All Forum Posts by: Thomas Abbott

I received the same message on Zillow.  Out of curiosity, I messaged back and they returned the same intro message.  Replied again to point that out and they again replied again with the intro.  Looks to be a scam.  

Also, just announced yesterday was federal funding for the Trinity River Vision Plan (valued at $1 billion) and TEX commuter rail between downtown Fort Worth and DFW airport (valued at $500 million). 

Definitely a lot going on around downtown(ish) Fort Worth.

http://keranews.org/post/fort-worth-gets-good-news...

Fort Worth Inc. (the magazine) ran an interesting article on the developer and his current plans for the River District in the October 2016 edition. Pretty interesting read.

Article starts on page 52:

http://trendmag2.trendoffset.com/publication/?i=33...

Welcome to BiggerPockets Beau!  Those are quite the impressive stats for a first year.  Congrats on all the success.  

@Eddie T. I used the BEHR Premium Plus Ultra line from The Home Depot.  The white is "Ultra Pure White" and the gray is "Silver Bullet".

Thank you all for the positive words!!

@John De Souza Thanks John!  I will definitely give an update.

@Liam Barnes I actually found my first contractor in Lowe's.  He gave me a tip on drywall tape after I stared cluelessly at all the options.  As for the other contractors, I used a variety of local businesses found via the internet, friend referrals and contractor referrals.  I initially was going to use a GC but everyone I contacted was booked for the net 1-2 months.  I think the major lesson learned from working with contractors is you get what you pay for.  Some of my lower priced contractors definitely operated on their own schedule.

@Rigo Medina I actually purchased this property directly from the seller.  I knew I wanted to buy in the complex so I reached out directly to the property manger.  Nothing was on the market at the time but he did mention that one lady had talked of selling.  After 5 months of waiting for her "to be ready to sell the property", I officially got it under contract.  

Hey BiggerPockets!

I wanted to take a moment to share my first real estate investing success story!  I recently completed a full renovation on a condo that I plan to refinance and rent.  The project served as a great learning experience for my first investment.  Pictures are shown below but the one thing that is missing from the photos is the putrid smell of cat urine and feces (along with other odors too).  The property required a full renovation.

Challenges/ Lesson Learned:

• It always takes double the anticipated time (and then some) to complete a task.
• Additionally, the biggest personal challenge was accepting to pay someone to complete something that I could have completed myself. In the end I realized, the time, stress and effort was not worth the money saved.

By the Numbers:

Purchase Price: $88,000

Renovation Costs: $18,000

ARV: $135,000+

Anticipated Rental Rate: $1500/month

HOA: $238/month

Special thanks to all those who motived me to take the plunge and start my first real estate investing project!

For tax advice in FW I would check out Ed Allen, he is a great CPA focused on Real Estate and Small Business

http://edallencpa.com/

Ok, sounds good!  Thanks for the update.

Hey @Adam Wright, do you know if there are still plans for an October meeting?