All Forum Posts by: Cameron Tope

 Yes sir! That's the goals!!!!

Hey Kevin,

Even with the high taxes and insurance, Houston has been a great market for me over the past decade.

However, as you mentioned, there are sub-markets that haven't been as profitable. 

West side of town - Katy, Sugarland, Spring, Cypress - have all performed well for our clients, and my personal properties. I have owned some of my rentals for 10 years and have only had 1 or 2 tenants. 

The areas where our owners have not done so well - Cashmere Gardens, South Park, Sunnyside, north east Houston. There's a lot of turnover and it takes a lot longer to lease. 

@Wale Lawal is a local investor-friendly agent with many years experience. 

I would also reach out to Senna House Buyers - the only local wholesaler I trust. 

Houston, like many markets, can be profitable, you just need to know the areas to avoid or build a strong team.

Best of luck!

Turnovers are going to take longer and be more expensive than you think. 

Keep solid reserves and buy in desirable areas. 

Houston has been a great market to me over the years. 

Best of luck!

 Congrats! Huge opportunity and a lot of responsibility. 

You don't know what you don't know right now so I would read everything you can and become a consumer of information related to property management. 

Or hand it over to a professional and learn to manage the manager. 

Either way, make sure you understand the fundamentals of budgeting and setting aside money for capex. 

Best of luck!

Hey Sharleen,

I would make sure your property manager is a NARPM member. 

Your agent is also a good resource to see if they know a reputable PM. 

I would stay away from the large multi-state companies as they lack the local knowledge and customer service. 

Best of luck!

Hey Amit, 

As folks have mentioned above "good" is a relative term.

Each investor has a different definition of "good" - STR, SFR, condos, etc.

We manage predominately SFRs and small multi-family properties. 

The properties we manage with the lowest turnover and quickest lease times are on the west side of Houston - Katy, Cypress, Spring, Sugarland. 

Hope that helps!

 @Wale Lawal is very experienced as an agent working with investors. 

I would also check out NARPM for a list of local property managers. https://www.narpm.org/about/why-use-a-narpm-member

Best of luck!

I was always about cashflow when I started - cost me millions!!!!

 Remington, I own properties in Athens and while the data/statistics/analytics might look great - there are many challenges with actual operations. 

IMO investing out of state requires a fantastic team before you buy a single piece of real estate. 

I've seen great properties get run into the ground by poor operators. 

Having said all that - my Ohio portfolio is nice and steady!

Hey Mitchell,

Since your goal is to leave your 9-5 (achieving a certain amount of cash flow) then to reach that goal you can either have ~5 paid off rentals or ~20 leveraged rentals. 

The former provides a much lower return on equity but is simpler and easy to achieve over the long run.

The latter is much more time consuming and risky, but provides high returns and a lot of tax advantages. 

Since you said you haven't bought your second property due to "risk averseness, lack of capital and analysis paralysis", then I would go with the fewer paid off properties approach.

Paid off properties are risk averse because of the large amount of equity and cash flow. You also don't need to worry about analysis paralysis or lack of capital as much as if you were looking to acquire a property every six months. 

I would stack cash while looking for a value add opportunity on your current place, or stack cash and continue to analyze deals. When the right deal comes across your desk, and you have the capital, then buy it. Most likely that property will be higher than your 3% mortgage so you can either start to pay that new property off OR stack cash to find the next house.

The best low-money down strategy for this approach is using the owner occupant financing every 1-2 years.  

Oh and one other thing, refinancing or getting a HELOC is not free - there are closing costs, appraisals, points, etc. to consider.

Hope this helps and best of luck! (sounds like you're in a good position!)