All Forum Posts by: Joseph Weisenbloom

@Marcus Auerbach I guess the only thing we can do is affect are things in our sphere of control. This might sound crazy but I like to pay my contractors well. Everyone is worried about getting the lowest bid or paying contractors the least amount. Im not sure if I am in the 1% but as a person that is capable of hiring people I take pride in paying my contractors a livable wage. 

Tough to cashflow in Texas. High insurance premiums from all the hail, tornadoes and hurricanes. High propery taxes from not having state income tax. High price of water for...well...not quite sure why the water is so dang expensive but I get the feeling the water district is getting rich.

Rentals may not be available in that area because it is in a higher priced neighborhood that has only owner occupants. These neighborhoods have higher prices and may not make sense as an investment. 

I wouldnt worry too much about supply and demand. Focus on trying to buy houses at a good price relative to the rents. The minimum you should look at is houses that have monthly rental rates that are 1% of the purchase price. 

@Marcus Auerbach I too would like to see middle income wage growth but it doesn’t seem likely considering the trends. Income inequality continues to grow. The rich get richer and the middle class and poor stagnate. I guess I cant complain personally because I have done well for myself but it does make me worry about the longevity of our economy.

@Lynn Cornell Denton, Mansfeild, Sachse and McKinney are all nice cities in DFW that you mentioned. Good school districts and growth. I wouldn’t worry about tornadoes too much that is what insurance is for. As was already mentioned above you are more likely to get hit with hail damage than anything else.

Keep in mind these nice areas have high prices and you wont be getting much bang for your buck. Considering you wont be leveraging that will reduce your return even more. That being said it sounds like you are not super concerned about returns and just trying to park some cash.

@Stephen Stokes Ive had a good experience with them. Good commercial lender.

@Chirag Shah Ive worked with A+ home solutions before and they did a good job. A bit pricey but can’t complain they got the job done. From my experience hiring a GC or even individual contractors is very expensive in Austin. Its all supply and demand. There is a tremendous demand for these workers with all the construction/rehabbing going.

Are you paying your contractors by the hour, or by the project, or by square footage?

If you are paying by the hour how much do you pay per hour? 

If you are paying per project how much do you pay per project?

I've been struggling with finding the best way to pay my contractors. If I pay per hour I usually pay less but the progress is slower. If I pay per project I pay more and the progress is fast. Is it normal to feel buyers remorse if I pay per project and they complete it very fast making their per hour rate really high? 

I am recommending @David Ivy as a top agent in Austin. We had a 4 month long battle with our seller and lender. David was very helpful along the way and I could not have done it without him. If anyone needs an agent for investors David is the man.

@John Arendsen @Jim Robertson @David Forester@Jason Pavloff@Christian Ruiz@Eddie Lehwald@Charlie Chung Thanks again David. If anyone needs an agent in Austin I would recommend @David Ivy

We had a 4 month long battle with the lender and seller to get this deal closed. David was very helpful along the way and I could not have done this without him. If anyone out there in the Austin area is looking for an agent that knows how to work with investors David is the man.