All Forum Posts by: Ethan Castleberry

Welcome! I am also from Lufkin and own several properties there. Feel free to contact me if you need help locating contractors. I do not live there but I am in town at least once a week.

I have a 14 unit mobile home park that I bought through an owner finance deal last year. Most of the units are older mobile homes (8 units), some stick frame house (4 units) and 2 spaces that I rent out. I am looking into refinancing the park but realize I made a major rookie mistake, in that I bought the park without any list of serial numbers of the individual homes. The man who started the park died recently which made it possible for me to purchase it, but he had no records whatsoever. He was an old school investor who ran it very poorly and died at the age of 95. I'm in a pickle when it comes to financing... the bank I'm working with won't lend unless I have titles for the trailers. This problem came up when the banker looked at the tax roll and saw that only 6 of the homes are listed (cheap taxes lol)... I tried getting the serial numbers off the homes, I found most of them but one is barely readable and another can not be found at all. What options do I have? Would a hard money lender be the best route? I'm open to opinions. It brings in good monthly cash flow and I really enjoy working with this park.

I actually live in Lufkin. Feel free to PM me if you want to know more of the local market. I'd love to help you out.

I recently went through a similar experience trying to create an LLC in texas. The name we originally picked was too similar to another LLC so I ended up calling the Texas Secretary of State phone number and asking them if the new slightly edited name would work and it made it much easier.

Mike Reynolds and Chris Faulkner it looks like we have enough to start. Let's PM and get a meet up going soon. Good to see you on BP Chris!

I'm curious, what software do you use to manage your rental properties? I have recently moved up to 13 properties and would like to know what kind of programs are out there that will assist in general Maintinance as well as keeping us financially aware of my portfolio. Any advice and experience helps.

Thank you all for the advice! I asked for the lease agreements and HUD inspections from the listing agent... and the ones he gave me are OLD! They are the original leases from the first year they signed and the monthly rent is considerably less than what the agent told me it was bringing in. I'm starting to get a little worried about the deal...

What should I keep in mind while purchasing a duplex that has renters under HUD. I just placed an offer on a duplex built in the early 2000s that is in fairly good shape. What should I be looking for if I come to owning this property?

@Corey Grant Livingston is not too far! I would like to get a few more local(ish) investors and get a meeting going. I am not too experienced and am always looking for a chance to network. I am currently putting offers in for my first duplex and hope to have it by the beginning of the year. Maybe I'll have a chance to go visit Livingston one day and we can meet up. 

Hey Marco! I am also in the East Texas area (Lufkin) if you ever want to start a meet up around Lufkin or Nacogdoches I'd love to get involved. I am also young and in the middle of purchasing my first investment.