All Forum Posts by: Trey Watson

Not many people want to give up the name of their contractor, especially online for everyone to see. That's the nature of the business. It sounds elementary but you have to think like a contractor; What would a contractor want in a client? 

I know if I were a contractor, I'd want a cash/hard money client who's decisive and doesn't waste time. How do you let a contractor know you're serious?

- Furnish a proof of funds to show them you are serious.

- Don't drag your contractor around to more than 2 or 3 properties without pulling the trigger on 1 of the deals. It's unreasonable unless you are actually staffing this contractor.

- Show them listings or HUD's of recent deals you've done to prove you might bring repeat business (If applicable).

- A lot of the trouble is finding a good, professional contractor that will STAY good & professional. Try bringing a couple contractors to bid a house at the same time. I find the good ones don't care about other contractors being there. The hard to deal with contractors are the ones who get mad and leave.

- Reach out to local agents and wholesalers over the phone or in person at networking events. They are usually quick to give out that information if they think you might bring them some business.

I don't think zip code is the best way to break down a market, but to answer your question my top 3 would be:

77080

77489

77450

My opinion-Facebook is probably the best for finding properties. Like I was saying before, you can go 'like' and join and bunch of r/e investment pages and forums through facebook. If you see someone post a property that you like, you're on facebook so you can directly contact that person. Im not saying its an easy buy, because its not. But from my experience facebook generates the most leads.

I have no idea. I would imagine there is a way but I only know about Texas.

Deciding to jump into real estate can be intimidating to anyone. Finding worthwhile guidance seems impossible, especially if you're like 80% of my clients who work a 9-5 job in a completely unrelated field. Over my short, but successful time as a real estate professional I have accumulated a dash board of websites that help make my job easier, whether its networking, running comps, looking for properties, tracking down investors or finding sellers. Listed below are 10 free tools that anyone interested in real estate can use to enhance their capabilities and improve their business.

1. Greatschools.org/ - When you are running comps you want to make sure that you are not comparing your property to a property where the school districts are not aligned. You type in the address and Greatschools will provide your zoned elementary, middle and high school as well as alternate schools in your searched area. Each school is rated 1-10, highest being the best. When running comps, you don't want to say your house is worth $300,000 with a high school rated at 6 out of 10 if the properties you are comparing yours to are zoned to a high school with a rating of 9 out of 10.

2. Hcad.org/ - CAD stands for county appraisal district. This is the entity that comes up with the tax value of your house. In Texas, each county has one. You can search properties by address or owner name on their website. Its a quick way to find out basic specs of a house (sqft, bed, bath, year build). You just need to know what county the property is in. I have provided the link for Harris county appraisal district because that is my area of Houston.

3. Google Earth - When you are prospecting a house, this is the first place you should go before you spend your time going to visit the property. It can be a pain to use for technologically novice users, but AT LEAST use Google Maps. This will often save you a trip. Oh, the property has a 600 sqft non permitted addition that didn't show up on CAD? well that's a deal breaker.... on to the next property.

4. Biggerpockets.com - We all know this is an awesome tool. But its how you use it that will determine what it's worth to your business. This site is basically Facebook for investors. The opportunity is there. Investors are everywhere. You can ask ANY question about real estate and expect to get multiple answers. They may not all be right, but it's pretty easy to pick up on who knows what they're talking about and who doesn't, even for the novice. They have a paid version where you have more access to connect with users but as a free member I believe you can at least read all forum content.

5. Meetup.com - I don't know how anyone could be successful in this industry without networking. This site allows you to search for local events in your area. Go to the search bar & type "real estate". Make sure to edit the mile radius to however far you're willing to travel. Click search. You should not have a problem finding a few meetups to check out. Many of them will be free.

6. Zillow/trulia - I am ANTI zestimates because they're almost always inaccurate however their site does offer some useful and convenient information. They provide the schools that property is zoned to on the front page. They provide all of the basic specs. Also, it is very difficult for a non licensed agent to obtain interior pictures of a property that has already sold. Zillow and Trulia give you that chance in many cases. It depends on the property and if the previous agent posted them.

7. Har.com - This is the database that brokers use in Houston. Har is your go to site for scoping out the competition. What I mean is, you can go see what properties are available and what properties are pending in your neighborhood and see what they look like on the inside. How can you make your property better than theirs? Again, the only caveat to HAR is if you are not a licensed agent/broker, you can't see/search sold comps.

8. Craigslist.org - Okay yes I know, Craigslist is full of spammers and wannabes. We all know this. The key here is consistency. If you are looking for properties you need to be looking at CL every day. You may not find anything for a while but it will help you learn how to efficiently sift through properties and sort the crap from the potential. If you're looking for buyer's/investors through Craigslist, consistency is still you're friend. You need to be posting your property(s) every day, multiple times a day and you need to be changing your ad to what yields you the most response. Don't stick to the same thing if you're not getting the response you want. It takes months, not days. Consistency!

9. Floodmap - Once again, as a licensed agent I have access to a much easier to use flood map through Realist, but this site is good for anyone who does not have their license. You don't want to buy or sell a property without knowing where it stands on a flood map. Make sure you incorporate this in your due diligence process if you haven't already.

10. Facebook.com - Anyone in R/E can benefit from Facebook. Join your local r/e groups and like your local R/E company pages. You will quickly accumulate a solid stream of news, information and investment opportunities that come through your news feed. Even if you don't post anything, subscribing to pages like this will help acclimate you to your market by seeing what other people in your industry are talking about. You can also use Facebook to track down investors and sellers if you're really savvy.

I was not paid by any of these websites to write this. These sites are seriously on my dashboard right now. I get questions every single day from investors, new and seasoned that these sites could easily answer. I was thinking an article like this could help a lot of people. Check the sites out and leave me some feedback. 

Well here in Houston we have champions school of real estate as well as many other online ways to get your texas r/e license. The classes you can get done in a week if you really try. That does NOT mean you can get licensed in 1 week. You still have to go through the back ground check which for me took about 2 weeks and then you still have to sign up for the test and pass and then find a broker who will sponsor you. 

I've been working for a large wholesale firm for a while now. Let me know if you ever have any questions. I like working with independent wholesalers. 

Easiest way- get your r/e license so you can have MLS access. They provide all of that info and they also give you the ability to create spreadsheets with filters to search through that data so that you can target who you want to mail/call.

If you're a wholesaler and you don't have your r/e license, it is very difficult to do many of the necessary things to attract the quality cash buyers that you're looking for. 

You can knock out the classes in a week, pass the exam and then network for a smallshop broker to sponsor you. It's possible to get it all done within a month. 

Yea the utilities not being on won't matter. Definitely tell them you are going to terminate if they can't extend. Unless the seller has backup offers, they will usually extend for a day or 2 to get things done. 

Sylvia,

There are many rei groups and events around town that are free or cost next to nothing. Many of them you may be pushed to purchase something or buy a membership but for the most part they are free to attend or the cost is very minimal.

Check these out:

1. RICH Club main event- this saturday (The company I work for has a membership so its free for us but I believe it costs 30 bucks for non members to get in.) https://www.richclub.org/Events.aspx?ID=Main-Event... 

2. Jet lending event @ Texans grille- third wednesday of every month- free and they feed you. http://jetlending.com/events/. a couple hundred people usually show up.

3. Wealth club- These folks have events all the time- http://www.thewealthclub.org/events

4. Real Estate Titans- The events are smaller but they are local meaning they have separate events for different sides of Houston.

There are other good ones. Meetup.com usually will feature the bulk of the major rei events. Just make sure to edit your search criteria to within 25 miles of houston then type in "real estate" in your search box.