REVEALING MY BRAND NEW HOME TOUR!

What's up, guys? It's Graham here. So, I'm really excited to be able to share this video with everyone because I just closed on my new home, and the time has finally come that I could tour you around, show you the new spot, and then, as I'm sure everyone wants to know, I'll go over all the numbers behind it, why I bought this place in particular, and the investment potential going forward.

What initially caught my attention is that this home is located on the same street I grew up on as a kid. My parents used to rent just up here for $1,500 a month, and they had to move when I was about 8 years old because the owner wanted to sell the home at the time for about $375,000. So, obviously, they didn't have the money to buy it. Ever since we moved out, the entire area just ended up skyrocketing in value.

So, when I saw the opportunity to buy back into the area that I grew up in, like where I used to ride my bike as a kid and take walks around the neighborhood, I wanted to look into this further. Once I did, I realized: wait a second, this is a really good opportunity!

Wait, it gets even better than that because, in typical frugal fashion, it's also a duplex. The main house has three bedrooms and two bathrooms, and the second house has one bedroom, one bathroom, with its own private entrance and yard. But before I go to all of the numbers and specifics behind this deal, let's not waste any time; let me show you around.

And here's the home tour. So, the first thing you're gonna notice is an absurd amount of privacy, and this is something that really drew me to this place to begin with. It's completely surrounded by plants and trees that are probably older than I am, and it just feels like this hidden tropical forest as you walk in, with a fountain placed right in the middle.

There's also a few hidden pathways as you walk around the front yard, like you have this area over here that leads you to a table and chairs. And then you also have this. As we walk around this way, we have another hidden pathway right over here that leads you down to the parking and the entrance to the second house.

Then from there, we could walk up these few front steps and we could get in through the front door. So, the home was built in the early 1920s, and for anyone that doesn't know, I have a thing for early 1920s Spanish homes. I think there's something really special about a home's character and charm of that era that just can't be replicated today, and this fits that perfectly.

So, when you walk through the front door, you enter straight into a living room with curved ceilings, a huge front window, and an actual wood-burning fireplace. This is something I've always wanted to see. At my last place, I had one of those faux fireplaces that was never actually functional, but I think this one will do the trick.

I also really liked that they kept a lot of original features, from the arches to the hardwood floors and the ceilings. I think there's something to be said about keeping the integrity of the home intact, and this does that well.

Excuse some of the sparse furniture, by the way, and a few of the missing light fixtures, and some of the missing paint on the wall. It's still a bit of a work in progress, but it's coming along quite nicely.

So anyway, next to the living room, we have the dining room. I don't know what it is about dining rooms, but there's something really cool about being able to sit at the dining room table to get all of my editing done. Now, in terms of this room, I had this diner-style bench seating installed, and this makes really great use of the space without cluttering the room with a huge table in the center.

It's also really nice to be able to open up this window here. You get a warm breeze, you hear the running water, you overlook a whole bunch of greenery, and it's so nice to answer comments looking at all of this from the table.

There's certainly a calmness and serenity with being surrounded by so many plants, and that does wonders for productivity. This is also one of Ramsey's favorite activities during the day; if you just open up the window, he's occupied with this for hours all day long. He'll just be right here.

Speaking of productivity, by the way, I also installed this light myself. The electrician wanted $80 to do it, but I figured I would just save the money and do it myself over the weekend, and I did. This is also a really cool piece I picked up from an antique shop, one of those random ones. Even better than that, it was broken, so I got 80% off! No one knows it's broken; you just flip it around that way. It looks as good as new.

Anyway, that brings us to the kitchen. I understand that this color choice might not be everyone's favorite, but I happen to like it a lot. This place is really close to the beach, so the kitchen's got a really cool ocean vibe to it. Plus, it's going to be really easy to remodel at some point in the future, but as of now, it really matches the rest of the house.

For the time being, it's also got a great mosaic tile floor, and the kitchen window has a little bit of a view of the hillside, which is neat in the early morning. It's just so peaceful to look out the window, drink some of my iced coffee, and ask myself the question: why haven't you smashed the like button yet for the YouTube algorithm?

Then from there, once you smash the like button, you have this front breakfast area here. I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to be doing with this area yet. I was thinking about putting a table here with a few chairs or doing a whole bunch of bench seating around here because, honestly, the acoustics in this room are terrible. So, having a conversation in here is next to impossible.

So, I'm thinking instead, maybe making this like a front reading nook. But let me know what you think down below in the comments. Now, over here, we have the second bathroom, which I have to say is amazing to have.

A second bathroom! I don't know how many years it's been since I've had another bathroom! At my last place, it was only one bathroom, but this is amazing for guests. We've got a toilet here, and then we've got Ramsey's toilet that I'm not gonna be showing. We have a sink and a shower on the end, and then over here, we have a whole bunch of storage and pantry space with the washer and dryer right behind here.

