All Forum Posts by: Paul Zofsak

@Brent Coombs that is a good thought.  I am pretty happy with the returns I am getting on my current properties.  The idea behind doing the flip is to raise capital to buy another rental instead of waiting for my current rental inventory to produce enough capital to purchase the next property.  I currently only have three rentals so it will be awhile before they produce some serious returns.

Wholesaling in a nutshell is selling a secured sales contract on a property.  For instance a wholesaler could secure a contract on a property for $100K, doesn't close on the property, but instead sells that secured contract to someone with a markup, say $110K, netting a $10K profit.  The person the wholesaler sells the contract to will close on the property, as well as pay the closing costs.  A flipper buys a property with the intention of renovating the property in some manner and then selling for a profit.  A wholesaler basically sources the property for an investor and receives a "finders fee" for their work once the property is closed on by said investor.

I would suggest taking a look at all the information available to you and develop a strategy on what you want and how to get it.  It would also be a good time to start networking and developing those professional relationships that will help you reach your goals, ie. lender, realtors, wholesalers, contractors, vendors, etc.

Start studying the markets your are interested in to see what currently best fits your strategy.  Another, might be to seek out a local Real Estate Investment Club.  I found one here in Houston that I have been very happy with, the negotiated pricing with local vendors has more than paid the membership fees.

Just jump in and start to blaze  your own trail; best of luck to you.

I took out a loan against my 401K and made monthly payments directly out of my paycheck; the 4.25% interest rate was paid to myself and put back into the 401K.  Now that the loan is paid off I plan on taking out another to do a couple of flips to generate enough capital to buy a rental property and the next flip so I can continue the process.  I figure two to three flips should get me one rental and the next flip.

That's the plan anyway.

I currently exercise a buy and hold strategy, but have decided to do a couple of flips in between rentals to generate extra working capital. Obviously a flipping strategy is going to be different from buy and hold, including the search and selection process. My HML lender suggested to me to look in my own neighborhood, kind of like a wholesaler. It sounds like solid advice but I haven't done any wholesaling in the past and need a little insight that would play well in the northwest area; I live in Cypress. One of the biggest questions I have is once I find a property that has the signs of a motivated seller, how do I find out who the owner is?

Are there any neighborhoods in Cypress that I should definitely stay away from for flipping purposes?  Also, I am open to dealing with a local wholesaler if the right deal comes along, can anyone recommend one?

Any and all help is appreciated.

 Good point, something I will take into consideration, especially if my next estimate comes back different from the first.

I just purchased a property in Spring Texas.  As my GC was getting ready to put up a fence between mine and the neighbors house, the neighbor said it was her fence and her nephew was going to put it up.  There was no fence two months ago when I viewed the property for the first time and I have no reason to believe it will get done in time for me to rent my property; hopefully in less than one week.  What remains of the old fence is on my side of the property line but the new fence posts that her nephew put in are dead center on the property line.  So, my question is who is responsible for the fence, who pays for it, is it a shared expense or is just whomever puts the fence up on their property?

Hi BP friends. I have an upcoming purchase that may or may not need some foundation work.  I have one bid already for 19 exterior piers and 13 interior.  I never noticed any kind of slope or issues, but the appraiser raised a red flag and now the lender is requiring estimates.  I can't afford that amount of time or that amount of cleanup and repair afterwards so I need to get a second, or third, opinion.  Can anyone recommend a good foundation repair company in the Houston Texas area?

Thank you,

Paul

I have two properties I am about to acquire and am actively looking for a new PM.  I have one that comes recommended to me; I will be interviewing them later this week.  Are there any others in the Houston area that someone else mighty recommend?

So it turns out that there are about $168 in back fees for the water company from the previous owner and the gas company pulled the meter due to the house being a foreclosure and being vacant for a certain amount of time.  The kicker is though, the gas company requires a permit from the city stating that the gas line has been checked and is safe to reinstall the meter.  The permit will be issued after an inspection which is done by either the city or a licensed plumber.  The inspection is pretty in depth, takes a couple of days, and costs about $350 from my regular plumber.  The MUD will hook up the water after the deposit and back fees are paid, no inspection needed.