All Forum Posts by: Austin Works

@Mindy Jensen thank you, ma’am!!

@Bryan Lyde Gene Hastings with Bayou Desiard should be able to help you with this. If not him, Dean Morris definitely can. I would start with Gene, though.

Sure would be cool if @Brandon Turner or @J Scott or David Greene (wouldn't allow me to mention) would write a book on how to  fully run a real estate investment business, as a business, including acquisitions, management, how and when to hire employees, what roles to fill first, systems for growing etc. I have done well at times with deal flow, but struggled other times; I have done well at times with management, and struggled at other times; and I have yet to be able to tie it all together to create a true business that can run without me or is consistent enough to actually hire someone...

@Greg Dickerson @Danny Webber @Klint Ruud @Evan Polaski @Steven Foster Wilson I believe the GC route is right for me. However, I have no idea how to generate leads for this business, as I don't ever hear other GC's running ads etc. What is the best way to find my first customer?

@Scott Krone I greatly appreciate this. I realize that we are currently facing low cap rates on buying existing facilities right now, so what is a good target range for existing self-storage facilities? If 12 or over is unrealistic, then timing may not be right for me.

@Henry Clark Thank you for the incredibly helpful information here! I will get busy on reading the articles... PM me the shipping address....King Cakes won't be on the shelves until mid January most likely, FYI. 

Seriously, this is a huge help.

@Greg Dickerson why is it a longer path to cash flow? Are you just referring to the timeframe of while the units are being built and then before they are filled? I generally capitalize all of this into my long term financing anyway

I am considering adding self-storage to my portfolio, but would actually like to treat this as a business and operate it myself. Does it ever make sense to build a new facility or is buying an existing facility generally the better way to go? I am looking to generate cash flow with this purchase.

@Melanie Stephens my biggest mistakes have always been choosing cheap contractors and paying them ahead of the work or getting out of balance in what's been paid versus what work has been completed. I am now very firm in dealing with contractors and it works well. 

In the past few years, flipping houses has been a major source of income for me, but deals have been so hard to find this year, that I've only flipped one house all year. Would this be a good time to shift my focus to starting a new business (like a home services business) to generate income, or should I just double down my efforts on finding flips? What are other flippers doing during this time?