All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

Like @Greg H.  said and like has been said in other threads about this topic... in Texas take the money with a smile.  Lots of rich people would rather pay the full lease instead of letting look into their financials.

As @Jay Hinrichs mentioned foundation issues are extremely common in Texas.  There has been lots of good advice so far in this thread.  I would absolutely get a couple of experts to look at the foundation and provide some education.  You can get this done for free as has been mentioned.

I have few basic ways to look at it.

As a self funded buy and hold rental investor, houses with known foundation problems can be great deals.  Find a cheap guy to put in the piers in and figure it into rent.  Normally buyers talk sellers into going down on the price by having a high price company give a bid on the foundation repair.  Then they use the cheap guy to fix it.  Tenants rarely panic over the minor issues.

As a flipper, foundations can be a real problem.  Unless you are VERY experienced at flipping, I will just suggest you avoid any property that has a foundation problem.

As an owner occupant,  I would avoid any house that had ANY foundation problems before it was at least five years old.  They tend to be nightmares.  It is normally a sign that something was not done right to start with.  It will also worry the engineers.

Depending on what the crack in the garage looks like, many experts might say do not do anything to this foundation unless there is some damage that has not been mentioned in this thread.

@Cara Lonsdale   I actually know a company where they hire 16 year olds to cold call people to try to get them to refinance their homes.  They have been around for several years.  They generate leads that are actually sent to real mortgage companies.  I know at least 15 kids that have worked there.  I am not even sure that it is legal but it happens.

I am sure the people on the other end of the phone call would be shocked if they knew the caller's age.

From what the kids tells me, they call for about 3-4 hours and might get 1-3 leads generated.

I think this is a really article on the topic... 

https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2018/5/...

I do not think people have focused enough on the storage parts of the regulations that were adopted.  Storage makes all the difference in the economics of this, because of the amount of solar power California already has.

I think most of the systems will not only have solar they will be having solar plus storage (batteries).

Tesla will be the big winner.

@Ryan Rossi  It will not be that big of deal.  You should talk to a CPA.  I believe you would qualify for a "hardship exclusion".  That would make any capital gains taxes be prorated.  Since you will have owned the house about 75% percent of the two years you would only owe about 25% of the capital gains taxes.

So it will not be a big deal.  Just talk to a CPA about it or use a computerized tax program that will ask about the hardship.

@Matt Pich-Maxon   It is common to have reserves.  "Shills" are often illegal at auctions.  I consider reserves to be same as bait and switch.  In the past, I have been contacted when the owner wanted to take my offer without making the reserve.  I would take it if I had needed it for an assemblage.  But... since I didn't I told them no.

@David Saucedo   There are a crazy amount of people that want to invest in Texas real estate right now.  In my area, people keep saying "The Chinese are Coming.  The Chinese are Coming", because people from China are buying large numbers of new homes here.  To my Chinese friends, I say 欢迎.  It really is not worth the effort to worry about what other investors are doing, unless you are afraid of a bubble.

I actually know someone that just sold one in the last couple of months.  It would absolutely be easiest to partner with someone that has one that is open.  It is hard to open one.

If anyone did not know, the FAA basically decides where all commercial airports are located.  They are heavily subsidized and their competition is tightly controlled.  They are also normally governmental or quasi governmental.

I never really understand where the anger comes from on this.

Here is what I know about this issue.  There are landlords in every state in the US that ban all kinds of weapons.  I have never heard of any cases filed against a landlord for doing it.  There might have been some but I have been told by lawyers it is perfectly legal in the entire country.

So ban them if you want to ban them, and don't if you don't.

It might be a real shocker for some here but there are actually landlords in every state in the US that do drug tests on tenants and evict them for positive tests all the time.

@Jay Hinrichs   I cannot believe you do not want to do some lending to a new flipper with no money down and then let them start a total gut job.  I get a warm fuzzy feeling knowing there is only enough collateral to cover 40% of the loan.