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All Forum Posts by: Alex Ramirez

Alex Ramirez has started 15 posts and replied 161 times.

Post: Virtual Assistant Cold Calling Success

Alex RamirezPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Houston, TX
  • Posts 184
  • Votes 147

Hiring a virtual assistant for cold calling didn’t work out for me to be honest. I actually hired a couple different ones to dial my mtf leads and they did not bring me a single good lead

Post: My building is a teardown but the land is worth a fortune

Alex RamirezPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Houston, TX
  • Posts 184
  • Votes 147

Hi @Sean Cassidy. You should definitely talk to a local bank to see how they can help you. Many lenders will fund the construction of your property as long as the numbers make sense. Then when the project is done, you simply refinance and pay your loan off and get another long term loan (I.e conventional loan with a fixed interest rate). Sounds like you got a very nice peace of land. Best of luck to you. 

Post: Aspiring investor - looking to shadow a flip in the Houston area

Alex RamirezPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Houston, TX
  • Posts 184
  • Votes 147

Hi @Shannon Bhatia. I’m a Houston RE Entrepeneur. I currently have a 12plex under rehab in Matagorda county. Happy to shed some light and answer any questions. Let’s connect 

Post: Best COC Returns? Multi or STR

Alex RamirezPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Houston, TX
  • Posts 184
  • Votes 147

@Felipe Soto I personally own mtf and a short term rental. It all comes down to how good of a deal you bought to start with. I closed on my STR with zero money down because it appraised at a lot more than estimated. Now the performance of a STR is heavily depend on the market/area you are at. Unless you are at a place where there are tourist all year round, there are some slow months and some really good months. There is obituary more turn over, more broken things, more maintenance. It's a more time consuming business if you will be managing yourself. I guess if I have to give some advice my bet would probably be mtf. Why? Just because mtf is a recession proof business model. When a recession happens, people get into a saving money mode. This will heavily impact a STR. People also lose their jobs and in so many instances even their home but they need a place to live so they have to move to an apartment. Mtf is a solid business model. Just make sure you buy for cash flow not appreciation. Hope this helps

Post: Finding Good Deals in Such a Limited Market

Alex RamirezPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Houston, TX
  • Posts 184
  • Votes 147

@Noah Kellar  what has worked for me the best is finding my own off market deals. As you said, everything on market is really overpriced. With that said, you need to start looking for properties with some type of distress. I suggest go into listsource.com and purchase a list from them based on your buying criteria. Then you can start sending mailers to home owners. If you don’t have much money, you can skiptrace that list free using websites like usphonebook and truepeoplesearch and cold call or send text messages. Make sure you get a google voice phone number to do it (it’s free). Reach out if you have any questions

Post: top mistakes made when buying a smaller apartment complex?

Alex RamirezPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Houston, TX
  • Posts 184
  • Votes 147

@Patrick Flanagan first and foremost underwriting it incorrectly. Make sure you underwrite it conservatively factoring interest rates going up, as well as your taxes and expenses. Second, picking the wrong contractor. I hired someone I did not know and gave him my trust and ended up running away with my money. Make sure you check on progress constantly. Third, dealing with the city -(permits). Make sure you have a clear understanding in how it works where you are located. The city has delayed my projects for months just because the permits weren’t structured correctly. Make sure you inspect all units, including roofs, foundation, HVAC, water heaters, plumbing, electrical, etc. if you will be demolishing walls you might need an asbestos survey and this can be costly if you find asbestos. Also, if you are close to the coast and you will be modifying the structure of the building, you will need windstorm engineering. Please reach out if you have any questions. I have made so many mistakes doing apartments. Happy to share some more stuff with you

Post: We need YOUR feedback on a BiggerPockets book title!

Alex RamirezPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Houston, TX
  • Posts 184
  • Votes 147

Option 1 for sure. Straight to the point. 

Post: Major decision on commercial property

Alex RamirezPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Houston, TX
  • Posts 184
  • Votes 147

@Justin Mathews I would personally take the heloc and get the additional cash for the next investment (I’m a big risk taker). There’s going to be some good opportunities in real estate with what’s going on in the market. Cash is king! 

Post: Buying my first apartment building

Alex RamirezPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Houston, TX
  • Posts 184
  • Votes 147

@Anthony French what market is this? You are buying at roughly $48K per unit, which is not bad. What is the condition of the property? Is it pretty run down? Rents are really low. Only an average of $416 per unit a month. Your expenses are really high. This could mean a good deal only if…. The property has a lot of deferred maintenance and you come in and slowly start kicking tenants out by raising their rents and remodel the units and bring the rents to market values. What are the market rents? I highly suggest you call around other remodeled properties and ask. As far as the expenses (really high) look at them and see if you can cut the expenses down. I.e. if there is only a single meter for all units for everything you can implement RUBS. Essentially, you will be charging tenants back for utilities. Try to manage the property yourself. I manage a 12plex I own myself with rentredi. I only spend about 3 hours per week. Works great! Underwrite your property conservatively with your business plan and if the numbers make sense by all means go for it. 

Post: New multifamily complex to purchase!!

Alex RamirezPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Houston, TX
  • Posts 184
  • Votes 147

Hello @Miguel Diaz for you to be able to tell whether or not is a good deal, you definitely need to look at the financials and underwrite it with a conservative approach. You need to see if after your rehab cost, expenses, etc the deal still cash flows 

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