All Forum Posts by: Brian Foster

Not sure about the affect on the home value but it is probably small. If the house is to be used as a rental, you may be better off without the spa as it will likely be a maintenance issue for you down the road.

A very experienced home flipper once told me  his rule of thumb for a pool (not a spa but a built in pool) was $5,000. What he meant by that was if he bought a property with a swamp pool, he could either fix it or fill it in for $5,000.  That is in Houston, cost might different in other markets. I have experience in the Pool industry and I can tell you that his rule of thumb is pretty accurate.

Lots of great advice on here. Yes network, be around like minded people

in Houston check out

RICH Club

Wealth Club

Lifestyles Unlimited

Prosperity Group

They are all similar but they have significant differences as well, you can gain knowledge and build relationships at all of them.

I am seeing segments of the industry and pricepoints that are very hard hit. Homes in the $500K to $1.5M are taking many more DOM than before to sell/rent. However due to expanding population growth, the homes in the $100K to $150K are still selling renting relatively well. Based on HAR we are still well below 6 month inventory in that segment. I also recommend you google and review reports from "The Greater Houston Partnership". They do several detail analysis of the economic factors contributing to the Houston economy and they seem very thorough and the data suggests that Mohammad is correct. This is a great time to be investing in Houston and in TX.

This recent article helps sum up what is happening in Houston

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2016/11/16/houston-land-broker-the-time-to-buy-is-when-no-one.html

I also like the greater Houston Partnership information (William E's post). www.houston.org

I've been reading and using it for quite a while and it does not seem to pull any punches. Uses a lot of different data points and seems pretty balanced in their reporting.

Start a buyers list of people who will buy your wholesale deals from you.

Different people process information in different ways. There is a wealth of knowledge here and all over the internet. I know several successful investors who started by going to a 3 day event usually called a boot camp or something like that. They feed you a lot of information very quickly and then they usually try to sell you some coaching or mentoring products for after the event. For some people they are very effective and can be somewhere between "hand holding" to a "kick in the pants". And that is what it takes some students/investors to get going.

I've been to Lifestyles Unlimited, Prosperity Group, Wealth Club, Rich Club and there is something that I learned from each one of these Houston based groups. I think they all have value and they usually have low/no cost events where you can go and listen to them and see what they are all about.

If nothing else they provide excellent networking opportunities where you can be around  like minded people as well as vendors who you will need as you progress.

This is one of the best reports I have seen about Houston and the local economy. Shoots pretty strait and it does not sugarcoat any of the economic challenges we face here.

https://www.houston.org/assets/pdf/economy/Employm...

I love page 16, what could go wrong? what could go right?

We are working with a healthy mix of both financed and all cash buyers here in the Houston area. Again I agree and really like Clayton's advice and the importance of the team on the ground that is going to be managing your investment day to day. 

So it really depends on your investment goals and trying to find a market you are comfortable/confident with. I love that Harris County TX has the fastest growing population in the US despite the price of oil being 1/2 of what it was 2 years ago. Diversification & resilience.  

So many good responses to this. I think you can have both. The importance of the team managing your TK is critical. Good market with bad management is a losing proposition. Just like owning a dog stock in a bull market.

Having a good market can just make your experience even more profitable (short & long term). I've been in Houston for 26 years. This was a horrible market in the 80's but it has really come around in the last 25 years thanks to diversification. And the prospects looking forward are very strong (despite O&G weakness).

So #1, I agree to find a good team on the ground. #2, not all markets are equal. I like big markets and the security they bring. Houston has been very good to me and many others.