All Forum Posts by: David Hines

Veronica,

I would be very wary of the property on Bolt Street. It was on the market from November through February for $95,400 and didn't sell. I know the wholesaler posted the Zestimate from Zillow, but be aware that information from Zillow is notoriously inaccurate.

There have been no comparable sales in the neighborhood for the last six months. A couple smaller homes sold for 65k and 84k. I am a broker and investor in the Katy/ Cypress area. Feel free to reach out if there is anything I can help you with, but any agent should be able to find a property that meets your needs without too much difficulty. My contact information is on my profile page.

Look into Buildium, for fewer than 40 units, it costs $40/ month. That's what I use and it does everything you need.

Welcome to BP Shelby Morrison You'll find a ton of educational resources here. Be sure you check out the blogs and webinars. I am an investor as well as a real estate broker and property manager in Houston. If there's anything I can do for you, don't hesitate to reach out. My contact info is on my profile page.

@Andrew Taylor, thank you so much for the recommendation. I can't post contact information here, but @Lauren Brown, you can see my contact information on my profile.

I tend to err on the conservative side when I'm evaluating deals. Buying a property and depending on appreciation to make it a profitable deal is a pretty risky strategy that may be more suited to investors with a bit more experience. I've tended to view appreciation as a happy bonus and not the basis for why I buy a property in the first place.

For post 2000 construction 3/2/2 I would definitely focus in the suburbs. I've focused on similar properties in the past and all mine are in the Katy/ Cypress area. You'll be able to find some available in the Spring area as well. Much like DFW, the Houston market is overheated as well. There are still deals to be had under 150k, but there are fewer than in years past. The oil downturn hasn't affected sales prices yet, but if oil stays down much longer I would expect that to change.

I haven't used the others, but homepath.com is exclusively for Fannie Mae properties and they will typically also be listed on the mls.

I always tell people that you should NEVER pay to learn about real estate unless it is to get a license. There are too many scam artists out there.

If you're using an online rent payment system (like erentpayment), typically the tenant takes care of setting up their account. They will have the choice of manually entering each month's payment or they can set up recurring payments. You'll have to create an account first and then add each tenant. I generally prefer to do it this way because the fee can be passed on to the tenant and you can set it up to automatically apply late fees if the tenant is late.

Don't forget to check out any credit union your employer may have. I've found they can offer additional benefits to their employees.