All Forum Posts by: Alex Juarez

Thanks for your input guys! My agent definitely has a ton of experience, I want to say at least 15 years and specifically in the Katy area (now that I typed that I feel like I kind of agree that I should listen to her). I do value her opinion strongly though, but one thing I've noticed about a few people that grew up in Katy, is that they refer to the north of I-10 area as "the ghetto" (yes, that's the word they use). I didn't grow up in the best part of Houston, but it wasn't as bad as people make it out to be. So when I hear someone call north Katy ghetto I don't really take them that serious, since I would not classify it ghetto at all. I would classify most of Katy as A or B type areas with very small pockets of C type neighborhoods. This particular property I would say is in a B class neighborhood. 

Yea I was actually thinking about reaching out to the property management company's too. There are a few houses listed for rent and I was thinking about calling and acting as a prospective tenant to see what their screening was like to get an idea of the type of tenants they accept in the neighborhood. 

The more I think about it now though, the more I think I should listen to my agent. She definitely has more experience and knowledge about real estate than I do. 

Thanks guys!

Alex

Hi guys and gals, 

So I'm still looking to make my first investment purchase and have been for what seems like forever now. Katy seems to be a pretty  hot market so the few offers we have put in have gone into bidding wars, and had to back-out since the numbers wouldn't make sense.

Today though, I went to look at a house with my agent. Of course the house looked a lot better in the pictures, and needs more repair work than originally budgeted for and it also looks like a mouse problem, but after revising the budget, the house still has a positive cash flow and the numbers work. 

The house is in the 77449 area code and zoned to Morton Ranch, it's not the best neighborhood, but I don't think it's that bad. After looking at it and agreeing with my agent that it definitely needs more work than we thought, she advised against the house. Not because of the repair work though. Her reason was the neighborhood. The houses on the street looked dated, the wood on the exterior was rotting on most houses, but from a previous question I posted I didn't think that was a big issue or a reason to stay away for a buy and hold investment. She was concerned about the house not being rented, saying the tenants might look at the neighbors and having that scare them away. She also said their property management team doesn't really like the area, because it would rent for around 1300-1400 attracting lower quality tenants and always having to chase rent in that area.  

So my question. I know there has to be some investors on here that have been land lording in this area, so I was wondering what your experience has been like in this area? Is my agent right to steer me away from this property/area, or should I just take the plunge?

I'm leaning on taking the plunge, and thought what's the worst that could happen? If she's right and it doesn't rent then I could put it back on the market and hopefully break even after updating the house. Or if she's right and I get bad tenants that are hard to manage, then I would let her team take over the property management :)  

What are y'alls thoughts? Any input is appreciated, thanks!

Alex 

Thanks Tony for your input! Unfortunately we tried to put in an offer and apparently that house is already under contract, but the selling agent forgot to update the MLS/HAR. Oh, well, back to the drawing board I guess.

Dalton, I've been looking in all four quadrants of I-10 and 99. From what I've re-searched, you're correct in saying that the south side of I-10 is more desirable, but if the numbers work, I don't mind looking at houses on the north side of I-10. This particular house I went to look at yesterday was on the north side of I-10 and on the west side of 99. I feel like there aren't as many houses on the market on the south side of I-10 for under $200k, which is what I want to stay under. I haven't really looked into Memorial, or any other area really. If you care to share some advice on other areas to focus on I would really appreciate it. 

Thanks guys.  

Hi All, 

I'm a newbie to RE, but have been studying BP and reading a ton of books hoping to learn and build enough confidence to finally dive in. I'm an Electrical Engineer, 29 years old, a native Houstonian and excited to be a part of this community and begin this new RE journey. I'm currently looking to get into RE by investing in rental properties. I'm primarily focusing on SFR in the Katy area. From what I've researched it's a good area for rentals, and it's also not too far from where I live.

I've been looking for properties for about 6 months now and have felt that I've been stuck in the analysis paralysis phase for a while. I have seen a few houses within these 6 months, but so far the houses I've seen have had some type of major repair work that wasn't visible in the pictures. 

Anyways, to the question. Yesterday I went to go see a house I was interested in. The numbers worked, and the house looks nice. The backyards of the surrounding neighbors though, didn't look very nice. 3 out of 5 had sheds in their backyards that looked like they were falling apart, and one of the sheds was almost as tall as the house. 2 out of 5 also had a canopy/tent type thing and they both were discolored with holes in them, but they were still propped up. These were clearly visible from the dining room window, the kitchen window, and of course the back yard. The neighborhood looks nice (I would say class B), I even drove around the other side of the block to look at houses with the sheds and they look nice from the outside. So I was wondering if anyone has been in a similar situation, and if this is something I should pass on? How bad of an impact could this sort of thing have? Are there any solutions to this? I was brainstorming and couldn't really see a solution besides maybe planting a tree to try to cover up the tallest shed. 

Any input is greatly appreciated! I know I'm new here, but if there's ever anyway I can help with anything, please, don't hesitate to ask. Also, I'm up for meeting local members of BP, so if anyone ever wants to bounce ideas off of each other, I'd be open to meeting for coffee/drinks. 

Thanks, 

Alex