All Forum Posts by: Mark Sewell

Interesting thread.  I think you are making a rather large assumption here that your RV park is going to be occupied by oil patch workers.  Sure there will be some, but what percentage?  Those guys stay in all kinds of places, motels, trailers, etc.  Even local rental houses will get leased and used as short term dorms. 

Midland-Odessa is where most of them are going to be at, and I am guessing your RV park is going to be near there.  In places like this, it is almost impossible to get hotel rooms with booking super far in advance, so many oil people from Houston going there for business have to fly in and fly out the same day.  That is really common.

Reading the description offered by @Clifford Paul it sounds like it is really going nuts this year.  I wasn't even aware it was that crazy.

You just need to have a good handle on what your exposure is going to be here to this boom/bust cycle.  Is it 30% occupied by roughnecks and contactors?, or is it 90%... and who the hell else is living in RVs out in West Texas?  I think that will give you your answer, or get you closer to it.






 

Have a budget that is big enough that it will move the needle, but still small enough that you can afford to stay with it for 12-24 months consistently.  Otherwise don't start.

@Ian Middleton several votes here for vinyl plank -- 

Originally posted by @Jerel Davis:

@Meir Greenblatt it's a rental property that was renovated after the floods and passed my inspections. Its actually MLS but it was priced too high and sat at that price point for two years. That's why my low offers and counters have been accepted.

Let me say this about flooding here in Houston.  Whatever happened before, it happened before. Some areas will flood again, some will not.

The reason is simple but maybe not obvious - we do not live in a static environment.

Flood plains are being funded and developed all the time.  Bayous and creeks are getting expanded, reinforcement walls are being put in, and excavation is going on everywhere.  I used to work for the largest heavy equipment manufacturer in the world, and I notice any kind of work going on, and I can tell you this work was happening on this scale in years past, not like it has been since Harvey.

At the same time, construction in Houston continues at a crazy pace.  Folks are pouring concrete around here like water.  All of that has some effect on water runoff.  I wonder if planning authorities really have a good handle on the effects of the continued development that we have going on.

And every rain storm is a little different.  Not every area gets as much rain as others.  Harvey blew in and just hovered for days over the area, and we saw a little bit of this same effect in the most recent flooding a couple weeks ago.  Some areas were hit hard, and other areas like Bear Creek, that floods all the damn time, seemed to do just fine.

So even if you are into computer modelling on a massive scale, I really don't think you are going to be able to predict which areas will experience problems and which areas will be fine.  Even if it flooded before, during Harvey or other major events, I'm not sure what that really means going forward.  

I think you just decide what your own risk tolerance is, mitigate what you can using flood insurance, and make sure you have adequate reserves.

@Dennis M. I am busting my rear suspension to reduce my financial footprint to this level. Love it man!

Got a ways to go but really laser focused on debt reduction first and foremost.

Still investing here and there. Did one note with a BP buddy and one small assignment with another. Hoping to do another flip or get a rental, but more interested in getting some lead flow coming in.

Laying the groundwork.

I hate contractors.
They can put a lien on your house/building/project here in Texas, if you don't pay them right up to the minute, but the minute they get $20 ahead, they are gone and on to their next job.

Hmmm, we have one group here in West Houston that has done a nice job of this.  But yeah, I know what you mean - there always seems to be an upsell somewhere.

@Daniel Alfaro we need to get you out to a local meetup.  I was fortunate enough to meet @Chris Hopper in person at a local meet up in Cypress a few months back, and he is a pretty good resource.  Probably he makes things look/feel a little easier than they are, but hey, there he is doing it.  I think sometimes these forums aren't the best way to communicate.  Let's get you out there and have a brewed beverage.

I know it probably seems complicated and a headache, and it is easy to throw around the 'we'll buy for cash' mantra to sellers, but honestly, I think you will find that it is harder to get all the spinning twisty pieces of a wholesale deal to line up.  Easier to source your own capital, partner with a HM lender to start, and/or get really good at doing these 'subject to existing' offers.  Don't try to buy rentals until you have some reserves -- but as Grant says, this is how you build up those reserves.

Don't be a wholesaler.  It is the hardest thing you can do when starting out.  Just go get lined up with some local HM lenders in your area.  Get prepared to actually buy something.

Now, if you decide to assign it to a buddy in your local RE herd that you run in, that is cool.  No issues with that here in Texas. Just be prepared to buy the house, that should always be your goal.

Or, do this - check out Grant Kemp and partner up with somebody like that.  He is on YouTube, check him out.