All Forum Posts by: Dave Chapa

@Brad Larsen It takes time to find the right property. As for Katy, prices have jumped and is tight now.

Try to focus on older homes and around the 100k to 150k and see what numbers you come up with, you could be surprised.

My son would like to coming back to Texas and house-hacking. If I was his age, 30, I would be all over this, it's a smart way to start in RE. I may sell him my tri-plex to help him start down the RE path.

@Jacey C. Don't settle but be open to all options, SF or small MF. You never know what you will find while looking. I found a SFH while chasing MFs that I couldn't pass up. I found a tri-plex while searching for a small office building. Right now, I'm looking at a commercial retail/office building, when a duplex that looks promising came up.

I installed programmable t-stats that allowed the tenants the ability to manage their A/C. Biggest PITA. calls all the time on A/C not working only to find out they had it set wrong. 

I installed washers and dryers that use credit cards and connect to wifi in the laundry room, it allowed the tenants to have the ability to check W/D and pay on line. It's was a PITA. Calls, "I can't get the credit card to work!"

We found that the simpler it is to use the less calls we receive. so, we apply the K.I.S.S principle. "Keep it simple, stupid"

My driver 2012 Tundra Platinum

My wife's driver 2007 Lexus ES350

My fun vehicle 2017 LS XG3140 (look that one up) it's slow but has a lot of power!

The market is strong, and the dials are still out there. I may take you a little longer to find them, but they are there.

I try not to worry about predicting the crash or correction and focus more on building a solid portfolio. Slow and steady, that is how my wife and I have built our portfolio for the last 3 years.

@Jon S. I used Longhorn III Investments on one of my properties, went very smooth.

Sharpstown was bad in the 90s so it about time for some gentrification love.

As for condos, it's hard to take control or pump money into a property owned by X number of people also, it's not a very desirable investment so that doesn't help.

Just my 2 cents.

Congratulations!

I haven't used Fast Track however several friends on mine have, and they all had good results. I have used Accent Construction Services, Inc., in the past and they did a good job for me on a 90k renovation.

As for "investor friendly", I learn this saying from a customer of mine many years ago, "Cheap is not quality and Quality is not cheap".

I believe in building long term relationships where both parties can make money. I have a sub-contractor that will MAKE time for my projects because he knows he can make money and won’t be beat down on everything. We both make money :-).

So, find a couple of good quality GC and build relationships for the long game.

Look forward to reading about your success!

@Dave Fagundes I came to the same conclusion. I found several properties that were too tight on the numbers, passed on a 4 plex in the Heights. that's why all my recent purchases have been outside of Houston, the Katy and Bellville area. 

I'm really liking the more rural areas like Bellville and find my self looking further out from Houston for more MF.  Also, I live in the hour and a half west of Houston so that helps.

However, I still keep looking in Houston for that "black swan". :-)

@Jeffrey Bullock You should be fine. 

My first question is, how much is your down payment?