All Forum Posts by: Iman Yu

@Austin Moran thanks for your input. Yes, I am in the oil & gas industry myself and i've seen the downturn as well. I've not heard anyone projecting a bounce back yet either but I am willing to keep on looking at properties below the 200k range. I don't think that price range would be affected as much by the CAPEX budget. If they are, i think they would be pushed into a lower rental and not anything else.

the # I listed weren't very easy to read but here are the MLS info on the 3 deals I saw:

1) 5907 Allison Rd: 13105989; ask price 198k

2) 12135 Troulon Dr: 41893845: asking price 100k

3) 8125 beech cove ln: 95983401: asking price 105k

@Steve Rozenberg you are right. It's a little clump of duplexes in that area. It's in the middle of industrial area with lots of empty land and a horse ranch close by. The rent is great, and the cash flow is decent ($325) but I think it may be too much of a maint. for my 1st deal. Thank you for your input!

@Doug McLeod that area by Troulon really isn't ideal. It's in the Alief neighborhood. The streets are pretty torn up and the units look to be in bad shape. I'd think the turnover is high. 1 of the units I saw is rented pretty high but it's on a month to month lease. just my 0.02

@Steve Rozenberg thanks for your input. I appreciate it. I had a feeling that I've under estimated the repair/maint cost. The house is built in 2007 so the maint. cost would from wear/tear mostly?

However, the turnover rate should be minimum since it's on a yearly lease?

Do you mind telling me when you managed the property and when you said the bank owned it, that meant it went to foreclosure?

Did you have any particular issues in that area? It's pretty industrial but the entire row of the duplexes are fully occupied.

I've recently met a great agent via BP and I am looking for a duplex to 4-plex to start as my first buy & hold deal in Houston. Just wanted to see if any of you thinks the deals below are worth considering? I believe ‘5907 Allison Rd' has the best potential out of the 3.

Below are the 3 deals I looked at and based on my cash flow calculation, '12135 Troulon Dr' unit would be a better deal than ‘5907 Allison Rd’ but from an investor's point of view, should I consider other points?

Here are my thoughts, even though all 3 properties are currently all rented out, the neighborhood looks the best for ‘5907 Allison Rd.' Also, it's built in 2007 rather than in the 70's. None of the 3 quires HOA fee so that's a plus. Also, even though ‘5907 Allison Rd' unit is closer to several industrial sites, it's still ‘cleaner' than the other 2 units. The other 2 units have couple of houses on the same block that are boarded up, liquor bottles in the front yard and graffiti painted on the front of the house. That's not a good sign, is it?

‘5907 Allison Rd’ unit is one of the small patch of 6 or so the same type of duplexes in that area and it’s right in front of a private horse ranch. It looks like all units in that area are currently occupied but you can smell the animals when you are in that area. Is that still considered as a negative point?

1of the 3 units is currently on a month to month lease rather than a yearly lease. That potentially can lead to a higher vacancy rate so should that be considered as a negative sign?

My general questions for you:

1)For a duplex priced at 200k or less, what things would you consider besides ‘cash flow?' Does school district matter? Does HOA matter?

2)The rent prices are listed for these 3 units on MLS. Are these numbers trust worthy?

below is the cash flow analysis we did:

From all the pod casts I've listened to, it's always recommended to work with the non main stream banks for your REI loans. I can understand and agree to the points they have made on that topic. However, I only had experience working with banks like Wells Fargo myself.

Now, I am in a position where I am trying to vet out which lender I should work with?

I have a few loan consultant/loan officers I am vetting out right now and I am not sure what I should expect? 

What kind of questions should I ask to vet them out? How are they different than a bank like Chase?

What's your personal take on working with a mortgage broker/smaller bank?

Thanks, 

Iman

@Leigh Ann Smith I'm noticing the same thing that you've mentioned here. I am looking in mostly area right outside of Houston area. I am looking for properties between 110k to 150k range in areas like Pearland, Spring, Baytown or Katy area. I am not seeing much in that range as single family properties...I definitely don't see nay multi family ones. 

have you worked with a whole seller in the past?

@doug McLeod

Thank you for your input. Those are great points. I'm mostly interested in duplex at this point. I noticed on har there isn't an east way to filter those down. Are there other venue that we can use to find small multi family properties like duplexes in Houston area?