All Forum Posts by: Gregory Tran

@Brian Mathews I think I average < 1 hr/mo/property landlording myself, and honestly it's probably half that.  It's well worth it imo until I have more properties than I can deal with.  This is local landlording of course.

@Nicolas Vautier After 10 years in NYC I moved here to Austin TX 3 years ago and love it!  It's the perfect mix of having my own space but not being so sprawled out like Houston or Dallas.

@Kimberly H. That's always nice eventually, but for the OP, you need 4 years as an agent (in Texas) before you can be a broker.

Can you explain what you mean by "the agent really is there for the seller, not the buyer" and "leak your info or strategy to the seller and therefore blow the deal"?

It sounds like you may have been talking to the listing agent, who really IS there for the seller.  In that case, the seller is his client, and you are just a customer.

You need buyer representation, and like someone above stated, I assume the $3k minimum was because the properties you guys are looking at are on the lower end and may not be worth it to the agent.

Interesting to read these mixed reviews.  

I have warranties on 8 doors, and so far I like it.  It makes it easy to just submit a claim online, and have the tradesman call the tenant to schedule.

I have it written into the lease that tenants pay the first $60 of repairs, which is the call fee.

I pay ~ $360/unit/year.  I've had numerous disposals replaced, leaky toilets fixed, plumbing leaks fixed, and broken fridge/dishwasher/stoves fixed.  I got rejected one time bc an outdoor hose bib was leaking and they wouldn't fix that. 

I know at some point I'm going to have to put together a real crew of people to fix things and will need to get away from using home warranties to maintain, but in the meantime I'm enjoying (and paying for) the convenience. 

Does not changing the fridge filter affect the performance of the fridge?  Or is it just for quality of water?

If it's just water quality I would leave that up to the tenant - they're the ones drinking it.

Do you guys have pretty nice fridges in your properties?  Mine have always been the ~$400 quality fridges.

Closing costs do vary.  Just a quick example from yesterday - my clients were looking at financing options for a home, with one lender closing costs would have been $8600, with the other one it would be $7200 (same interest rate)

@Lisa Thoele When I listened to the podcast I thought the same thing - I'm not sure if you were talking about KW Bold, but it just struck me how similar what he was saying was to what KW taught me.  I think they have another one called Language of Sales which is supposed to be good as well.

I haven't done much more than buy/hold investing, but becoming a real estate agent really opened my eyes to what is out there in terms of sales and learning how to talk to people.  It's a whole new world that I didn't know existed before classes like those.

@Dennis Rodriguez That makes me really sad!  I was in NYC at the time but had a house in Katy under contract right around $60k, and got financing rejected bc I was out of state and it would have been my first home.  I should have just paid cash!

Also, an agent should be able to help you find your house, but it's up to you to figure out what you consider to be a "good investment" vs an "ok buy"