All Forum Posts by: Mark Sewell

What part of Houston are you in @Karl McGarvey?

Check out Houston Buyers Club -- you'll see them on FB and on meetup.com

Pretty good group, kinda small, usually they meet out at Quest in West Houston (Park Row I-10).

@Steve Rozenberg I have followed you for some time and I see you make this comment, or very similar, on a regular basis.  I gather that the notion of cash-flowing property and appreciating property are mutually exclusive.  Is that a fair statement?

Are there no areas that effectively meet both criteria?

Not sure how many Rockets fans will want to help you -- but you might reach out to some property managers.  Maybe @Steve Rozenberg will have some suggestions.

Threads on BP about turn-key are not unlike threads about wholesaling.  You can do it right, you can do it really wrong (and people get hurt).  Seems like you have to add value, in either case.  If aren't going to operate with integrity and deliver something of value, then heck, doesn't even matter what the activity is - running a lemonade stand would get a bad name.

I got a buddy in Seattle that got tired of changing jobs, so he went out and bought a whole functioning business, along with a partner, by using equity from two houses.  It is crazy what you can do when you are able to leverage equity.

I've kinda learned how to do this, and it isn't by phone.  It is very hard, as Lydia points out.  These folks are hiding, and they are in a very bad place.  I decided to steer clear of this until I gain a little more experience.  I don't want my lack of experience to be the reason why somebody loses their home.

I will say this -- get a pre-FC list and drive those neighborhoods.  If you know what zip codes to work, then this can really yield some nice finds.  I promise that house isn't the only one on the street that is going through hard times.

this would be a good blog post/article.

Hey buddy, I got news for you:  

Even the people that focus on desperate sellers are still getting mostly people that want way too much for their house.  There is a limit to the amount of targeting that any of can do effectively.

What else you got?  You tube channel?  FB?  Social?

Buy it and fix it yourself as others have advised.  Seller isn't going to want to mess with it.  Just bring them the estimate and ask for the price reduction.

But just know this: the foundation issues are only the start.  That will manifest itself in other ways.  Doorways, cracks, etc.  Sometimes windows leak, all kinds of fun stuff.  On my project, we were able to fix the foundation for only about $3k but man I swear that house was moving and shifting for 4-5 months afterwards.  None of it was particularly hard to fix, but it sure did add up.