All Forum Posts by: Leigh Ann Smith

Rocky and I have it on our calendar and are planning to attend!

@Anthony Vettese , there is some great info here that will be helpful to you:

http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/41/topics/6897...

Welcome to BiggerPockets!

I often hear investors refer to netting X dollars per door.  That makes no sense to me.  $200 per door per month might be great if you have 10K invested, but terrible if you have $100K invested.  Why does $ per door have any relevance at all?

@Bevla Reeves , I have also had good luck with contractors from HomeAdvisor.  They prescreen the contractors, so at least that's something

@JILL DUSKIN  do you have an idea about what real estate niche you are interested in...flipping, single family rentals, etc.?   I am a newbie too, and I have listened to a ton of podcasts in a relatively short period of time.  I could possibly make some suggestions based on your interest.

@David Edgerton , we have a friend who owns a couple of rentals in the Pasadena/Deer Park area, and he likes it for similar reasons.  Deer Park is definitely a better school district than Pasadena, so a home there would be worth paying a bit more for.

We are looking into the Sagemont area (west of I-45, just south of Beltway 8 south).  It's also in Pasadena Independent School District.  It's not that it's a gem of a neighborhood, but we've chosen that area because my husband and I both grew up there, and my father-in-law still lives there.  So, at least we know some things about the area.

The Sagemont area is comprised of several separate subdivisions (Sagemont, Sagemeadow, Sageglen, and a few others).  Just recently my father-in-law mentioned that if we look at houses in the actual Sagemont subdivision, we need to be careful because those houses have aluminum wiring, and that's why they've had a number of house fires there over the years.  Good to know!

@Daniel Okorie , it seems that good general contractors are a rare commodity in Houston and everywhere else!  I think if anyone finds one, they must want to keep him to themselves. Since you didn't get responses, I would consider googling general contractor Houston to get some names.  After you have the names, you could check Better Business Bureau, Angie's List, Yelp, etc.

One of the podcasts I just listened to suggested that when you are checking someone out, you should google their name and the word "fraud".  You could try other words like "cheated", "crook", etc.  On a more positive note, you could use the word "reviews".  Good luck!

I have been searching on the forums for quite awhile today, but no luck finding the info I am looking for.  Somewhere on Biggerpockets I learned that you should never use estimates when real numbers are available, and that has been our goal when assessing properties.  However, in this case, I can't even find estimates.

If we buy a bank foreclosure property at auction (in Houston/Harris County, Texas), what can we expect to pay in addition to the purchase price and the auction fee?  Will a title company give us an amount we would be charged for a property costing $X?  Is a title company even involved when you purchase a property at auction?  What about realtor fees?  Are there any?

Thanks for your help!

Hi @Tim Mangold , my husband and I are also newbies. We recently shelled out $300 for an LLC, and I think it was the next day that I read on the forums that it was probably an unnecessary expense, at least initially.

The problem is that if you put a property under the ownership of an LLC, a bank won't loan you money on it (initial mortgage or refinance). Supposedly, your LLC hasn't established credit yet, so the bank won't loan it money. I haven't yet researched how exactly the LLC would go about establishing credit.

An alternate suggestion I saw was to carry a large umbrella insurance policy (perhaps $5 million) to protect your assets from lawsuits.

Also, I know it's different in each state, but in my state (Texas), it would have been a total waste of money to pay an attorney or a legal website to set up the LLC. It's just an application form that you fill out on the state's website and give them your credit card # to pay for it. What you do once you have the LLC is another matter, of course, and expert advice could be very beneficial!

@Account Closed , if a title search is all that is required, why do I hear on BP that buying at auction is risky and not for beginners?  Would doing a title search clear up any potential problems?