Where do I find houses to flip in Houston?

Question

Im a fairly new real estate investor and just got my real estate license. Where do you all suggest I find off market properties? Do you have any wholesalers you would recommend in Houston? I have rehab experience but having a hard time finding off market properties.

Owen Hehmeyer · Answer

Lisa, New Western is probably the biggest wholesaler in town. And as in all counties, the county foreclosure auction has the most non-mls properties of all.

Kevin Bazazzadeh · Answer

Hey Lisa, make sure you are in the Houston Real Estate Investors FB group as a starting point - people post off-market properties in there all the time. Other than that you can start networking with people who could send you deals, or do marketing to generate your own leads...although that is a lot more work than most people realize and I wouldn't recommend doing that to start.

Eliott Elias · Answer

•  Networking: Reach out to other real estate agents, investors, and contractors in your area and build a network. This can help you find out about off-market properties before they hit the market.
•  Direct mail: Target specific neighborhoods and send direct mail campaigns to owners of properties that meet your investment criteria.
• Public records: Search public records for properties that are in pre-foreclosure, tax sale, or have delinquent taxes.

Drew Sygit · Answer

@Lisa Yan

Why does everyone want to chase strangers – and ignore their own personal network?

Which do you think will be more competitive, buying from wholesalers or your own referrals?

Per this NY Times article, the average American knows around 600 people.
https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/19/science/the-average-american-knows-how-many-people.html#:~:text=The%20average%20American%20knows%20about,do%20you%20know%20named%20Kevin%3F

Per the US Census Bureau, the average American moves 11.7 time in their life, which based upon an approximate lifespan of 84 years, works out to be about every 7 years.
https://www.census.gov/topics/population/migration/guidance/calculating-migration-expectancy.html#:~:text=Using%202007%20ACS%20data%2C%20it,one%20move%20per%20single%20year

So, if the average American knows 600 people and they each move about every 7 years, that means that the average American knows around 85 people that move in any given year.

How many of those moves do you want to be involved in?

To maximize the number of transactions you’re involved in you will need to:

• Be Top of Mind when they think about moving - which requires consistent reminders.
• Be seen as an Expert – which requires a consistent message and Evidence of Success stories
• Gain their Trust – which requires communicating integrity

So, start out by listing everyone you know in an Excel spreadsheet.

Why Excel?  Because later, you can easily use it as your mailing list! Create columns for Name, Street Address, City, State, Zip and then contact info: Last Contact, Relationship, Status, Email & Phone.

IMPORTANT: do NOT ask people for THEIR business, ask for referrals! Why? Because they will get defensive if they feel you are pressuring them. Remember, they can always refer themselves😊

Now, make it a goal to call at least 5-10 of these people EVERY day and ask a MAX OF THREE off the list below of who they know that:

• Just inherited a home
• Had a loved one pass away
• Is behind on their mortgage or tax payments
• Has a relative that can’t take care of their house anymore
• Has a house they’re having trouble selling
• Is facing bankruptcy
• Knows a probate attorney
• Knows a bankruptcy attorney
• etc

Why only three off the list per contact? Because on average, we can only remember three things at a time. If you try to go over the whole list, you’ll lose the attention of an average person and they won’t remember anything!

It should only take you about a month or two to contact everyone on your list and then the tough part – you start all over again.

Why the repetition? Because it takes repetition for people to remember things and you have to be top-of-mind when they encounter a potential client for you!

Have you ever been to McDonalds? Of course you have! So, why is McDonalds still spending billions on advertising?

One more tip – people remember stories that trigger their emotions. So, tell a story of how you (or a fellow wholesaler) helped a seller out with their challenge(s). Change your story each month as different stories will resonate with different people AND use each story to emphasize one of your “who do you know…” questions.

As you start closing deals, you will need to reinvest your profits into mailing lists and other scalable activities to grow your business.

