Hello! New Member from Houston!

[Bridget Dunlay]

Hello everyone!

I'm a new member from Houston and would love to communicate with like minded folks to get ideas and advice.

I've tried my luck years ago and failed, but am ready to go for it again and succeed!

What would be the best way for a newbie to get started?

Thanks in advance!

Bridget ;-) 

[William E.]

My first slow flip was from sheriffs auction. Purchased a few years back, rehabbed, rented for a year or so, hoping to have it sold in the next few weeks. they're building a city dump a few blocks away and i want to unload it before i have to deal with it.

i'll tell you what i did. 

1. figure out how to find the auctions 
   1. in houston https://dailycourtreview.com/ ($20 a year or $2 in quarters in newspaper machine in front of where they have the auctions)
   2. Also, the websites of delinquent tax attorneys Linebarger Goggan Blair and Sampson, at http://www.lgbs.com, or Perdue Brandon Fielder Collins & Mott, atwww.pbfcm.com, contain lists of the properties set for tax sale by the taxing units they represent.
2. searched for houses near my current place 
3. research them (google/zillow/trulia/redfin/realter/har).com
   1. drive by the houses 
   2. analyse what you're willing to spend on it
4. find one or more that you're willing to invest in
5. do a foreclosure title search a few days before the auction
   1. a few days before to make sure it wasn't removed from the auction block, thus wasting a few hundred dollars.
   2. also to make sure there a no outstanding liens on the property that could cost you more
6. register for the auction
7. take a big wad of cash that you've been saving for years and get small cashiers checks 1k/5k/10k/etc to the auction and watch the other bidders
8. then bid..

The property i got was starting at 30K... someone bid 30k, someone else bid $30,100, then i walked behind them and said $35k. maybe i scared them off by bidding 5k more, maybe they didn't want the property anyway.

some of these bidders for $5 at a time trying to maximize their returns. 

i was new, and i'm 6'4", so maybe intimidating?

nonetheless, i gave them the money, they gave me a title.

another 20k later and i have the house on the market for $135k.. i'll probably accept ~$120 

thoughts?

B