Long time listener, first time poster

[Robert Armstrong]

Hi Everyone! My name is Robert Armstrong, and I live in Houston, TX.

I’ve been listening to the BP real estate podcast for a few months now, starting with episode 1, and now jumping back and forth between new episodes and the older ones. Listening to BP has sparked my interest in Real Estate again, and has given me some great ideas on how to move forward.

A little about me:

I house hacked my first house in college (Lubbock, TX), and had my roommates pay my mortgage and beer money. I sold this house at basically break-even shortly after graduation, as I decided against the long distance landlord gig while trying to start a new career. Plus side is I had no housing payments for four years when I was in school.

My next property was a condo in Houston, which I bought and had a roommate for a year whose rent covered P&I portion of my mortgage. I ended up selling the condo after my wife and I bought our current house after deciding I didn't want to cover the absurd HOA fees on the property while renting it out.

My goal is to start to build passive income through real estate investing so I can ultimately spend more time with my new son and step away from my current career in Oil & Gas, which isn’t quite as fulfilling as I was hoping.

I'm targeting single family homes for fix & flip, and also BRRRR. I'm also interested in multi-family and would like to get into larger apartment complexes long term.

I do have an inactive Texas Real Estate license that I have never used, but plan to eventually work with a broker to sponsor me and get some use out of it.

Looking forward to learning as much as possible through this site, podcasts and other networking events!

[Robert Armstrong]

@Joseph M'Mwirichia

Hi Joseph, my short term strategy is to try to find some properties in less desirable areas of Houston that show either steady rent rates, or gradual increase. These properties are still modestly priced compared to the more desired, high traffic areas that are undergoing lots of redevelopment. Idea here would be to fix and flip or BRRRR, depending on the condition of the property and surrounding areas.

I’m also looking at some new build townhomes in the 200-250k range in newly developing areas further out from central Houston.

I’ve looked at options of all cash offer to these developers to see if they are willing to accept a lower offer with cash and quick close. Plan for that would be to purchase, get the property leased, and refinance to get my cash out of it.

I have options of conventional financing through my local credit union for deals that a cash buy doesn’t make sense. The CU has been very easy to work with in the past, as I have over 30 year banking history with them, multiple loans, and strong income. They also offer investment mortgage options at reasonable rates.