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All Forum Posts by: Geode Pratt

Geode Pratt has started 5 posts and replied 33 times.

Post: Real Estate Agent Investing in HUD home

Geode PrattPosted
  • Investor
  • McKinney, TX
  • Posts 35
  • Votes 9

Great Post! It has answered about 90% of my questions on this topic and thanks to @Greg H. for specific points relating to Texas. 

Just to be extra clear, if my broker is a "Selling Broker" with HUD, I am ok to bid on these properties. Am I understanding that correctly?

Thanks again,
Geode

Post: Probate Leads

Geode PrattPosted
  • Investor
  • McKinney, TX
  • Posts 35
  • Votes 9

I love this probate thread. It's exactly what I'm looking for right now. As I read, I'm trying to put the suggested steps into practice, but I have a couple of questions.

I've found a probate record (Register of Actions) on my county website. It is simply an application to determine heirship, but it lists the decedent, and living relatives. From this info, I researched and found the decedent's property, and the names and addresses of his mother, brother, sister, etc. Now, I'm assuming this is not actually what I'm looking for, as it is basically a court communication log and does not actually establish an heir.

Am I too early in the process? Don't have the correct record? Or should I market to these family members anyway?

Thanks for all the great advice!

Post: Plumbing Question - Sinks won't drain

Geode PrattPosted
  • Investor
  • McKinney, TX
  • Posts 35
  • Votes 9

Wow! Great responses. Thank you.

Looks like the next step is to cut off those p-traps and run a longer snake from there. Since we're doing that, I'll put in the tutor valve as well. Hopefully that will solve the problem. If not, Ben Franklin it is! 

What an appropriate name for a plumber.

Post: Plumbing Question - Sinks won't drain

Geode PrattPosted
  • Investor
  • McKinney, TX
  • Posts 35
  • Votes 9

Hi All,

This may be bit off topic, but I know the experience in the room will have answers.

We're almost at the end of a flip rehab and just realized that the master bath sinks (dual vanity) won't drain - rather, fill quickly and drain VERY slowly. Maybe an inch an hour. Meanwhile, the tub and toilet, which are about 6-8 feet away both function perfectly. Both vanity sinks have the same problem, and they appear to "T" in the wall, though I haven't opened it up, as the cabinets are painted, granite is in, etc. Unfortunately, the p-trap is glued PVC, not screw in, so even opening that will be a bit more of a pain. Anyway, we snaked both sinks 15' from the drain and found nothing. The only vent stack in this bathroom goes directly to the toilet, so unless they're all connected in the bulkhead, (I have not yet dug through the attic insulation) the sink may not have a vent.

That's where this goes above my head.  

My concern is there may be a break in the sewer line somewhere under the slab, but it would seem that would cause other symptoms besides just these sinks. I'm about 24 hours from calling a plumber, so I'm hoping the fine folks of BP have a solution.

 More info: It's a late 70s build on slab in Texas. Not F&J, but a step or 2 above. 2000 sft brick, beds/baths on one side - kitchen on other. No side cleanout on this side of house, but one by kitchen.  I think 2 cleanouts in front yard by curb.

Any help on this is greatly appreciated!

Post: Need a sponsoring broker in north dfw

Geode PrattPosted
  • Investor
  • McKinney, TX
  • Posts 35
  • Votes 9

@Jeff Richardson did you ever find a broker? I'm doing the same thing now. I'm about to schedule my test and need to find a broker. What were your results?

Post: The house I lease is up for auction...

Geode PrattPosted
  • Investor
  • McKinney, TX
  • Posts 35
  • Votes 9

Wow! I clicked on this thread thinking it would answer a question I have about purchasing an occupied property. For a minute there, I thought it took me to Facebook instead. 

Post: First post..

Geode PrattPosted
  • Investor
  • McKinney, TX
  • Posts 35
  • Votes 9

Welcome @Rob Nerpel. I have to agree with those above. This is like having Lifestyles or some other guru for free. Awesome site. You came to the right place. I'm also a member at LU, and would be happy to discuss that with you as well.

Post: Lifestlyes Unlimited Good Or Con?

Geode PrattPosted
  • Investor
  • McKinney, TX
  • Posts 35
  • Votes 9

Hopefully I can provide a little better answer than the one above.

As a Lifestyles FFP member, which was $500 for 3 years when I joined, (and for single family only) I have been to several meetings, the 2-day seminar, spoken to the "mentors", etc. 

First of all, Lifestyles is a TEXAS company. They started in Houston and have offices in Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio. They may have opened offices in other cities as well. In my opinion, if you are looking to buy and hold (rentals), either single family or multifamily, and are a new investor, and in Texas, their minimum membership is well worth the money. The general lessons they teach, documentation available, and overall approach are, I believe, solid fundamentals for long term cash flow. No preaching of get rich quick here. With that said, I have no clue about their knowledge of markets outside of Texas. They seem to have quieted down a lot here in Dallas lately. I really thought they retracted to focus on Houston again, but maybe they are making a national push now.

They do have a few membership options, some of which supposedly include bus tours, spoon feeding of deals, and multifamily mentoring. I have no experience with these programs, as they were out of my price range.

For someone who has never done any investing, and wants to buy and hold, I think their cheap program is probably worth the $500 or $700. Once you've taken that step out and own 2 or 3 properties, downloaded the forms you need, watched the videos, etc., you have probably outgrown them or at least that membership. At that point, maybe upgrading is worth considering.

If it wasn't for Lifestyles Unlimited, I don't know if I would have ever bought my first rental property, much less the 2 that followed it, so for me it was well worth it.

As far as the single family mentors go, I was less than impressed. Yes, they will answer a few questions here and there (sometimes taking up to a week to respond), but in my experience the answers were very generic. When I decided I wanted to start flipping, they refused to discuss it unless I upgraded to a $6000 membership. Since then, I have pretty much written them off. They have revamped their membership levels recently and seems they are offering MUCH less for the FFP program than they did before. I noticed a lot of the training videos I had access to a year ago are no longer on the website. I'm guessing that's now in the $6000 package.

Again, this is all simply my experience from the single family side of things. I had no interest in going into multifamily, so if that's your thing, your experience may be different. 

I noticed you are in New York, so if that's where you want to invest, I would suggest you talk to them and make sure they actually have members/mentors in your area who know that market and interview those people. Because, when Del and Steve start talking about a bread and butter deal of buying a $100k house for $60k, that may not be the least bit relevant in your market.

Hope this helps. As with anything, they key is going out and doing it. No amount of education is worthwhile if you don't get off the couch.

Good luck!

Post: Looking for a mentor

Geode PrattPosted
  • Investor
  • McKinney, TX
  • Posts 35
  • Votes 9

Welcome @Jeffrey Wendt 

How are things going over there at Lifestyles. I haven't been to one of their meetings in over a year. Seems to have gone quite recently.

Post: Newbie in Dallas, TX

Geode PrattPosted
  • Investor
  • McKinney, TX
  • Posts 35
  • Votes 9

@JoJo Diego Hi JoJo. @Hattie Dizmond is right on the money. It is definitely a seller's market and very competitive for the investor right now. There are certainly still deals to be had, but you have to be a little more diligent than before. What areas are you looking in?