All Forum Posts by: Tom Cooper

@Kevin Wood,  Thanks for the research links.  You have indeed done your research and I apologize for my parting shot.  I have seen those and numerous others, including the plan in 1996 to run underground conduits from Addicks to the Ship Channel that was never funded.  If you go back and read my post, I never said Addicks and Barker were perfect or without risk.  I was calling out your false statement that Addicks had "failed" multiple times.   That simply hasn't happened.  Furthermore, typically, a dam failure means the dam has been breached or broken.   Also, those homes should never have been built inside the reservoir, but that is not a failure of the dam.  That is a failure, or lack of, planning, which we do have a good bit of in Houston.  As for my last comment, I again apologize to you, as you are well-informed.  That statement was a venting directed toward a large quantity of misinformed posters, many of whom seem to be looking to swoop in and take advantage of Houston's misfortune.  Hence the shot.

@Kevin Wood,  Sorry bud you are flat out wrong and spreading untruths when you say Addicks has failed on several occasions.  It has done exactly what it was designed to do, which is to prevent even more devastation downstream, including Central and downtown Houston.   First, Houston, has done major improvements since hurricane Ike.  No they were not enough to deal with a "500 year flood" or "1000 year flood".  Nobody can afford to plan for that eventuality and that is, unfortunately, what happened here.   Had those improvements not been made, the devastation would have been much worse.  Houston and Harris County definitely have more work to do, and billions need to be spent, to improve our drainage and flood preparation for the future.   Gosh, I just love all the out-of-town experts on Houston! LOL!

@Randall Kates,  Thank you so much for your generous heart and willingness to help and serve others.  There are many groups sending out volunteer teams to help with home cleanup, tearout, dryout, etc.  You are welcome to volunteer through my church.  We are probably sending out 100-150 teams of 6-12 people each each day at least through next weekend.  The teams are well equipped and can do a lot in a single day.  Glad to send you the link if you would like to volunteer there, but lots of great groups and individuals out working.  It is truly amazing!   

@Sean Haardt, As Belinda wrote, two key things she needs to move quickly on:

1) As soon as the water drains down, get the wet stuff out, furniture, carpeting, baseboards, sheetrock cut to above waterline, insulation removed so the house can dry.  There are lots of volunteers and organizations that will do most of this right now. My church is sending out teams all over the city and I have personally worked on three of them.

2) Figure out if she wants to sell or stay.  Number 1 above is much more time critical.  The longer wet materials stay in the house, the more mold, damage, and cost to rehab will rise.  

@Nicholas Hughley,  I do now several excellent financial planners in Houston, however, to my knowledge, most of them tend to invest all their clients funds in mutual funds, stocks, and bonds.  No way for them to get compensated if you buy real estate, so they are unlikely to recommend it.  My recommendation is to start networking, meet other investors, and get started.  This is not rocket science.  It is not easy, but it is relatively simple.  There are numerous excellent meetups and real estate groups in Houston.  I wish you well on your journey.

@Rhiannon Then,  Very grateful your Mom is safe.  To briefly address the insurance issue, we have had virtually no wind from Harvey in Houston - this is all going to be water damage.  Very few people have flood insurance in Houston that are outside the 100 year flood plain.  Much of the flooded areas (and potentially more to come) are outside the 100 year plain.  It is going to be financial disaster for many, and as @Jay Hinrichs pointed out, many of the flooded homes are very large, nice homes.  As someone still in the midst of it, with much more rain and additional flooding projected through Friday, I really appreciate the thoughts and prayers for all in this area, and for all the first responders working tirelessly.

@Rhiannon Then, I am not surprised you are not getting a lot of response.  Unlike past hurricanes, this one is unprecedented in the length of its impact as well as the breadth.  As for me, no flooding yet, but more rain tonight and releasing water from Addicks and Barker Reservoirs has the potential to flood hundreds of thousands.  Tonight could be worse than last night.  So everyone is scrambling and trying to figure out where, if anywhere, they can go, or trying to help others.  Sorry to hear about your relatives.

@Mindy Jensen, Okay that is a nice addition - especially if I accidentally Mark something read.  It appears you increased the life span of alert?  they used to go away after 7 days?  Is it 30 now?  Or is there an upper limit on number of alerts received?

Welcome to Houston and to BP, @Trisha T., I am guessing there is an interesting story as to how an artist/scientist, self-proclaimed REI noob in Houston came to own multiple New Mexico properties, including commercial. With as little info as you shared, which is fine, my suggestion, is to keep learning, go to some of the local meetups (leave your checkbook/credit cards at home for some!), meet some people and start to figure out what you want to do in this business. So many directions you can proceed, but it sounds like at this juncture you don't know what you don't know. It may take some figuring out if the NM properties make sense with your ultimate goals. I recommend NOT signing up for any classes, boot camps, masterminds, until you get further down the road and meet some other investors and figure out where you want to go. I will be glad to help with info and perhaps meet you at one of the many meetups in Houston.

Welcome aboard,

Tom

One mailing of 2000 to close 5?   Highly unlikely!  Unless you are a 10 at sales, have a unique, extremely highly motivated list, and even at that, still highly unlikely, in my opinion.   That would be roughly $400 in marketing cost per house, which is about 1/10th or less of what I have heard from most pros.   Your mileage may vary!!!  

But there are a ton of variables: Your list, your target, level of competition in the area, level of motivation, much much more.    As Claire correctly wrote, much of it is your closing skills.