All Forum Posts by: Kevin Spring

Houston is a huge place.  It depends where, how far she wants to live from her work. Any places I look at in Houston, I look at the flood maps and history of floods. On my primary residence I passed on many areas to settle on one that doesn't flood. We have had 3 major floods since 2015 and this property has not flooded yet. If you want more specific information send me a PM.  

I live in Angleton and work in Lake Jackson. 

I live in a Houston exburb and there is definite potential. I recently bought one property and plan on others in the future. 

One problem is treating the entire area the same. Even small areas have places some people would never set foot in. 

Also in my area the schools are a big issue. People that are making good money but not enough to buy their own home yet could just drive 45 minutes to their work living in a Houston suburb instead of just driving 15 to 30 minutes in an exburb. The prices in the better school district are higher but the appreciation would potentially increase. 

I would say focus on one of the specific ways of profiting from real estate investing (ex. cash flow versus appreciation). You might cash flow in exburb but appreciation may be sluggish, while in an established suburb with good schools may not cash flow well but appreciation would be great. 

I'm going to the HHA meeting next week to learn more about the process of becoming a section 8 landlord. 

Please keep us updated about your experiences.

Before I apply for any conventional loans I check my credit score and contact the loan officer to see what I generally would qualify for. My last loan needed 700 while with an FHA I needed was about 650. These were with me qualifying for the property being my primary residence so it might be different for your situation.

Thanks for the general info. The next loan would be for a secondary property and not personal residence. The bank I am working with or my loan for my new primary residence is really on top of things. I can get another loan with 15% down for a rental property. I didn't want to ask the loan officer before my loan closes and mess anything up. 

I am currently getting a loan with for a new primary residence. My current residence is under an FHA and I have a renter lined up to move in before Christmas.

Does anyone know how long a person has to wait to apply for another loan for a conventional mortgage.

My next property will likely be a cash buy with a refinance but I want to have other options open if I can. 

I got an FHA loan for my first home after my wife and I finished graduate and medical school. When my wife and I were looking for a house we were not making enough money. We wanted a loan we're we could put nothing down and the FHA was the best option. We thought about the physician loan but the closing cost would be higher than the FHA and we would not be able to use gifts from families and seller rebates.

We lived in the house over the 12 months and are currently buying a new primary residence and will rent out the FHA home.

The process to get an FHA is more involved. You can go through almost any bank for an FHA loan so I would go with a local credit union to form a relationship with them if you can. I went with a larger bank. The loan officer disappeared on me and my application fell through the cracks. It took about 60 days to close.

Like many people have suggested, asking an attorney would be the best option. Attorneys can get expensive but it is important to do it right the first time.

I set up an LLC years ago for a business that never made it off the ground. I set it up through Legal Zoom and never had any problem with it. I am in Texas so there are not many onerous requirements for an LLC here except the filing of a tax statement to the state every year.

After learning about a Series LLC I was intrigued about convert the LLC I currently hold and converting that to a Series LLC. Right now my LLC is not doing anything so I could just use it for my current needs in real estate investing. To do the amendment paperwork myself it would costs about $150. That is not very expensive but how do I know if I do it right or wrong? The government body that I would turn the forms in don't proofread and check my work. They just accept the paperwork and file it. If I ever have a lawsuit, it is the plaintiffs that would point out all the mistakes I had made and the judge would decide if they are correct or not.

To form a Series LLC in Texas, the Secretary of State says "the language required by section 101.602(a)(1)-(2) of the Texas Business Organizations Code must be included in your certificate of formation and company agreement, and you must maintain separate records for the assets of each series"

I think it is a smart move to set up a Series LLC. One reason is that once you have one then you don't ever need to set up another LLC as long as you operate in the jurisdiction of that state. There is a caveat, only do it if you can maintain separate records and it is set up right. Maintaining separate records may cost you more for accounting and management services. To set it up right, I think one of the first steps is to find a competent real estate attorney that can set it up for you instead of using Legal Zoom. Yes, Legal Zoom is cheaper but the purpose of a Series LLC is to protect one property from the liabilities or legal problems of another property. Making a small mistake to save a few hundred dollars may cost you thousands of dollars in the future.