What's your average cost of acquisition for SFHs in Houston?

[Account Closed]

Hi all,

I'm wondering for those of you in Houston who do your own marketing, what is your average cost of marketing to acquire each off-market SFH deal, and what's the average spread you've been capturing vs retail (after rehab costs)?

The backstory for my question is this:

I've been looking in the Houston suburban market to acquire a few long term holds for close to a year now, mostly through wholesalers, and haven't really seen any deals that I'm excited by.  By my numbers, what I've seen has been at best low single digit cash returns (i.e. an eviction away from losing money), with not much if any built-in equity.

Further, the investor competition is crazy despite the thin returns.  These contracts are usually assigned within a day or two after being emailed out at pretty high risk to the investor IMO (e.g. several $k EM paid directly to the wholesaler (not third party escrow), no option period, very difficult to get an inspection due to the tight timeline.  I guess folks are seeing something I don't, or are happy counting on rental inflation and appreciation.

So the short of it is that I'm considering doing my own marketing campaign to where there is hopefully less competition, but I'd like to get a sense of how much I can expect to pay per deal and how competitive it is.  I'd hate to spend $10k over 4-6 months just to get a few angry calls and no deals.

Thanks in advance!

P.S. If there's any wholesalers in the Houston area that I haven't spoken to, please add me to your buyers lists!  Interested primarily in N/NW suburbs.