All Forum Posts by: Adam Wright

Here is the first three paragraphs from a Fort Worth Star Telegram article, dated October 5, detailing the information on the new restrictions.  I just did a search on Google on Stealth Dorms to find it.   

Fort Worth’s proposed ordinance to restrict the number of unrelated adults who can live in a single-family home from five to three in TCU-area neighborhoods — and the possibility of not grandfathering existing properties — is facing stiff opposition from investors, Realtors and developers, who say it is a break of trust with the city.

Not grandfathering in some properties to allow the practice to continue,...., is an infringement on property rights and is an economic hardship on the owners, said a group of investors and Realtors representing over 300 properties in the overlay. The investors, many of whom also live in the proposed overlay area, have pooled funds to hire an attorney to represent their concerns in the zoning case.

“We did it how they said to do it,” Kyle O’Keefe, an investor and resident in the overlay, said of the homes they built. “If they go back and change it, that is a break of trust. That is saying, ‘Hey, you guys come in and invest in our city make it a great city and then we are going to screw the hell out of you in a couple of years.”

In DFW, the commute time would be a major consideration for me.   I am assuming you work in Grapevine so from TCU, you are looking at 45 minute to 60 minute commute each way.  I35W is going through a major expansion so it is more of a "parking lot" than usual these days.   Denton might be slightly better going south to Grapevine, but this also can be stressful.  Arlington and HEB seem the most favorable based on commute time.  

Of course, you need to look at the availability of MF in these areas. I did a quick MLS search and found 11 properties in Arlington ISD. All of these are near the UTA campus. These MF range from $92K to $400K. HEB has six MF, four north of 121 and two south of it. Tarrant County College is in close proximity. These six MF are between $150K and $300K.

It looks like Arlington/HEB win out for me.  I hope this helps.   

Second update...there wasn't enough interest to do it in December so I am going back to my original plan of holding the first one in January.  I am thinking the second Saturday of every month, call it Second Saturday Brunch BP meetup.    As always, I am open to suggestions.

@Kristi Patton I did do it once for thirty days as a trial, but did not find it useful.   You can do so much with the basic membership.  

@Daniel K Adderly  Thanks for the response.  I am glad it helped.  What rules do you live by with social media?   

From one of my recent blog posts.....what rules do you live by with social media?   I would love to hear it

What rules do I live by when using LinkedIn lead generation? Here are the five most crucial – although I am sure people can add to this list.

1. Add at least three connections daily. When LinkedIn first came on the scene, it was a web-only site, so connecting up with individuals could be labor-intensive and require more steps than really were necessary to meet people on the site. Since the site launched its various smartphone apps, things have gotten much easier. I use my LinkedIn iPhone app to scroll through the connections my network is making. I look for people matching one of three conditions: they own their own businesses, they have been members of the community for an extended period of time, or they are involved in real estate in some fashion. Most of the connection requests I make are local to my area, but I will reach out to people from around the world. I feel it is important not to limit myself to my immediate area.

2. Send an immediate “welcome” and “thank you” email to your new connections. As soon as you connect with someone, send them an email or LinkedIn message thanking them. I usually offer to answer real estate questions for them, and I make sure to ask if there is anything I can do for them. (If you are not sure where to find their email, it is located in the contact information tab at the top of their profile. The other tab in that block is “relationship,” and it is the active one by default.)

I must stress that farming email addresses from your LinkedIn network is against the rules, so don’t do it!

3. Send birthday wishes, job anniversary congratulations, etc. LinkedIn makes it so easy to keep in touch with your network. You can use a phone app called “LinkedIn Connect” that alerts you when someone in your network is celebrating something. I usually send out my best wishes to people while I am waiting for my kids to get ready for school. It is so easy to do. The app will tell you that you have “five connects to make today,” and then you can swipe through the list on the app simply bysending congrats with a touch of a button.

Here is one tidbit that I didn’t figure out right away: If you click on your connection’s picture in the app, you get a full work-up of who they are and what they are celebrating that day. You can even write notes in the app to remind you of something that you need to know the next time you interact with that connection.

4. Blog and share. LinkedIn now invites certain members to blog on its site, thus providing another way to connect to members of your network. LinkedIn Pulse is the site’s attempt to bring the content game to its ranks. I, however, have mixed feelings about the content I read on it: Sometimes the content is great, but at other times I wonder if LinkedIn would benefit from putting together some editorial guidelines.

If you are not invited to be a blogger, you can still blog on your own website and then send the update to your LinkedIn account to share with your network. I do this at least twice a week and find it helps me stay fresh in the minds of my professional real estate connections.

If you don’t have you own blog, create one. It is not difficult to do; software is cheap or free, and it pays dividends down the road.

5. Never ignore a LinkedIn message or request to connect. I always look at the requests made to me through LinkedIn. The request almost always is legitimate and I will answer it. Most of the time, it is someone like me who wishes to make a connection, expand his or her career options or increase their business. Since I am doing that very thing myself, I am never rude to anyone and make sure they know how much I appreciate them reaching out.

I have received several good leads from responding to communications on LinkedIn. One time, I did accept a request that I later regretted. It was a scam, but LinkedIn responded to my complaints and the person was removed from the site for abusing the usage guidelines.

Here is an update on the Saginaw meeting.   The Saginaw library changed their policies to only allow nonprofit organizations to rent their meeting room.   No idea why....

Dixie House Cafe, located at 5401 Blue Mound Rd, Fort Worth, TX, just south of 820N, has a meeting room that is available at no cost, as long as we are ordering something off the menu.  I have attended Kiwanis meetings there and it is good sized room.   

How does this sound to everyone?   It seems many of you cannot attend 9 - 5 on a weekday.  How about we do it one Saturday morning in December?   

@Paul Ewing I hadn't really decided on a time but it would be either morning or afternoon.   My preference would be in the morning, but I am open to suggestions.  I have already had three or four people tell me they would attend the event in Saginaw.  All would be welcome.  I will post more as it develops.

Forgot to mention that I did not envision charging for the meeting as the sponsoring vendor would cover the costs.   

I am interested.  I was actually looking to start a regular meetup this coming January after the holidays.   My plan was to reserve the Saginaw Public Library meeting room.  I had not determined a time yet.   I thought refreshments could be served, sponsored by a vendor, who we would allow to speak to us for about ten minutes.  I even lined up a vendor for the first meeting.    I would be happy to continue in my efforts and work on December if everyone wants to meet earlier.