All Forum Posts by: Charles Nguyen

@Joe Haas - We will be meeting at Little Woodrows in MidTown. Hope you can join us. The Houston Meetup thread has been updated.

@Sharon Tzib - Look forward to meeting you at a future meetup.

@Shanequa J. - I cannot agree with @Duncan Taylor more. Formulate your goals and plan on how to get there. From there, you need to take some action and do not let anything stop you. If you run into issues or have questions, ask for help. You may be surprised - what you thought was the "competition" could very well become your biggest support group. See you in February.

@Shanequa J.

Welcome to Houston. The Houston market is very competitive, but you should not let that stop you. As @Marlon Wilson says, be ready to work hard and network.

Appreciation is not something you always want to rely on. The rental markets are pretty good in Houston now making it great for cashflow.

Good luck.

Acencion,

There's a multitude of formulas you can go by and everyone follows their own rules. The Houston market is very hot so discounted properties are a little harder to come by; however, rental rates are very good. Personally, I still look for discounted property and want several hundred dollars in cashflow per month. There are a few BP Calculators which can help you with the numbers. Make sure you understand the transaction and numbers before buying. It can save you a lot of money.

Good luck.

Haim,

You may want to review the Dodd Frank rules. Buyers must be qualified more rigorously, and balloons are not allowed. After 5 years, you can have provisions to increase the interest rate providing incentive for the buyer to refinance. There are of course more rules that need to be followed in this situation.

Good luck.

Glad to see several of you are interested in meeting up on Thursday, Feb 6th. We have decided to meet near the center of town (Midtown or Kirby area).

@Brian Nguyen has volunteered to help finalize/secure a location. We will keep everyone posted.

Drew - You are starting off on the right track by starting in real estate at a young age and joining BP. I would also suggest looking into local REIAs. You may find people to show you the ropes or help fund your deals.

@Alia Abbasi - Thanks for the welcome. Setting the goals and writing them down were the first hurdle. Now it is time to execute.

Look forward to meeting you in the near future. I started another thread for a meetup (link below) in the beginning of February. If there is interest in the SugarLand area, we can start one there too.

http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/521/topics/113096-houston-meetup-february-2014

BP Family,

I am looking to set up a Houston meetup and hope many of you (new and experienced investors alike) will be able to join for the networking. We will keep it casual and informal without any sales pitches, so come with your questions and/or experiences.

To throw a date out there, let's shoot for 6:30 pm on Thursday, February 6th. I will post a location once one is decided upon. There are already a few meetup groups in the North Houston area, so this meetup will be in the Central or West part of town.

Please let me know if you are interested. I look forward to meeting many of you in the near future.

BP Family,

My day job is in the IT field, and I have experienced firsthand the many challenges of starting out in the real estate business while maintaining a demanding full time job. After being the prototypical career guy for the last 15 years in the IT world, I decided in the middle of 2013 to focus effort in finding an alternative source of income – something that would ultimately allow me more time with my family. I spent many late nights/weekends listening to podcasts, reading books/internet resources, and lurking in the BP shadows. I even joined some local REIA's. Prior to this education, I had no idea what a "subject to" or "private lending" was. By the end of the year, I was fortunate to be making those exact types of deals. The information on this site has been fantastic, and I look forward to joining such a great network.

My profile picture is a constant reminder of why I am currently spending the long hours necessary to make it in the business. If doubt ever enters my mind, this picture serves as my motivation.

Here are my 2014 Goals (including some personal ones)

1. Make more deals (an obvious one).
2. Take the family to Disneyworld.
3. Set up a regular BP Houston Meetup. Since there is one already on the North side, I will look to start one in the Center or West side of town.
4. Motivate and assist at least 10 people become real estate investors. I became an unofficial mentor to three friends late in 2013. Having been helped by so many people in both my IT and real estate careers, I am a firm believer in the concept of paying it forward (Podcast 17 – Jeff Brown).
5. Be at a football game every weekend during the college football season. It was quite the feat to get my wife’s agreement on this one.
6. Stretch Goal: Establish a blog chronicling my experiences in real estate. It would not only highlight successes, but focus on mistakes/lessons learned. If people can learn from the things I did poorly, why not share them.

Good luck to everyone in the BP family this year!