All Forum Posts by: Jim Berman

I'd imagine a real estate appraiser would be able to provide the professional assessment you're looking for. I'm not an attorney, so can't say for certain what the court would need - but I'd imagine they'd take an official appraisal report over a realtor's CMA for true value.

hey @Calvin Yeang, if you can provide the subdivision name, I'd be happy to check what the LTR monthly would be for the home for you and see if there's any serious increase available for a 3 v 4 bedroom. Like @Holly Brown said, the money spent on synthetic turf could be put to much better use and provide better bang for your buck elsewhere. Either in cosmetic or structural upgrades. Feel free to message me that subdivision, happy to provide those LTR comps. 

 @Dillan Cooper thank you so much for the kind words, I really appreciate you tagging me in on this one.

@David Pittman, I'd be more than happy to go over your questions with you and discuss your needs. I'll PM you to share contact info.

best,

Jim

 Welcome Dillan, happy to e-meet you. I have a property management company here in Houston and would love to partner up with you some time. I have a unique approach to agent referrals that I think would work great for you. Fellow Cowboys fan as well, we'll have plenty to commiserate about haha.

I always recommend shopping rates between insurance brokers during renewals, especially if the rates are increasing, which they always are.

I personally use Goosehead Insurance, but there's a number of insurance brokers out there who can scrub through a bunch of carriers at once for you to find the best available rate. It's rarely one company that's the most cost effective consistently, they all fluctuate in pricing throughout the year. While I may be getting the best rate from All State this time, next time it might be Safeco, or Geico. Just shop around with a broker to find who wants your business this year.

+1 for @Holly Brown & @Gustavo Delgado

Houston has plenty of opportunities at multiple price points for an active investor. While some markets like Little Rock or Memphis may have lower entrance costs, they aren't without their own risks, and Houston has historically provided consistent and stable appreciation without the major dips smaller markets tend to endure.

This is certainly the first time in a while I'd consider us to be entering a buyers market, so timing should be great for those willing to look. 

Insurance is going to be a big factor in your opportunities here, so I'd suggest focusing on the western half of the Greater Houston area. Generally better school districts, more development, lower insurance rates, etc. 

Richmond on the South all the way up through Conroe should net you some good rental potential. 

If you're interested in a local property managers perspective of any rentals you're considering, I'd be more than happy to chat with you about them. I've been managing all over Houston since 2010, so pretty familiar with markets. 

Hey Kevin,

I'm a property manager with 18 years experience. Since 2010 I've managed homes in all parts of the Greater Houston area, and would love to have the chance speak with you about the market or any potential rentals you're considering. 

+1 for @Lauren Cutchen as well. She's very tuned into the market and the BP community!

Best of luck building out your team here.

 Hi Ben,

PM here in Houston, welcome to the forum. Happy to help with any local insights or questions while you expand your empire!

Hi Wayne, are you looking to retain your Houston portfolio as rentals, or are you looking to sell the properties to investors for rental purposes? 

My best recommendations to folks looking to purchase locally is to take advantage of the ability to put your eyes, ears, and nose on any investment properties and look for issues that are going to be problems for tenants down the road. Does the home sit on or back up to a busy through street, are the neighbors running a car shop out of their driveway, etc. You've got the advantage to be able to see these kinds of things that don't show up on a listing, so take advantage now before you're stuck with trying to lease and keep future tenants while dealing with that. I have a rental I'm managing now where the home is near a gun range. Not something anyone would think to look for when buying out of state, but every time I go out to walk that home it's just non-stop pop pop pop boom and it really takes a special kind of tenant to be ok leasing a home with that going on. Don't get distracted by a home being a "good deal" on paper if something feels off. I'm a firm believer in "Perfection is the enemy of done" so don't get too caught up in small things, but don't have blinders on either.

If you end up with a property that needs some make-ready or rehab, bullet proof the home for tenants upfront. Hard surface floors everywhere & carpet in the bedrooms only. Try your best to not have carpet transition to more carpet so in the future you can easily replace just a bedroom without worrying about the color being mismatched due to fading or that particular stock no longer being available. 2" faux wood blinds hold up significantly better than the 1" vinyl or aluminum. Stuff like that. 

If you're going to self manage, do a good review of Texas Property Code section 92 as that governs tenant/rental management.  

If you're going to hire a PM, I'd really recommend avoiding the big box/national firms. I came from that world, and there is just a ton of outsourcing and profiting off tenants almost as much as landlords. If management fees are real cheap, there's a reason and don't let them trick you into thinking it's because of economies of scale... it's because they make the difference up off your tenants, which means less for you. They normally don't have actual employees that are local and if they do, they don't actually know the market or industry, just their specific duties, so you just loose a lot of real expertise vs property management firms based in Houston.  

Best of luck building your empire, this is a great place to find help and get answers for questions you didn't know to ask.