New member from Houston, TX

[Nick S.]

Hi all, my name is Nick and I'm an aspiring real estate investor from Houston, TX. 

I've been interested in real estate investing for most of my life as I watched my parents own and operate a duplex in my hometown that worked out very well for them. After moving from the midwest to California after college, I always kept my eye on real estate but could never find a deal that made sense in SoCal. 

One thing that opened my eyes to all of the costs of real estate was the NYT Rent vs. Buy calculator. In SoCal, it was clearly better for me to rent, especially when getting a roommate to split costs. I stocked away any additional money I "saved" by renting with a roommate vs. buying and put it in the notional bucket of "house down payment" for later down the line.

A little more than a year ago, I moved to Houston knowing almost nothing about the city. I decided to rent when I moved here to get a feel for the city before buying anything. Now that I live in a market with some workable deals and have a better feel for the city, I feel like I'm ready to take the plunge. 

Areas that most interest me are: buy and hold cash flow rentals (SFR or Multi), house hacking, and BRRRR

I'm currently looking at SFRs in suburbs outside the city (possibly Clear Lake, Friendswood, Pearland, Spring, Katy, etc) and potentially multi family properties in the Greater East End, though those seem harder to come.

Looking forward to networking with the BP community and learning as much as I can along the way.