All Forum Posts by: Ann Howell

I applaud your efforts!  Just this week, I was thinking about how to use real estate to help foster kids who are aging out of the system. They could apprentice and learn business and construction skills.  I am not able to do this now, but maybe a few years down the road. I'll watch your progress.

Thanks for sharing, so we can all learn from it.  Flooding is a big problem in the Houston area and usually requires extra insurance.  We are looking for rental property here, but we keep finding that insurance and high property taxes kill any possible cash flow.  Glad that you are able to sustain your property as a rental.

 You made some great and specific suggestions that I have not heard before.

 Hi Wayne - who are some of the non-profit workout companies?

You should be eligible for COBRA to cover your Heath care expenses. Your monthly premium will go up, but it will give you time to work on setting up a full time REI business. This seems like a good time to try it out!

My biggest mistake so far has been not trusting my gut. I trusted people I was working with who had experience. When things started going wrong, I stayed in the deal thinking my concerns were because I was a newbie investor. I have good business instincts, even if I don't know everything about REI, and I should have listened to them.

 That is great to hear!  Are you buying in Memphis or Texas?

 Thanks for the note, Jay.  The stories keep coming about that crew in Birmingham and it gets worse and worse.  Fortunately there are some good folks in that market as well.  We have been very pleased with Decas Group, which is our new property management company.  Similar to Memphis Invest, they have good communication and good systems.  They have kept us informed about our property and they are helping us get it to the standard we want.

With Memphis Invest, we purchased in Memphis even though we live in Houston.  We really want to invest in Houston, but we can't seem to make the numbers work from a turnkey perspective.  Purchase prices are still high, rent is medium and property taxes and insurance take out all of the cash flow.  The only upside of low oil prices for Houston might be that property prices come down.  At that point, we will be ready to jump in. We are starting to connect with more Houston folks in hopes of finding some options.

We just closed on our second turnkey property.  This time the turnkey process worked the way it was supposed to work.  We purchased a property in Memphis through Memphis Invest. The rehab went as promised and the independent inspection only identified minor issues which were immediately fixed.  The customer service has been outstanding and responsive.  The transition to the property management side of the business went smoothly. It is obvious that Memphis Invest has good processes and systems, which is very reassuring.

Many BP folks strongly dislike turnkey.  But for investors like us, it provides a more passive way to start building a portfolio.  I'm pleased that we persevered past our first disaster and tried a new partner.  Over time, we'll see how the property performs.  I think we are on the right track now!

If you missed the saga of our first turnkey property, search for Birmingham and Fraud. Fortunately that property is now rented with a real tenant, but we continue to find expensive problems that were not rehabbed properly.  We hope to have it stabilized soon.

The neighbors might enjoy the view!