All Forum Posts by: Hattie Dizmond

 My phone number and email are in the signature line of my forum posts, or you can click on my user name to view my profile, where the same information is listed.  (With a name like mine, attempting to be anonymous is a waste of time, so I just say...Here I am!)

Welcome to BP!

Here are my Quick Tips (If you're listening to the Podcasts, you'll understand the reference. If not...see Tip #2!!!)

1. Get involved in the forums. Offer what you can and absorb what everyone else offers.

2. Listen to as many Podcasts as you can. I am listening to all of them, some of them more than once. There has not been a single broadcast that has not provided me value or that I felt was a waste of my time. Great content!!

3. Download and read the free How-to-Guides, starting with the Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Real Estate Investing. http://www.biggerpockets.com/real-estate-investing

You could pay thousands of dollars for this information BP offers free. (I almost did!)

4. Set up some keyword alerts. It will keep you engaged in valuable discussions, while you're getting plugged in.

5. Get involved with your local REIA's. Real Estate is, as I'm learning, all about relationships and networking. Make it work for you!

The BP community is awesome, and you've taken a great first step!

@Trey Goodwin

For flipping, the only "bad" areas are the D-class and war zone areas, but even those areas are attractive to some buy & hold investors, so you can flip a turnkey to another investor.

If you stick with B-class areas and above, there truly isn't a bad area in the entire Metroplex.  There are areas that are "great" and others that are just "good".  

We are in an extreme seller's market, with super low inventory and rising demand. If you buy the property correctly and rehab smartly, you should be able to sell at or above ARV, and it will sell quickly as long as it is priced reasonably. Several of our farm areas have houses priced right at ARV going in under 5-days, with multiple offers and a final sale price $20k above asking.

I've told people recently that, if you can't sell a house in a decent area of DFW right now, you're stupid.  ;-)

 The seriously geeky, sensing something that actually does fall into their real area of expertise, stating the obvious.  ;-)

Bill Gulley...if this was related to people you've made mad, the site would be down, not just under attack!  LOL  Keep up the good work!

That's not correct. Lease options over 6 months in duration are illegal, but that's governed by state law, not the federal legislation you mentioned. Additionally, there are ways around lease option limitations to enable RTO legally in TX.

 I didn't say it was illegal. I said it was taboo. 2 completely different thought. We just had a thread with this very same conversation. John Jackson, Bill Gulley and Brian Gibbons all weighed in. It's not my area of expertise.  However, there are enough potential minefields, that even the experts stay away from it. That tells me all I need to know. Thus...Taboo. 

And, for the record, the state regs were prompted by state level interpretation of Dodd-Frank and the Safe Act. 

 When I do that, people tell me I'm being harsh. I feel I'm just teaching people to fish!!

@John Fisher

Although there is heavy investor pressure, I wouldn't classify the rental market as "over fished".  Our real issue right now is an inverted Rent:Value situation, owing largely (in the B- and above areas) to regaining 5-years of stagnant appreciation in about 18-months.  Rents just haven't caught up with the post, sub-prime recovery.  There is still opportunity in C-class areas for buy & hold.

@John Fisher

RTO is taboo, thanks to Dodd-Frank & the Safe Act. However, there are lots of opportunities for various flavors of creative sell financing.

@Orlando Paz

This is just my opinion, but here's my perspective...

First, it's necessary to define "market", because there are at least 2 different types of "market" that will impact how a flip will perform for you.

Market - in terms of the overall performance of the RE market for your MLS area. I'm looking for an overall market health leaning at least slightly towards sellers. I'm also looking for a nice curve, where the vast majority of existing home sales are in the center 50% of the median home price. I want median household incomes to be at or above the national average. And, I'd like to see the majority of the population in the 25 - 45 year old range, because that's the prime house buying range and, and those ages tend to be more mobile. Finally, population growth projections and job creation numbers.

Market(s) - the specific areas you are targeting, within the larger MLS area. These should be looked at in terms of sub-markets and micro-markets. All of data points I identified above apply here. However, I'm also going to want to refine some of those data points. Specifically, I want to ensure I'm focusing my acquisition efforts on areas where I can afford to purchase properties. So, I'm going to take my max acquisition price and divide by .7 (backing into the 70% rule). Then I'm going to look for areas where the Median price for existing homes is close to that number.

Once I have narrowed the area down to those sub-markets, I want to further narrow my target areas by determining where the highest desirability is.  I use the following criteria to determine desirability...

• rating of elementary school(s) feeding neighborhood(s) using GreatSchools.org
• DOM, the lower the better
• month-over-month & year-over-year pricing trends...I want to make sure prices are increasing
• overall neighborhood quality and services...you're probably going to have to spend time in the neighborhoods to evaluate this one
• proximity to jobs

I get all that together and make sure I can identify at least 3 sub- or micro-markets in order to judge the viability of an area.

DFW!!  It's the pits for cash flow, but it's great for flips, with areas of moderate to high desirability 30-days DOM and less.  (< 7-days in some of my favorite Richardson neighborhoods.)  However, prices have NOT gone the way of the Denver market.  You can still get a 2,000 sq ft house, in a great neighborhood for <$300k.