All Forum Posts by: Charlotte H.

This is so much better. Thanks. Now I don't have to zoom to read every post. I love it!

I am in Texas and I just started my real estate course with realestateexpress. I am not sure about all the cost but the ones listed above sounds about right.

There are many brokerage firms out there and they have different splits. Some even have only a monthly fixed rate. I would say to search online or try to get recommendations and interview 3 or more before deciding. I don't know which one I am going to choose but I keep hearing to go with one that gives a lot of education.

I have a full time job that I am going to keep in the beginning so that is going to make it a little bit harder for me.

@Scott N. 

Wow. I feel like I could've written your EXACT post. This is how I feel right now. Let me know if you find something that works. Thanks!

For me, it's about my children. I want to be able to spend more quality time with my children before they are grown and have their own lives. I want to be able to pick them up from school and go home and cook them a good meal and help with homework and spend some time getting an update on their day. I want to be able to go to their school activities without having to worry about taking a day off work.

Right now, we get home after 7 (M-F) with me rushing to get them fed and checking over their homework and getting them in bed by 9. I only spend about 2-3 (counting getting ready in the morning) waking hours with my children and that is not enough. On top of that, my youngest is in daycare and while I like for her to get out and mingle with people, I feel that she is there too long.

This is what financial freedom means to me and I am working on building my portfolio in order to quit my job and set my own schedule. Great thread!

I getting my license and I am going to use realestateexpress.com as well.  

I used an FHA loan for my owner occupied duplex. You might want to look into that. It has a lower down payment requirement ( I believe 3.5% but it might have increased a little).

Here is how I do it but I am still small. I have two rental properties right now and I take the rent from both of these properties and save 50% for expenses. I then take the remaining 50%, pay the mortgage and whatever is left is what I have to pay myself with. I normally just save it along with the expenses though.

Just to be clear: the mortgage is the principal and interest. I pay the taxes and insurance with the expense bucket.

Hello. I just wanted to update my experience with The V.A.R Group. This is a terrible property management company and I wouldn’t use them. I signed a contract with The VAR group and it took them a week just to acknowledge it. I had to reach out to them to see where we were in the process. They seemed very unorganized and unprofessional.

They came out about two weeks later and gave me a quote that seemed inflated and when I didn’t agree to get the work done by their company, they terminated the agreement (which I was fine with). When I tried to go pick up my keys and garage door opener, they refused to give them to me. I am shocked how unprofessional this company is.

I am still looking for a property management company in the Dallas, Ft. Worth area. Thanks!

I agree. I don't like the property management standard contract either. I posted about that a few weeks ago. I'm in Texas as well. I've trying to find a company that uses month to month agreements but I haven't found one yet.

I went to creditboards forum and cleaned my credit for free. They have an excellent forum that talks about credit and how to do dispute. I added the web address below but you can google creditboards and you will find it. I am not affiliated with that site. Good luck! Charlotte

http://creditboards.com/forums/