All Forum Posts by: Blake C.

@J. Martin What summit are you talking about? I didn't see one in TX on the website... I feel like its under my nose.

Over the years I have lived in San Antonio, Austin, DFW, and now Amarillo, with family still living in all four places plus Houston. The major metro markets in TX are strong because of all the reasons you listed above (tech, energy, and really more. Texas is a state thats legislates well for business (=population growth), works to keep taxes low, the weather is great, landlord laws are solid, cost of living is rather low, unemployment is low, and no one wants to move away. People in CA love it there, but once you live here, you tend to not want to live elsewhere.

The Austin market has been hot for the last 20 years really. Like everywhere else, it took a slow down in the 2008-2010, but it has come back strong.

I owned a SFR in DFW for a while but took my exit last year to invest more locally now that i don't live there anymore. In some ways, I wish I would have kept it, but I'm not found of investing 300+ of miles away. The Amarillo market isn't crazy, but its steady with a very modest appreciation.

Ask a Texan and they will tell you "Don't just invest in TX... find a way to move here."

With Stereotypical Texan Pride,

Blake

For the past two and a half years I have become focused on increasing my real estate activity and investment. During that time, I have been rather silently soaking in Bigger Pockets Blog articles, forum conversations, and the podcast to increase my experience and knowledge. It hasn't been an over night success, and at times its hard to feel the progress from week to week. But as I look lack, every months or two, I have been able to make one more stride. Some strides were clear success, others were failed attempts. Here are a few I have made over the last new years.

·finding a local mentor

·making a connecting with a realtor that specialized in investments

·buying a property from another investor via word of mouth

·helping my mentor manage his properties while he is on vacation

·finding another realtor that works with investors

·Networking with a private money lender/local real estate investor

·Making a few low ball offers that got rejected

·connecting with a wholesaler

·sending my first small batch of yellow letters after driving for dollars and actually getting a call (didn’t turn into a deal though L)

·Having a family friend tell me about a property he knew was distressed.

·attempting a birddog deal to the wholesale contact I made (they verbally accepted our offer and then rejected it the next day… bad business!)

·making another wholesale contact

·Discussing land lording with local investors

·Meeting with local portfolio lenders to explore options

·Buying a property from a wholesaler

·Making new contractor connections

·Finding a potential partner

·Buying a property before it hit MLS

Some of this activity has directly lead to profit, and other steps are simply adding to my experience and knowledge. Each one of these steps has been critical to developing the skills and needed life experience to becoming a successful real estate investor. I would have loved for it to happen faster, but I think this pace has been more appropriate… at least I know its biblical: “Wealth gained hastilywill dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it” (Proverbs 13:11).

You need to consider if you can get extra rent or have more pleased tenants with the central unit. In one of my neighborhoods you can get $50-100 extra in rent. It makes adding central heat and air pay for itself in a few years. Think like an investor: which choose puts the most money in my pocket?

I didn't see what the bottom unit rents for. If the top unit rents for $500-600, it's going to be challenging to get close to 2% of the asking price in total rents. I can't always get 2% deals here in Texas on nicer properties... I end up being okay with deals around 1.5% and can cash flow good with the 50% rule as well.

In general, i agree with Tim. The only exception would be if you were going after a higher end client that might not feel your advertising is quality enough. If I made the choice to go the move expensive route, I would try to focus my target a little closer to get a little better return on the greater investment. The cheaper route allows you to more effiently cast a broader net. Bulk mail is mostly quanitity and repition game.

I have a loose rule of wanting $175 a month of cash flow using the 50% rule. I base that off a 20-25% down on 15yr. I would do a little less a month if I knew I was getting a higher equity capture in the deal or I had a strong reason to believe the property would appreciate faster than others. I knew these numbers were realistic and a good target after meeting with two mentors in the area. I basically "stole" their financial model because it was proven over the last two decades. It comes down to what number makes you feel like it's worth your time. It's taken me a year to find a property the last two years. Id rather be patient than deploy capital in an under performing asset. I also want a 15+% cash on cash return. If I can't get that, why not invest in a mutual fund that doesn't have toilets and tenants. Also, I only have a few and they are local so my numbers don't include a property manager. I could be okay take a smaller return if I was using a manager but that's not what I want at this stage in the game.

Im sure there is a better way to handle it, but I have pretty limited experience. Also, it was a friend oriented deal on bother sides. The wholesaler and flipper that I offered it to is a friend of mine from church. There is pretty of trust to not need to protect myself. Ive been on the other end of deals with him and I expect to do more.

I don't even know who the seller is. The seller (one who inherited the house) knows another very good friend of mine is a realtor. This realtor friend actually helped get me started investing and set me my first property. In the past she has had friends come to her ready to list a property thats pretty distressed and she will pitch it to investors like me for no commission before she lists it. Thats how I got my first deal. She called about this one to see if I wanted it. Ordinarily I would, but the timing was bad for me with respect to being able to finance it. I my eyes, the best option to me was just to make a few dollars birddogging and expanding my partnership with the wholesaler.

What i did was bring the wholesaler by to show the property. He gave me a number he wanted to offer. I added in my birddog fee and made a verbal offer through the realtor friend. If they accept, we will write up a contract. Ill get paid after closing. I might even buy it back from the buyer once he finishes the rehab. At this point, the deal might be sweeter because I wont have to oversee the rehab and theoretically, Ill be able to finance the rehab into the cost of the loan easier.

This deal won't work if it wasn't built on large amounts of trust. Im open to hearing about more professional ways to do this.

Ive already done a few buy and holds, but today I took a wholesaler that I have bought a property with before to look at a potential birddog deal. He liked it and we put in an offer. Its an off the market home in an estate so i think we have a real shot at getting it. Im pretty stoked about it because I wouldn't be able to swing financing this project being that I have recently used my capitol on my last 2 deals. This is a way for me to keep a working relationship moving with a local wholesaler, expand into birddogging, and build my capitol for my next investment. I know being around investors on BiggerPockets for the past year played a role in helping me get this offer in today.

Fingers crossed that we get the deal!

for whatever its worth. Amarillo Rebath advertises that they do that on TV. Thats about all i can say about them. http://rebath.com/products/Walk-in-Bathtubs.html