And then you have, of course, even more storage between these two doors. Then that leads us to the bedrooms. So, the first room here has been turned into my new YouTube studio, and of course, it's official—we got the office here.

So, let me go ahead and give you a tour. I went with the exact same theme as my previous space, so you're not gonna notice any difference whatsoever. When I'm filming at my desk, I also hated doing this so much, but there were two giant windows on either end here that just got way too much light.

So, I had to drywall over those and then put this over here so I could keep the lighting the same throughout the day. Just for reference, here's what the room looked like prior to me taking it over, and now, obviously, you see what it looks like today.

I also installed some sound-reducing curtains along this side of the wall and then on this side of the wall. Behind it, I installed a brick veneer. Then, obviously, I got the drum set up here, and yes, I do play, so it's not just for looks, but it does look good in the back of a video.

How do dinosaurs pay their bills? With the Tyrannosaurus check! [Music] Funny, I like it.

Then I'm going to be taking you down the hallway, and we have another office space right here. Now this one is a bit of a work in progress, but it's gonna be coming along soon. Come on in! I apologize for a bit of a mess over here. We have all the Wi-Fi setup going on right now.

But eventually, this is gonna be another setup that I could film from. I think most likely what I'm gonna be doing is turning this entire wall into a giant reef aquarium that you could see through the hallway. That way I could film in front of it, and I have a whole bunch of tropical fish behind me.

I could have the aquarium placed in the closet behind this wall. I'll cut out the drywall so it looks like the aquarium is framed like a picture, and then I could run all of the equipment and plumbing out to the shed just outside the window.

I've been obsessed with having a reef aquarium since I was a kid, so I'm so excited to finally be able to make that happen here. And now we have the final bedroom.

Again, it's still a bit of a work in progress, but it's coming along quite nicely. This is really neat because it has its own fireplace. It's got two closets on either end behind those doors, and then French doors that lead out to the patio and backyard.

We also have something that's quite ridiculous, and I think it's absolutely absurd, but that would be this bathroom here, and I think it's way too big. I think originally, in the 1920s, this bathroom used to be a bedroom, and then sometime in the 1990s, this was turned into a bathroom, and then the bedroom you saw behind it was an addition that was built on later.

That's the only way that I could explain this because, honestly, it's built way too big for the size of the house. It's got a giant bathtub, two sinks, a steam shower, a skylight, and a small room with a toilet. I think what I'll probably end up doing at some point in the future is cutting the bathroom in half right here and then making this a third bathroom connecting to the second bedroom.

If I did something like that, it's gonna greatly help the rental market and resale value of the property. But until then, I'm just gonna keep it as is. This is honestly way too much bathroom that I would ever need, but you know what? It's nice to have, and the steam shower is really nice to use—super relaxing in the morning.

Then we'll go through the French doors into the backyard patio with Jacuzzi, and you could see just how into gardening we've become lately. During quarantine, it was really fun to go and get succulents and grow them out here.

So, so far, here's the collection. Anyway, you can walk down here, and you’ve got a fully private backyard. Again, I was really drawn to this because of how many trees and plants were here, and this is something that takes years, if not decades, to get this kind of plant growth.

It's just really so relaxing to be out here, and most of the time, I’ll get my work done from right here as long as it's not too hot outside. And then, really quick, give you a bit of a tour.

So obviously, as you can see here, we had no shortage of plants over here. Finally, by the way, the gardenia started blooming! This is something I've been waiting for for months now. It's finally happened; you guys get to see it!

We have a fountain over here in the corner, we have a Japanese maple tree, and we have a whole bunch of bougainvillea. They've just been growing like crazy over here. And last but not least, we have an outdoor fireplace.

This is really yet to be used, but maybe at some point it turns into like a pizza oven or something like that. But you know what, it's here. And then, of course, just a few little gems here: we got strawberries, we got blackberries, we have tomatoes, and then what's really cool over here, we have grapes!

As you can see, it's growing a little bit, and also it happens to look even cooler at night. Just take a look at this! But now, I'm going to show you over to the second unit, and to do that, I'm going to take you over to the front entrance.

So, welcome to the side entrance right over here. Come on in! Now, as you could see here, this house is all the way in the back—it's entirely self-sufficient, and in terms of rental value, this one is phenomenal.

So, as you can see here, we have its own cascading bougainvillea as you walk through, a ton of landscape over here, and if anything, I think the landscaping over here is a little bit better than the main house. So, as we walk through here, you can see you've got a ton of space over here.

It's got its own patio, its own fountain, and all of this landscape, by the way, has probably taken decades! This plant here grows all the way over here and extends like 50 feet down that way, which is absolutely incredible.

Even as a one-bedroom, one-bathroom, the rental value of this unit is about $2,700 a month because of its close proximity to the beach. So, let me show you what that gets you!

It opens up to a cozy living area, a kitchen with a window, and then you also have a closet space and its own bathroom. Then back here, we have its own bedroom. It's also got its own closet along this side and another door that leads out to the side.

