All Forum Posts by: Al Rivera

There is a reason why Montelongo's brother is suing him: all about the money.

Since the Houston metro covers a large area, it depends where you buy your next deal.  Personally, I would never buy anything 3 miles south and north of 610 between 288 and Martin Luther King because of the high crime and gang activity.  Most of my properties are within 5 miles of my home in Eastwood and extend to the Gulfgate area which has been quite lucrative.  I screen my tenants and have had very good luck with them and no turnover (2 tenants over 2 years and 1 tenant with an extended lease).  I'm hoping to find other investors in my area to partner up on deals and learn a few more strategies to buy and hold.

That is a sweet gesture but the liability is not worth it. Imagine if the potential seller has a food allergy i.e. nuts, eggs, flour etc. I think it would be best to get to know them then take them out for a coffee/diner meeting where they can select their own food item. Hope this helps you out 👍

I'm just starting out with real estate investing and this is a huge help.  Thanks for your efforts and hard work.

Originally posted by @Doug French:

I think it all comes down to personal preference. One can argue either way. If you loose sleep at night worrying about how you are going to pay the mortgage all cash is the way to go. Personally, I have about 40% equity in all my deals. I do 15 year fixed notes typically. My goal is to eventually have ten free and clear and from the CF they produce by one additional SFH a year. My primary business is very risky so I am trying to balance that with free and clear SFH.

I was always taught leverage magnifies everything. If things are bad leverage makes them worse, but if things are going good (appreciation) leverage is great.

 I agree with a lot of points brought up in this discussion about leveraging vs paying cash for a property. From some of the research I have done, it is great to pay cash if you are purchasing 1 property (provided it is a below market price and has lots of potential.). I find that leveraging is good to buy multiple properties at once but those deals are sometimes hard to find because a lot of those deals are junk houses/buildings. 

As mentioned before, it depends on how much risk and the personal knowledge a person has to assume more responsibilities. When an investor buys one house cash, they only have one problem to deal with. When leveraging and buying 4 houses, they will have 4 times the problems.

Originally posted by @Steve Osowicz:

Unfortunate lesson, but one you definitely won't make again...like some of the other posters stated follow your states laws and guidelines when it comes to the security deposit. Never put utilities in your name "for a tenant", and never have a "verbal agreement" the only agreement you should ever have is one that is in writing (approved of course by legal counsel) this helps protect a landlord and tenants. If law allows, I would get all of your documents in a file and you can submit tenant information to a collection agency, one that will only charge you out of collected funds i.e. whatever amount they collect they keep 40% and send you 60%. If you want one that I used in the past just message me. 

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CYA is always the best policy to have in business:  always in writing and signed by both parties.

I know it's already happened and you unfortunately got burned by this bad tenant but the big "no-no" was to let her receive services under your name.  It is in my lease agreements that I give my tenants 2 weeks to put the electric and gas in their name because it's going to be shut off.  Plus her bad credit history should have been the biggest red flag:  if she doesn't pay her bills, what makes you think she will pay you?

Good luck and keep us informed.
:)