.
xx,
sam
