All Forum Posts by: Chris Kersey

Hi Carla, 

I've only added square footage on my personal residence but I also complete new construction build to rent homes in central Houston. Feel free to connect with specific questions. 

You may also want to check what your competition is in the local area. Go on HAR and see what other comparable houses in your neighborhood are renting for. Also, see how they are listed IE staged, phot quality, build quality ect.. 

Also, when you do get tenants, fight the urge to just put the first person in the house. Fully vet them to make sure you have the right tenant that can afford the house. It will be much more costly if not. 

Feel free to message me with  specific questions. I'm an agent but I also do build to rent new construction duplexes and single families in central Houston. 

Hi Nooruldeen, 

Welcome! I'm newer to posting here in BP but not so new to the RE game. I'm an agent as well in Houston. 
If you are not already, go join the RE investing groups on FB in Houston. There are multiple groups posting off market deals daily. Get connected with the wholesalers in these groups and they will start sending you deals. Also, keep a close eye on the MLS in your target market. Deals pop up ever now and again but they are gone quick!

Hi Sumiya, 

Yes I will share this over to your email. 

I know it can be done with some boots on the ground in the city while you are away. A good handyman and possibly a realtor for future leases/other items and you should be good. I feel like a lot of people work property management up to be a super time consuming thing, but with the right tenant in place, the right team on the ground and some software to manage things, it can be done from a far relatively easy. 

@Sumiya Mahmud Have you looked into some of the self managed software options? I'm a RE Agent and Investor in central Houston (one of our houses is up in Spring) and I use Hemlane.com to track and manage payments, maintenance requests, ect. 

Aside from this, all I would need is a good handyman in the area and most of our properties run themselves. Feel free to reach out and I would be happy to share my Handyman I use in Spring and other parts of Houston. 

Hello! 

My wife and I have a portfolio of 5 houses currently. We have a 3 more new construction duplexes in the works as well, just waiting on permitting to get approved. Up until this point , we have been buying the land with our cash, constructing the homes with cash, renting them out, and using a DSCR loan to pull most of our money back out.

I'm looking for a better way to scale this though. Maybe a commercial line of credit? We both have great credit scores, equity in homes, and an ample amount of cash, we are just looking for a more efficient way to scale. I am an RE agent and she owns her own business. Any suggestions would be appreciated. 

- Chris 

Thanks for the info, I'm definitely going to check this out. 

Hey Holly, 

When is the next meet up? I would love to join. 

- Chris 

@Jessica Perez Velazquez I love the Spring Market and used to live up there for 4 years. I still have one rental near 2920 and 45 that does well. My vote is to keep the house and rent it out. Spring has continued to appreciate nicely. The problem is getting ahold of the trapped equity you have in the home. Have you thought about getting a HELOC on the house while you are still living there to utilize some of your equity? This won't allow you to access much (roughly $30-45K depending on lender, I use CUTX) but it's still good to have that option available if a great deal comes up.

The other option of selling the house and investing the tax free gains is also on the table. You just have to factor in the returns from what your invest the money into this was VS how the rental house would perform. 

I'm a Realtor and manage my own properties so feel free to reach out if you have any specific questions about your market or need a CMA run to see what your home could sell for or current market rent is.

@Mengrou Cao Some of the major suburbs of Houston I would look into would be Spring, Katy, Cypress, Tomball, and Pearland. Most of these areas have great school and are still relatively affordable. 

As far as up and coming, definitely check out Baytown. I just sold a new construction Lennar home out there that would have cash flowed if the buyer wasn't using it as a primary residence. 

If you have any more specific questions or want some local help, feel free to reach out. 

- Chris