Congratulations, you're living in Texas. Post a picture of the roadside when the Bluebonnets start to bloom this spring. Say thank you Lady Bird.
1. Did your husband live in Texas when he enlisted in the Military? If yes, check on Texas benefits. Believe your kids can go to any Texas State university for free. Or he can.
2. Join a Military REI group. Even though he is out. Look under the General RE section, then the Military section.
3. Texas property Tax sales. Best state in the country to buy Tax sales. Only do Land and not houses. Until you get educated. Learn everything you can about the different stages of Tax sales.
4. Go ahead and make a list of all the team members you will need. As you start to meet people, ask them who would be good for these categories. Example: Dirt excavator, land surveyor, title company, Attorney, Bank, plumbers, etc. Don't go looking for them. Just ask along the way.
5. Think in terms of starting your Snowball. Want you to pick a $$$$ number, that if you lose, it won't knock you out of the game. Force you to sale your car. Take a loan out on your house. You have heard of Analysis Paralysis. You will never make a Deal in REI. Because you're afraid to jump off the cliff. Most people hear and think about the money they will make. But they never analyze Failure, thus they always have a huge expectation that stops them from investing. Pick that number.
6. Everyone is going to tell you to do SFH/MFH, etc. Don't do it. You're going to want that nice house finally after all the moving. Don't do it.
7. With that number, want you to get into Property Tax sales, of just land. Want you to make a list of every way you can make money on land. a. Subdivide, b. Cleanup and have a pond built and sale, c. Rent for parking, d. Put a trailer on it., e. Put another trailer on it., f. On the other side put an RV hookup, g. Put another RV hookup, etc etc.
I'm from Louisiana and Texas. The next part is going to scream at you.
TRAILER TRASH.
8. I'm going to tell you to do something, I don't want you to make any money. Start a trailer park. You live in trailer one. Make it a Single wide, 2 bed, 2 bath. Nothing fancy. Used. Want you to live in it for 2 years as your Primary Residence, then want you to sale it. No TAXES on the gain. Start your next one.
9. Lots 2 and onward. Give the first-year lot rent away for free, if they move their trailer in. Not enough, give them two years free. Not enough give them three years free. Get with Mobile home Sale groups and tell them your plan and you would like them to set up units to sell at your location. Here is the kicker. The money in mobile homes is in the Lot rental. The headache in Mobile Homes is owning the Home. You just want to do lot rentals. Wait a second. The people who you gave free lots to, for a year or two. Won't they move out, when they have to start paying? No, they won't. You start charging them $800 per month for the lot fee.
10. Want you to learn how to rent and run a Mini excavator. Learn how to glue water pipe together. Put shut off valves along the way, so you don't have to turn everyone's water off, if there is a leak. Build a frame to pour a concrete pad. Learn how to pour concrete and level it. Want you to do this. Your husband can help, but want you to do this. Find out if you have access to city or county sewer or if you can do a lagoon.
11. Run the numbers. How fast does it take for you to become a $1,000,000 aire? Let me help you. Most commercial property is analyzed on a CAP rate basis. Which is Net Operating Income (NOI) divided by Asset value. Example: $80,000 NOI or earning per year divided by a value of $1,000,000= 8% CAP Rate. Most Commercial people would buy your trailer park for an 8% CAP Rate. So how many lots do you need to have to be worth $1,000,000? Well $80,000 profit, plus Electric cost say $12,000, Water cost say $4,000, Property Tax say $3,000; insurance $10,000 Total= $113,000 total revenue needed. $113,000 divided by 12 months= $9,500 revenue per month. Divided by $800 per lot= 12 lots you need to be renting. So how fast can you get 12 units in place and rented. Some people just come out of the blue. Some come because of the free rent. Some come from the Dealer. Some come from you BRRRing or Hacking your trailers and selling. You do the same thing with the RV park on the other side of the Property. Except don't give them free rent. They will leave. If the economy dips, there will be a whole lot of RV's for sale from everyone who bought them to get out, due to COVID. Buy them and Sale them, with an agreement to a 5 year lot rental.
12. You mean if you have land and have 12 people renting out lots for $800 per month, that cash flow would be worth $1,000,000 and someone would buy it from you?
THAT is crazy. I don't trust my own numbers. Do you trust me? You don't know me. You need to run these numbers and challenge them.
You need to own your numbers.
But I want a nice house now. In a nice neighborhood. With a coffee shop 2 blocks away. I don't want to be Trailer Trash. You want to be like everyone else in the world, in debt till they retire and hopefully have a paid off house.
If you decide to go this route:
A. Go to the Commercial section and start reading up on Mobile Homes.
B. Join a Military investment group.
C. Challenge every number and thought I put up above. For example, in Texas, can you rent a Mobile home park lot for $800? Can you rent an RV parking spot for $800 ( closer to $500). Will people stay after their Trailer lot free period? Can you buy the ground cheap at a tax sales? Zoning?- Texas Counties have no zoning. Challenge all of these figures. If you decide to go ahead, I want you to Calculate what FAILURE looks like.
D. Buy 5 to 10 acres and keep repeating. Keep looking for good locations, but with Nasty ground. Greater value creation.
E. My brother and his wife will be moving in the next month from Floresville, Texas up to a Base in Washington State. If you get a chance both of you run down for an hour and ask him to walk you thru Texas Property tax sales. Or do it over the phone.
You can go the SFH/MFH route. Say $800 for one lot is 4 doors at $200. If you need 12 trailer lots for the $800, then you need 48 doors of SFH or MFH to achieve the same cash flow. In Texas let's say each door costs you $100,000. Then you need 48 times $100,000= $4,800,000 to invest or access loans. The route I am recommending to you might take $50,000 including the land, water pipe, etc. and $20,000 for your first trailer to live in. The SFH/MFH route you own the property and you have to deal with the Tenants. The Mobile Home route you don't own the Trailers (damages/repairs) and you can kick them out very easily.
By the way, you're a single stay at home mom. And you can continue to stay at home. You might be Trailer Trash to some people, but you will be a $1,000,000
Start small and Make Your Big Mistakes Early.
Hurray for Texas.
