All Forum Posts by: Shahriar Khan

@Ryan Johnson i would strongly suggest that you can that try to sort out the code issue upfront . You can try 2 ways 

A) Going to city permitting department and ask mention that to them and let them tell you what to do. Understand that not asking the right questions or using terminology may get your wrong answer .  

B) Go to Houston Plan and Permits and ask them to do it. They would tell you right way if this can be fixable and cost of doing so.

Keep us posted. 

@Jessica Muto You would not know directly about those future deal unless

1) You have seen that in a news channel so try googling it :) For large development , they will raise funds and news is the way of sending signals to investors 

2) You can follow schedule for monthly Planning Department review meeting. Large counties will publish that online. It would be finding needle in haystack 

3) (If zoning is approved) you can dig around County CAD map and see if you see something in that kind ( large subdivision etc) 

On that note, property pricing has 2 high level categories A) Price based on current activity and B) future appreciation. Based on some of the questions you are asking, i would STRONGLY suggest to buy at low end of category A above and assume ZERO for category B with the plan on walking away from offer/deal is you need pay high end of the category A.  

We all have made our fair share of mistakes and you will make it as well (hopefully not a whole lot and small enough to get out of it happy) so you need to leave room to make mistake in your pricing. 

Wish you the best and happy to reach out if you had any additional questions.  

@Jessica Muto now a days you can do a lot of ground work from home. Below is my handy dandy checklist that i use to get started . 

Local County CAD/appraisal website 

1) Check Zoning : It will be residential/commercial/industrial 

2) Check SQFT

3) Check dimension and road access - important for what you wanted to do etc 

FEMA Map :

4) Check Flood map 

Offer/Price:

5) Check COMPS

6) See what are the house values nearby and price land accordingly 

Title Company:

7) Read schedule B for deed restriction 

8) Survey: Review survey for any easement 

9) If lot is smaller -- forget about the Mineral right .. too much hassle for paper work 

10) If commercial then Phase 1 Environmental survey will be required for financing 

@Account Closed In general being in flood zone isnt a big deal depending on the price you paid for that. Technically everything is buildable. Important thing to know would be "what kind of flood zone is it in ?"(100 yrs, 500 yrs, or floodway) 

Building a house isnt a problem at all. From insurance perspective all they care for is base elevation height . If you raise the building according to flood zone requirement then insurance would be a tad bit more compare to houses in non flood zone. I have and had properties in 100 yrs/500yrs/floodway . 

Feel free to PM me with the address and i should be able to pull flood map. 

@Ryan Keenan if you decide to stay in SFR then i would align with @Stephanie P. to max out on conventional loan first . If you go back to same lender /loan officer then it should be very cookie cutter. We keep a folder with all info and just update bank statement and pay stub to apply for loan etc. 

We also dont do delayed financing as @Corby Goade mentioned, rather we set it up such that refinancing can be possible whenever we feel appropriate. 

Portfolio loan is very expensive for SFRs at a smaller scale. 

Our Process:

1) Buy under entity A name using loan from entity B (we dont use CASH directly for any of our purchases instead via entity B as loan)

2) Once all work is done, entity A will do cash out refinance  (in this case under personal name) using same loan officer and same set of documents. 

3) Once refinancing is completed , issue a new deed to move ownership to entity C LLC

@Tyler Labrador assuming that 21 is about to wrap up college. 

1)  Finish College and get a good job. Right kind of Corporate job will teach your structure and process and all those good stuff.

2) Take earning and learning from #1 and invest is RE.  Use RE to increase Balance sheet and W2 for Revenue. 

3) Think scale and volume and keep circulating 1& 2 till you feel comfortable  and then make a choice which ship to jump on 100%

4) Wealth happens by focusing on Revenue not cutting cost ... So grow revenue and be cost efficient. 

5) Prepare to be disappointed a lot :) 

Wish you the best ...

Hi everyone, 

For some us investing within an Opportunity Zone seems to be better compare to 1031 (or mitigate short terms gain) and looking to understand the over all process and cost associated with it.  To start with i have broken down into 3 categories. After spending a decent amount of time looks like I am stuck at #3 below .  I have asked my CPA and to expedite the process/cross check hoping some of us who have already done this could share their experiences 

1)  What is OZ and does it fit into my investment goal 

2) Where i can invest and potential investment categories (SFR/Land/MFR/Comm/Biz) and how to fit in (syndication/self)

3) Cost of transaction (How to start a Qualified Opportunity Fund and How to maintain/Cost of doing so)

Video below is what i found very comprehensive/informative and covers #1 and 2 above.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCO_hGlNL5M

@Princella Carr  .. (given you are getting started) you dont have either expertise and know how to identify every single lien and/or issue with a property (especially problematic properties) . Can you be lucky .. of course .. and on the flip side can you be unlucky enough to make you water down/shut off your passion of Real Estate .. absolutely 

Why i have said what i have said above  (handful of examples):

1) You may have break in ownership 1/2/3 generations prior to existing seller (i had break in title  from 1949 or properties were in family for 3 generations but paper work wasn't done so NO ONE cant seller proprieties any more easily unless long drawn litigation takes place)

2) You may have federal/other judgement associates with seller SSN which prohibits selling of any property owned by seller and not easy to find via a simple lien search (of yes... seen that a ton and loosing a great deal now for this)

3)  Property could have utility/water/sewer/ground/air easement that  may not be easily found by county lien (almost lost quarter million for this reason)

Having said above, re framing your question as how you can  delay spending money with Title company while looking for properties and/or getting into negotiating with seller where can you go to look up liens etc knowing you need need spend that money later.  You can spend a bit of time doing following and you would have a generic idea

1) Harris county Clerk is the best FREE place to do search for liens (you need to know owner name and/or property address. You can use seller name as both Grantor and Grantee to for deeper search)

2) Harris County Tax office would be a place to start for back taxes and double check all lines from number 1

3) Adding Clerks office and tax amount should put you in a place to negotiate with seller and once you have seller sign the contract . 

PM me if you  have any specific questions and would be glad to share what i know. Wish you the best and keep us posted as you progress. 

@Kathryn Dunnivant  I found the video below most informative. Keep us posted as you push this forward..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCO_hGlNL5M

1) LLC must be a 2 member

2) LLC needs to own the property

3) There are some provision about Working Capital .. Not sure location of fund would be any concern 

@Dave Foster could there be #4 option for @Eric Gunderson

#4) sell that lot to a qualified person (outside immediate family) and buy it back later with a 1031  funds ...

Just thinking out loud here :)