Real Estate Investor · Houston, TX · Member since 2013 · 43 posts · 34 votes
Greetings everyone, my name is Stephen Brown I am Navy officer stationed in Japan, who will soon begin flipping properties in the Houston area. I am originally from Los Angeles, and am currently doing some buy and hold there, but properties are too expensive, for me at least, to effectively flip in my hometown.
I have a colleague in Houston, and my plan is to first establish my team there, do a preliminary analysis on several properties remotely, fly out to Houston for the acquisition, and to setup the rehab, and fly back to Japan, allowing my colleague to oversea the rehab process. I have a budget of roughly 115K, and am hoping to finance both the acquisition and rehab with my own funds, at least for the first few properties.
Question:
Are there have recommendations regarding good Real Estate Agents and General Contractors experienced in flipping in the Houston Area?
Is 115K enough to both buy and rehab in Houston?
General guidance regarding my plan thus far would be greatly appreciated; I am hoping to network with other rehabber’s in the Houston area.
BiggerPockets Podcast (listen to the ones with Mary Boardman, J Scott, Danny Johnson, Glenn Schworm, and the one that comes out Tomorrow for some great flipping advice!)
BiggerPockets Podcast (listen to the ones with Mary Boardman, J Scott, Danny Johnson, Glenn Schworm, and the one that comes out Tomorrow for some great flipping advice!)
When you come out try to attend the local REIA meetings. Your buddy can begin attending now. A great place to gather info and people. You can call into the club president and any vendors in advance to get to know them.
Potential team referrals will come from the presidents and vendors of the REIA's get the best of the best.
Thanks for the great info, I have listened to all the podcasts, and they are filled with great information I have already began to use, as I prepare to begin flipping.
@Paul Timmins, will do, thanks for the tips, I'll begin looking into REIA in Houston now.
Hi Stephen and welcome! We should talk. I have a son stationed in Japan who is also in the Navy. I'm helping him find properties here in Houston, so that while he's away he can start cash flowing. He's originally from Houston but was stationed in Cali before he and his wife got shipped out.
Stephen Brown Hey Stephen, Welcome to Bigger Pockets and thank you for your service! $115k is a healthy budget to begin flipping properties in the Houston market. Of course, that money will stretch much further should you choose to leverage it by using financing. I'll send you a PM regarding how I can help you along your investing journey.
@Eliza Blue, Hi Eliza small world, we certaintly should talk, I'll be flying into Houston towards the end of the month and was looking for a good realtor, I'll send you a message.
@Lyall Storandt, Hey Lyall sounds great, I'd love to see the PM and leverage the 115K.
Welcome to BP Stephen and thanks for your service. I just got out of the military last summer. If you cannot find something you are looking for on BP just ask, someone will point you in the right direction. Good luck!
I didn't think that flpping properties while stationed overseas was possible until I heard your podcast, it gave me the inspiration to move forwrd now, instead of waiting till I got back stateside.
Hey Stephen Brown I am also looking to get involve in the Houston market. I currently live in the bay area in CA and my market is too flooded and expensive as well. My strategy to buy and hold small multifamily units right that are cash flowing. We should talk as you get more involved in doing your research on properties - maybe we can help each other. I'm also looking for a good GC and a realtor so let me know if you get any good leads and I'll do the same. Good luck!
Stephen Brown ,
To make the @ work, do this:
Hold down the shift key, type the @ and the first 2 letters of the first or last name.
Look below this box, and click on the name.
This will only work if you're a colleague, or that person has contributed to the post.
Hi There, welcome to Houston, my wife was in the Navy stationed in Norfolk, Virginia and now she is the face of our real estate business. Thanks for Serving
Below are my two cents
Local REIA and meetups groups in Houston that comes to mind
*Rich Club (local REAI)
*Wealth Club
*Real Acquisitions
*Northwest Houston Real Estate Investing (meetup)
*Houston Real Estate investing Association (meetup)
and many others that you can find out there
In those Clubs you can meet Realtors that understand how to work with investors. You dont want a realtor that their mayor focus is retail and you have to teach him what to do. If you want to ramp up your business, get someone with experience
Also, I have noticed from my own experience that investors dont like to give names of their contractors, because they want exclusivity and if they find a good one, they tend to keep them in secret.
If you PM, I can send you the info of a local guy that helped me in my rehab, and he has 20 yrs of experience doing so. He did a great job
Also, the market is so hot right now in Houston that inventory of homes is at its owest and we got many out-state buyers overpaying for homes in the MLS. On top of that may wholesalers are taking advantage of this and selling homes only to buy and hold investors who tend to pay more than a rehabber.
If you want to do a rehab with your own funds, the market for properties under $120,000 is extremelly saturated, because of the buy and hold investors overpaying for homes, but dont get me wrong, there still properties out there, but competition is high.
There is less competition if you start going with rehabs within $150,000-$400,000. but there are more risks, but higher profit. At this point you may need a Hard money lender or a private lender.
Another alternative is to start doing your own marketing and finding your own deals, instead of depending on the MLS.
Sorry for the long answer =), I hope I answer your question
Hi Hector, your local insight is greatly appreciated, and was exactly what I was looking for.
I know this is one of those questions, I'm going to hate for asking later but...when you said PM did you mean Project Manager? I would certainly like the contact for your local guy who helped you with your rehab, I'm trying to establish an experienced team.
As far as hard/private lenders, are you using local ones?
Last question, for properties in the $150,000 - $400,000 price range what's the average profit you are seeing on those properties?
I'm flying into Houston towards the end of the month, and am trying to have as many resources in place as possible.
Tyson Cross,
Hi Tyson, we can definitely connect and share resources. I'll be in Houston establishing my team in two weeks, I'll gladly share the resources I come across, to help you in your REI.
Raymond B.
Hi Raymond, thank's for the tip, it works fine on my laptop, (like right now), but had a challenge getting the @ function to work from my iPad, I'll keep playing with it. Thanks anyway
Stephen Brown Hi Stephen, welcome to BP! It's cool to see people overseas are investing back home. I'm in a similar situation, but I'm in South Korea. I'm also trying to navigate the challenges of investing from overseas, but i know once I master it, I'll have a true location independent business. Best wishes with all your endeavors, BP is really helpful!
No problem, send me a private message (PM) and I give you the information of the person that can help you.
You can use local hard money lenders to finance the deal, and use your capital to pay for repairs and holding costs, or you can rollover the repairs in the hard money loan, but it will eat some of your profits. Send me a PM and I give you a few hard money lenders in the area to network
Private lenders on the other hand are individuals that can lend you money for the deal, but for this you have to build a relationship with them in a personal level. A great way to build that is to bring GREAT wholesale/rehab deals to local meetings and present them in front of the group. As an example Rich Club does a deal a minute once a month and in the Wealth Club meetings at the beginning of their monthly meetings they open the floor for deals to their members before the session starts.
Probably a most experience rehabber can expand this topic and give you hard numbers, but usually the average rehab profit for a house under $120,000 is $15K, and for a higher price range you may be looking at $30K+ or more
Charles Rixey, Thanks Charles, and thank you for your service
Kanise Kelley, Hey Kanise, having a location independent business is my goal as well. I'll make sure and share any tips I learn along the way. Good luck!