All Forum Posts by: Brian Dear

I'm finding a few decent deals in South Texas, places like Corpus Christi for example. We currently have a contract on a much smaller deal (28 Units) in San Antonio. But it seems like once you get above a certain number of units, the process seems to get more complicated. For example, this property I'm analyzing in Corpus Christi is 200+ units and it apparently has an assumable note, I know what assumable means, but what I'm not sure about is the typical process that happens to put those kinds of deals together. I'm going to hear back from my broker at some point this week with more details, but for now, I'm asking in general terms.

I am finding, however that keeping one's eyes open outside of what sees as "their" market is definitely wise as the so-called "hot" markets seem to be much more competitive.

Periodically, I've been coming across some nice looking deals for larger multifamily properties ($5-10m range.) I'm interested to know if anyone has any tips or suggestions for putting together these deals, specifically, assembling partners, financing tips, etc. The friends and family circles (at least my circles) would find it rather difficult to jump into deal sizes like this, so any general tips and suggestions would be welcome. Just FYI, I don't have a million dollars in cash available!

Thanks! I'm not necessarily trying to jump into a particular deal, though I've been finding and analyzing quite a few and it seems like some of them might be very attractive. By the way, this is not a solicitation for partners.. (Although if anyone wanted to chat in general terms, it's certainly welcome.) The purpose of this post is really to develop a plan on how to get into those bigger properties and the strategies that work and those to be avoided.

How does San Antonio, Texas sound? I have a 28 unit for which we're considering a 20% partner. Current NOI $81K, 10% Cap.

Hey @Ray A. that's awesome to know! I have a commercial broker in San Antonio; we're a few days away from getting a contract on a 28 unit apartment building in that area, however, we're also going to be looking for stuff in Houston as well since that's a market I know reasonably well. We'll hopefully soon be looking for some 4+ unit rehabs in Houston, so I'll be certain to get in touch when we start that process. 

Hi Rob, I'm in Provence. The town of Avignon specifically. 

My "roots" are Houston, Texas, but we have a pretty decent setup here in terms of life (especially with the little kids.) The French real estate market is ripe, especially with only 2% interest rates, however we're focusing on the Texas market for now until we can accumulate enough capital to make some deals here.

With the dollar/euro exchange rate improving (for those with USD,) it's an excellent time to explore European real estate, but some disadvantages include really high transaction costs (for example, a "Notaire" is required for all property sales and that typically costs 8% of the sales price. So combing that, with the 20-25% down payment requirements, it can be somewhat tough to get into good deals. That being said, the market is a buyers market so it's possible to negotiate, sometimes significantly. Property management works similar as the US, so it's not difficult to run your properties without having to interface directly with tenants.

Since we're newer investors, we're sticking with Texas for now until we get more confident in deal analysis!

Anyway, nice to meet you @Rob Green!

In physics, it's known as the observer effect. The act of observing something causes it to change. It's like checking the tire pressure on a car, in order to check the pressure you must let out a little bit of the air so by checking the pressure you're actually changing the pressure. The same could be said of real estate as well. However overall this should be a net positive effect because the more people you have participating in a market the more liquid that market becomes thus making it a more efficient market.

Hi everyone! I'm glad to finally be a part of this great community! A bit of my background: I'm a software engineer and tech entrepreneur that spends most of my time writing Ruby on Rails applications. Some folks might think of this as "website development" but that's like saying a landlord is a lawn-care manager, it's part of the scope of work, but it isn't the whole picture. Essentially, I make software to do all sorts of cool things over a network. I've built the system that powers the Tribeca Film Festival, I've worked for various well known startups and I'm the cofounder of an online behavioral health startup, iCouch. I suppose one of my claims to "fame" is that I was offered a job as an engineer for Twitter, but since it would have required moving to San Francisco, I reluctantly turned it down.

My wife and I live in Avignon, France with our 3 little kids. Our town is famous for being the home of the popes during the 1200s. So, we have all the delights of living inside of a walled city (including some streets wide enough for nothing more than a goat-cart or these days, a bicycle or fully-loaded stroller.

We're interested in primarily multifamily in Texas. Anyway, if anyone wants to chat, feel free to drop me a line!