All Forum Posts by: Stephen Preston

Spring was so, so good for such a long time! I am finding the properties harder to rent out now than they were about 12 months ago. Oh the price oil.... Longterm though I love that area.

@Dane Price you are in a GREAT place to flip. Take advantage of the opportunity to meet/network with people like @George Kountoupis

@Fred Weiller

Hey Fred Id be happy to, sent you a message.

@shital thakkar 

a great property management company that I have been with for over 5 years. 

Hi @Serkan Eren

I sold around 20 homes in the last year turn-key in the Houston market place. I stopped doing it though and mostly just add to my portfolio now as lately I have been wanting to keep the property for myself :)

Houston is a great market, keep in mind that property taxes can be quite high though and might be a bit of a shock - anywhere from 2.2-3% of the assessed value.

My advice would be pick one of either Dallas OR Houston and then get busy. In my opinion there are enough deals to go around in both markets.

Also, a good property management company is critical (as you probably already know!).

Let me know if I can help!

Hi Stephen: How are you getting your comps? As you are new at this it would be a good idea to have someone pull comps for you in the area to make sure your estimate is accurate. How did you arrive at 40k in renos? Have you or your team been inside? Stephen

Hi Noel:

@Mindy Jensen is bang on.

I spent over $130,000 to put together an "Offering Memorandum" to legally raise registered retired funds in Canada with the idea of buying apartment buildings in Dallas. It was a long and painful process but it was done by the book and in full accordance with the securities regulators. You can have these documents done for much cheaper in the USA but I dont recommend exploring this route unless you are going to raise at a minimum $1M or more (probably closer to $5m+).

Now I work with accredited investors only and only have one investor per deal. Once you get into mixing investor funds you are a security and must abide by the rules set out by the SEC.

As for crowdfunding - it is a very interesting idea for real estate investors. I have not tried it yet but I have started to look into it. My concern is this: Its much easier to raise $150,000 for example from one person then it is to raise $15,000 from 10 people. The administrative headaches that come with multiple small investors cannot be understated. Accredited investors, while generally harder to find, are much easier to work with and are usually successful people themselves who "get it". This makes the admin side of raising capital much easier.

@Sharon Anschultz

I live in Canada and my portfolio is in Texas. Don't let the distance stop you from investing out of state - go where the best deals are.

The #1 most important thing is to have a rock star property management team. They are the ones who will have your back and will keep an eye on your property for you. I recommend meeting them face to face, getting referrals and doing your homework before selecting one to work with. Ask the property management company if you can speak to 3 of their clients who are out of state/country investors.

Hi Arnie, yes I live in Canada but all my property are in the USA. My email is in my signature.

Hi Noel:

Anytime you are looking at pooling together funds you become a security and as such are regulated by the SEC. I would get good legal advice on the best way to put together and structure the deal.

Also, who will have control of the deal and who will make the decisions? It is imperative to get this figured out from the start to avoid potential problems down the road. Make sure that all parties are clear on the expectations and that you have a written agreement that covers all "what if" scenarios (IE what if a partner wants out, what if one parter wants to sell and the other doesn't etc.)

Stephen

Johnathan - it takes guts to post something like this so kudos to you.

Any real estate investor who has had any success at all will tell you that the journey is filled with doubt, second guessing, mistakes and wrong choices. That being said, its an amazing journey that is absolutely worth it - you just need to take the first step and do a deal.

Its amazing what happens when you actually start putting your plan into action - doors will open up, you'll meet people to help you along the way and you'll grow and learn from your mistakes.

Take things one step at a time, try your best to silence or ignore the doubt in your head, take a leap of faith and make it happen! Remind yourself on a daily basis of your WHY. WHY do you want to be in real estate? Is it to have more free time to spend with your kids? Is it to be in a position to start your own animal rescue clinic or maybe its just so you have more free time to travel and surf.

Find your WHY, remind yourself of it on a daily basis and commit to action. In 1 year you will look back and be amazed at how far you've come.