One last thing – we recommended you create a Status column on your spreadsheet, now we’ll explain why. If you find someone that seems to know a lot of people needing your services, wouldn’t it make sense to focus more resources on them? Conversely, you will run into people on your list that just seem to be a waste of time, so you’ll want to avoid them. So, create status codes for both of these and a few in-between codes to help you work smarter, not harder.

Please send us any feedback via email, as we do not use the DM feature here. 
Also, if you like our response, please don’t be shy about giving us a vote😊

Emily Alvarez · Answer

I'm an agent with New Western here in San Antonio, I love what we do and what we're able to accomplish for investors. We have over 15 off market listings that come out every week! If you don't have the cash (or even if you do) we have an in house hard money lender that can work with you. I hope you find this helpful and I'm sure whoever you connect with in Houston is going to take great care of you!

William Harvey · Answer

@Lisa Yan I agree completely with what @Eliott Elias said. These tactics are great if funds are limited and you are just starting out. Direct mail will cost a little bit of money, but if you do a lot of the work yourself, it is mainly sweat equity.

If you have a bit of money to spend, I recommend checking out @Parth Bhatia and his company, Lead Plug to source off market deals. They manage our Google Ads campaign and we spent about $20k last year and generated $286k in profit from these leads.

I wrote an article on it you can get to from my signature if you want more of a case study on that. Best of luck!

Danny Guzmán Jr. · Answer

Lisa, I saw one of my peers post earlier on this thread from New Western. I am one of the Houston area agents.

Your best bet will be joining FB groups to find some great off market value as well as Craigslist. Outside of the social media space - networking will help you have eyes every where in a city as big as Houston. I recommend attending real estate events via Eventbrite as there are a plethora of events throughout the Houston area daily!

I hope to become a resource for you in Houston if you're still interested in fix/flip & buy/hold SFRs

Travis Biziorek · Answer

Hey Lisa, I do a lot of business in the Detroit market and see a ton of off-market deal flow before it sees the general public, marketed as off-market.

Why does it matter?

I've learned that there tend to be a handful of large players in every market that wholesalers will come to BEFORE they market to their "buyer lists".

What this actually means is that the folks on the buyers list aren't seeing the good stuff. They are seeing the deals the key players passed on.

My point here is be extra careful when evaluating deals from wholesalers. If you aren't a key buyer in that market you need to understand that several serious players have already evaluated that deal and passed.

Does that mean it won't work for you. Not necessarily, no.

The other option is to go out and try and source off-market deals yourself. Obviously, you're competing with wholesalers that do it for a living, some of which have large outfits.

BUT, I've done it. And as the end buyer you tend to get better responses from folks when cold calling rather than a wholesaler.

Hope that helps.

Wale Lawal · Answer

@Lisa Yan

Off-market real estate deals can offer several perks to investors, making them highly sought after. However, many investors may be questioning how to find off-market real estate due to its desirable nature.There are a number of ways to identify off market real estate deals, all of which should come as no surprise to investors. I recommend pursuing more than one strategy at a time, to ensure the best results. For those interested in getting started, here are some of the best ways to identify off market real estate for sale:Direct MailOnline ResourcesNetworkingReal Estate AgentsBuilders & ContractorsWholesalersPublic RecordWord Of MouthReal Estate AuctionsDriving For Dollars

All the best!

Leo Furest · Answer

Hi Guys, back to BP after a long time. I am managing a Fix and Flip fund in Florida and we are doing really well. We are planning our expansion to Houston, TX with a similar business model. Currently doing 10-15 flips at the same time in Broward, Palm Beach, Dade and Orange County in FL. We focus on Single family homes (no HOA, no 55+), built 1960+ with over 1,000 sq ft and we avoid fire damaged and structural damaged. We are 100% cash, we haven't taken any loans yet, which gives us a lot of advantage versus below flippers when we purchase. I want to connect with experienced flippers in Houston area, visiting the city by the end of March, I want to study the market, the options and start gathering a local team. Feel free to reach out if you are an experienced flipper! See you in Houston!

Where do I find houses to flip in Houston?

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