For someone who wants their own completely separate space that's walking distance to the beach, this is perfect. And then also, this is what it looks like at night.

But now, as a finance channel, let's go over the numbers and the reasoning behind this purchase, which I'm sure a lot of you guys are curious about. So, here you go! First, the location of this home is unbeatable. It's walking distance to the beach, and there have been a number of prominent businesses that have moved in nearby that have completely changed the landscape of this entire area over the last decade.

As it is right now, there are several projects in development within a few hundred feet of this location that would bring in substantially more demand over time. A lot of that has to do with revamping the streets, making some of the surrounding areas more pedestrian-friendly, and encouraging more walk-up foot traffic to local retailers.

I think walkability is going to play a very important part in determining a home's value here in Los Angeles in the future, and this place is poised to take advantage of that perfectly. So, this one is very much a long-term hold.

The value of this home isn't in fixing it up and then flipping it, but instead holding on to it, waiting for all the new projects to complete. At the same time, you could also leverage your money using a really low-interest rate loan.

So next, let's talk price. I closed on this home for $2.1 million after all expenses and closing costs, which I'm sure some of you guys will see that and think that is ridiculous.

Even Los Angeles, for a home of this size, it's a lot of money, but this one is all about location and being able to walk down to the beach. In an area where there's no more land to be built comes at a steep premium, and it's very likely to increase over time.

I was also able to get a fixed thirty-year interest rate loan at 3.22% with 40% down. But I'm in the process of doing a cash-out refinance to lower that interest rate all the way down to 2.875% fixed for 30 years, which really at that level, it's pretty much free money when you account for inflation and tax write-offs.

I also feel like this property would be fairly well insulated in terms of value, given its close proximity to the beach. So, I see this as a very safe store of money while the entire area continues to develop.

So, that means my total overhead to own this home is $7,700 a month with the mortgage, property taxes, and insurance, which I'll be honest, is a lot of money. However, the rental value of the other house is about $2,700 a month, which brings the out-of-pocket cost down to $5,000 a month.

Then I was able to rent out my previous unit and garage for a combined $2,200 a month, and now I have that extra money coming in to apply here, which brings the total out-of-pocket cost down to more like $2,800 a month.

But that's not the entire picture either, because every single month that I pay the mortgage on this property, a portion of that goes into paying down the home loan and boosting up my home equity. During the first year, that works out to be an extra $2,150 a month—it's basically a forced savings of money that goes back into the property.

So that means after everything is said and done, when you apply the extra rental income and the home equity by paying off the mortgage every single month, that brings my total out-of-pocket cost down to more like $650 a month, not including the tax write-offs I get by using some of these spaces exclusively for business.

Now yes, of course, I did have to put down a significant amount of money to even get this deal in the first place, but long-term, it gets me into the property of which there were multiple offers on. One of those offers was significantly higher than mine.

I'm also able to move in as an owner-user to lower the mortgage rate of the property, and I can make more money off the back end through appreciation over time, and then eventually, at some point in the future, the rental income whenever I move out of here and rent this place out.

Of course, there's also an element of buying this home that I did for myself. As much as I like getting a good deal, finding a new way to save money, and investing in something that's gonna be going up in value over time, this house just felt like home the moment I walked in. There is this warmth of the space—it’s very difficult to describe without physically being in it.

Like, it's really inspiring to be able to wake up surrounded by greenery and birds chirping, and that sense of tranquility really just motivates me more. I remember being 18 years old as a brand-new real estate agent, seeing some of these clients buy two-million-dollar homes, and I was thinking to myself: one day, I could hopefully do that too.

If I work really hard, if I save my money, if I learn how to invest, I can make that happen. So, it's kind of surreal that, like, 12 years later after that, something like this is possible.

Yes, of course, there is a well-calculated investment mindset behind the purchase. I have high hopes for this area, and I certainly wouldn't be doing it if I felt like the cost was going to outweigh all the benefits.

But still, just being able to do something like this is an unbelievable experience, and I want to thank everybody for all of your support and coming along with me through all of this journey. Hopefully, everything I have learned along the way can help you too—whether it's how to increase your credit score, how to save more money, how to invest in real estate, how I can live for free, or how to smash the like button for the YouTube algorithm.

Whatever I could do to help, I am here. So, with that said, you guys, thank you so much for watching. I really appreciate it! As always, make sure to destroy the like button, subscribe button, and notification bell. Also, feel free to add me on Instagram; I post here pretty much daily.

If you want to be a part of it there, feel free to add me there. As in my second channel, The Graham Stephan Show, I post there every single day I'm not posting here. So, if you want to see a brand new video from me every single day, make sure to add yourself to that.

And lastly, of course, if you want free stocks, use the link down below in the description. WeBull is going to be giving you two free stocks when you deposit $100 in the platform, and one of the stocks could be valued all the way up to $1,400. So, if you want this two free stocks, seize the link down below in the description. Let me know which two free stocks you get!

Thank you so much for watching, and until next time!