All Forum Posts by: Henry Clark

The numbers say do it. We are all looking at upward curves on REI, and downward curves on Interest rates.

The answer to your question is on the back end of a bubble burst for the industry or you personally.

1.  What if your 30 year 2.67% mortgage gets "called".  Divorce, move cities- you don't rent out a $700,000 home, oil industry goes bust and your impacted.  Are you liquid enough to take the house going down to $450,000 and being forced to sell in that market?

Weigh that versus your potential upside.  Will the $700,000 house go above $800,000 in the next few years?  Is it worth it with a 7% sales commission (note your a realtor).  Will interest rates go further below 2.67%; how much if any will that improve your value or increase the Buyer action.

2.  If you buy up, how do you protect yourself from the "downward Trend" that will come.  Buy into a neighborhood that has no downside in market.  Your in Houston.  Do your neighbors have little miniature ponies running around on the lawn.  Then your fine, your market won't go down.  I wouldn't buy into a new subdivision.

Just thoughts.  Not an area we are investing in or doing.

We are actually in the countryside and subdividing off and selling land into this market.  Also do Self Storage.  Have two large projects we are currently adding on.  Self Storage is good whether the economy is bad or good.  Only down side is when its stagnant, and that okay if your rented up already.

Just opinions, your dollars.  Good luck

@Thomas Houpt

No feed back.  Was this a hoax post?

Had two days with 50 highs. The road contractor was able to pour the two sidewalk edges. This is a major bike, jogging and dog walking section. So I really wanted to get this in, before winter closed out pouring concrete. This is the last work we will do until around March of next year with concrete. The orange rubber bumps are required by the city to assist with visually impaired at crossings. Will give the concrete about 7 days to cure, then will remove the barricades.  Get back to being a good neighbor, yahoo.

Probably wait till spring to do grass and landscaping.

Side bit of info.  If you do an Airport property build to suit, they are their own legal entity.  They usually don't have a property tax.  There may be a small charge for road maintenance or if another tenant has gone bankrupt, you may have to help pay a portion.

@Philip Cook

Sounds like you have it covered.

One option we did to make sure an offer stayed on the table, was to put $10,000 down non-refundable towards the purchase, subject to zoning approval within 90 days.  This made them know we were serious and there was an end date.

Good luck.

@Bennet Sebastian

Just sharing our experiences and failures.  Good luck out there.

My neighbor is from Puerto Rico and one of my tenants was from Puerto Rico.  Neither would move back there, it is too expensive both from a Real Estate and a Living standpoint.  I have not personally checked it out, other than asking them as we we're starting to look for overseas property.  Recommend you spend your vacations down there, away from the tourist environment.  

We went through the same process investing in Belize.  About 6 trips before we bought.  Like anything know the Good, bad 

and ugly.  Also I would live there for a year and get a local to help find and buy a location.  I helped my contractor buy a house lot for $3,000 USD; which I would have paid $30,000.  Several other lots like this, which I would never see.

Best wishes on your journey.  

Pineapples will be ready in 12 months.

@Wendy C.

Sorry for no response.  Busy with our 8th and last location.

All through one phone, we handle 7 locations, with an 8th coming on line.  The downside is you might miss a day or two rent if the person doesn't put the exact move in date.  We are okay with that versus otherwise we couldn't do the business and meet people 40 minutes away.  Also manager cost with benefits of $40 to $60k is an okay offset to any lost income.

No big issues with Self service.  You will get a customer who never sends a contract in.  After about 2 weeks we cut in and see if we can find any contact info.  We note to people that after 30 days, no contract, we treat as abandoned and auction off.  Again, this is offset by the time to meet people or the cost of a manager.  We spend a lot of money on Security systems also, as an offset.  See my separate post on Security.

We do RV's/Boats and vehicle storage.  This is really not worth it.  Payback is 15 to 25 years.  Only do this where we have excess land and can convert in the future to Self Storage.  Also RV's are a big break in issue and also hard to get people to let us know when they permanently move out, even with signs.

Just for kicks, look at Loopnet 3134 Bridge Blvd, Alburquerque.  Didn't realize the Alburquerque market was so expensive.  Check zoning on Self Storage.  Read the details.  Asking $1.4mm; propose $700k.  Also check on land next "to".

Also look at Sparefoot and then Google self storage.  Looks like a great market to get into storage.  Not a lot of competition.  This could be due to zoning or just high land prices.

Looks like a great place to do a deep dive into self storage. Good luck.

@Drew C Grossman

A couple of avenues for you.

a.  Loopnet florida self storage- forget whether you buy or are even interested in this specific property.  2008 Griffin Rd Leesburg, FL.  Looks like its close to you.  Recommend you go through the evaluation and purchase motions on this property.  This will help you speed up your analysis and thought process on any future properties you look at.   This also has land to expand, which to me is always a deal maker.  Your profit margin is a lot higher on the next series of buildings.

b.  Same for 611 N Dixie Ave, Fruitland Park.

c. Sparefoot exercise- pull up Sparefoot for Orlando. You can do this for any city. Select the Map selection in the upper left. 1. Look for holes in the map and look to build or buy there. Look at all of the non national and local ownership locations and start talking with them every year. Kind of like your SFH drive for Dollars method. But get to know the people.

d.  Google "self storage"- do same exercise as above.

e.  I always like to both look to build and/or to buy.  Which ever makes the most sense both financially but also "Location" competitiveness.  As far as looking for a place to build, here are two unusual avenues.  1.  Look up on your local GIS county or city map and look for any Railroad owned property.  If its not being used, ask them to sell to you.  This works for us., 2.  Contact the Orlando airport authority.  Some airports buy excess land and will "build to suit" and then you lease back.

f.  Before you start down any of these routes, determine your financial package limits.  Not knowing the land prices where you might be looking.  Just the building costs and sundry (elec/eng/sewer/roads/surveying/etc) your looking at $750k package without the land.  Probably about $400k more if concrete roads or an additional $150k more if storm drains are needed.

g.  I would also look at Loopnet florida, commercial/industrial land for sale.  Everyone is always looking for the diamond, I like to dig around in the coal pile.  1.  If you find a good hunk of concrete surface, go with Boat/RV storage.  This old concrete surface will be cheap and of no use for new construction., 2.  These properties can usually be converted to Storage locations with some demo.  Just watch out for any EPA issues.

This is the fun part.  Good luck.

@Philip Cook

How did you make your offer, and with regards to timing?  This is more for future offers.  I agree with sticking to your position as noted above. 

The only other out, subject to your responses below, is to get your attorney to send a certified letter to both the owner and Realtor; noting you have made an offer at their asking price and would like to move forward with the deal.  This clouds their position, about playing with the market.  Would only do this as a last ditch effort, but quickly.

Was it a written offer through a Realtor?

What was the timing.  Did you make the offer on Monday, subject to acceptance by last Friday?

This will help me understand "normal".  a.  If you went through a realtor, then you have them pushing the deal.  They won't want to be known as a Sellers Realtor, who didn't come through on a good faith offer.  b. If you give me an offer without a deadline and I have a lot of interest, I might hold your offer in my pocket.