All Forum Posts by: Mark Sewell

Quick word on Quest Trust meetups - they do their info session on Tuesday am at 9:30 followed by a deal pitch.  You can also watch this online live on FB or YT, I think.  But they also hold a 'trillion dollar mixer' once a month in the evenings.  That is a good one to attend, and there are more people there to meet.

A couple more I would add are the Wealth Club and Houston Buyers Club.  They generally use the same meeting room out at Quest.  Not sure the schedule exactly, but you can find them.

@Emanuel Vega actually Brian just complete a nice little project recently. He also runs a coffee shop down on SW side. I plan to get down there and check it out in the near future. Maybe we should get a little BP group together and do a meetup?

I spend a fair bit of coin on coffee and other brewed beverages. Honestly it is the best way to find a deal. Spend some time on BP, participate and reach out and go visit with others that are doing deals. They will tell you about the meet ups they like to attend. I haven't been very consistent in my own marketing efforts - something I intend to correct with time - but I also find the best way is to just get my name out there and keep meeting up for coffee. I met some really class people here locally, just from gabbing with them right here on the forums.

Originally posted by @Courtney Duong:

@Joel Owens 

Hi Joel.  We need a lease agent for commercial (retail).  Do you know anyone in the Houston area that you can recommend? Thanks.

@Shawn Harvey can you help with this?

Originally posted by @Kojo Orgle:

@Ethan G. Yeah I see that’s the case now in Houston. Do you have any advice on how to stand out, find hidden gems or tweak my criteria?

I say don't make any major adjustments. Just keep looking. You can be 99% assured you won't find anything that approaches this on the MLS, and you probably won't get it through a wholesaler. But what if I told you that a couple weeks ago, I found exactly this very unicorn, right in 77449. And after some careful consideration, I handed it off to a buddy that I met right here on BP (I might get to lend him the renovation funds, we will see). And how did I find it? I didn't. The realtor that helped me sell my flip project a couple years back called me up and put me onto it. It was a pocket listing. It was me and a couple other investors, and our offer was just barely good enough, so we got the house. Inspection is done and my buddy closes next Friday. He will be all in at 77% or so, and it will cash-flow. So it can be done. But you really just need to get out and network and meet people.

Originally posted by @Sam Shueh:

Dallas-Fort Worth, Chicago are far better than an oil town. The oil slump will impede growth of any town. Last time Midland, Houston etc I personally know investors got burned in commercial properties there.

Seriously you are going to compare Midland to Houston?  Come on, Sam.

Marc nice deal and thanks for connecting -- I wonder, can you help me better understand the Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure strategy?

If I understand this correctly (and probably I do not) then the bank agrees to take the house back instead of foreclosure, essentially settling the debt without the legal proceedings.  The owner/seller doesn't get hammered so hard, in terms of damage to their credit.  And the bank gets some bad debt taken off their books - and I guess technically they don't have to report this as a bad loan, then do they?  I bet that is a nice factor for them.  

So did you approach the bank with this solution?  You basically write them up a contract to buy the house with a 35 day close...?  This way the bank has their exit strategy already done and dusted... all they need to do is agree.

And this allows you to get in, knock out some cosmetics and even resell it all within that 35 days? 

There is a small cottage industry that caters to exactly this market.  I am dipping my toe into this pool as well.  Limited results so far, but glad to compare notes.

Here is the thing - you can buy flood insurance but it takes a bit of time to file a claim and actually get the proceeds in hand. So again it comes back to having reserves to get through during those weeks/months, with no rental income flowing in. Sure in a named storm event like Harvey, banks will grant some relief but even that wasn't enough for some folks. I think you need to understand if the property flooded ONLY during Harvey or if it flooded prior to that. Also, the terrain changes. I had a flip that had flooded way back in 1982 or something - been fine ever since, and made it through Harvey fine. So that tells you that the country flood plain authorities and the Army Corps of Engineers are doing something, continually, to address weak spots. In fact, I understand the a new 'flood map' has been issued since Harvey. And there is an excavator out there behind every tree, putting in retaining walls, rip-rap and just dredging out bayous all over town. There wasn't a lot of this kind of work out there before (I was a Caterpillar rep here, so we had a pretty good idea who did what kind of work) but it is way more obvious now, at least out on the west side of town. I would suggest to you that nobody really knows what areas will flood next time. Not sure that is a very helpful answer.

Drive safe, friend.  We will leave the lights on for ya!  See you when you get here.