All Forum Posts by: Vijaianand Thirunageswaram

@Nico Murillo  I know every one wants to get piece of Texas.. That's been buzz word which is not bad idea. As @John Chapman said CA is big enough to provide you lots of opportunities but I hear from lots of investors that price is jacked up so much and you won't get good ROI.

Texas is big and has investment opportunities everywhere whether its' DFW or Houston, San Antonio or Austin. It all depends on your goal and what kinda of deals you are looking to invest. Real estate is local and every market is different. Dallas is different than Houston and so forth. Try to first nail down which market you want to concentrate and start following and research about it. 

As you rightly said, any out of state investments, you need Deal Finder/Realtor, Contractor, Lender and Property Manager. That's your team and it's not hard to find them, how to find them is always million dollar question and above that how to trust them and take your chances.  I have fortunate to work with few out of state investors to help them with flip and rentals. It's all about forming trusted network to start your investment. It won't happen easily. 

@Andrew Alston Welcome to BP.

If you want to invest in Houston, start following Houston forum and learn from the local comments and issues. Attend local networking events which has learning opportunities and avoid marketing events. I know it's tough to find it but there are few in and around Houston. Connect with BP regulars and try to see they can help answer any questions. 

Most importantly, any new investors they need to figure out what they want out of the real investing. What's their goal?  Figure out your GPA - Goal, Plan and Action and see how you can allot time to take that action.  Networking is key to Real Estate where online or offline.

@Troy Egar Welcome to BP and Houston market!! I see lot of new comers every time and they want to get in to real estate blah blah. They vanish after few months or even few weeks. Again what @Chris Hopper said is absolutely true. Why 1 year later and not now? I see you have reason behind it. I wont' agree the fine of couple of hundred or thousand dollar should stop you from getting in to getting to investing if the investor deals makes sense.

We have many regulars in our BP Houston forms who love to help new comers but the problem is no one wants to invest time and learn and take action. There is vigor to jump and take a leap. That's missing which I know I can understand because Real estate investing is bigger investment than buying stocks. But without taking risk and learning by experience, you will never do it. As I always, "You have to take risk in life, otherwise life becomes riskier".  It has to be calculated risk so you know what you are putting and how to get out if doesn't work out. 

Anyway, enough of my blabbering, try to connect, put some real time in to it by connecting with experienced people and start putting your GPA together.  That's the only way to see success. 

@Jason Friday  I remember you called few weeks and talked to me about it. I am sorry about it. It's known issue with any contractor whether you gave him 100k project and working for long. It just happens because they don't understand our side of it. They think we have lot of money and buying houses a lot and you should be able to manage the loss.

It's surely hard to find a trustworthy contractor or Handyman. I learned many lessons in these years even with those lessons I tend to make mistakes and fail sometimes. We are all humans and obviously soft corners even we tried to keep it as business as possible. Here are few things I do mitigate this issue. I am not going to say it works all the time but it works for me, most of time.

1. If you find an handyman and he works well and shows up whenever you call him, don't bargain with him unless the charge he quoting are way too high. I used to bargain but not anymore because how many handyman shows up on time and how many pick their phone every time you call them.  Its hardly 10%. Not many look for longevity. 

2. I work with many vendors like AC guy, Handyman, Plumbers and contractors for few years now. I keep in touch and give them business regularly with my project or other referrals. By doing so they know that you are valuable asset. Also I respect them and take care of payment on time which many investors don't

3. I scope my projects in smaller blocks and try to split in multiple payments not just 2 or 3. That way your lose would be less and you have the accountability and can recoup quickly. I know it's pain to go back and check every few days but you gotta do it. 

4. I am also trying to implement few clauses in the contract that allows you to take over the property if they are late and don't put an lien on your property. It's going to hard to execute but at least these clauses they signed will hold them against and they might think twice. 

5. if it's small project, try to pay for material via HD online or phone and have them complete project and pay them for the day of work completed accordingly. 

Anyway, these tips hope this helps you or any other investors. If you need help, don't hesitate to pm or call me. 

We are Flat Fee Brokerage with low yearly fee and Flat fee on each transaction. We are easy on part time agents and agents who want to start out slow and grow slowly.

Check out website and join our team

http://omrealtygrouptx.com/join-our-om-realty-team/

@John Chapman I have learned lesson few times already via flipping, if you go above $175k it's hard to sell quickly in certain areas and you are stuck with it for a while. So it's better to learn the market area and execute your plan. That's really important when comes to Real Estate. Experiences teach hard lesson which you need to use to improve yourself otherwise you will keep doing same mistake and lose right!!

@Saud Alduweesh You meant to say you found properties and didn't seem to work with fees or what do you mean to say?

@John Chapman good to hear another texan doing good!! Yes we got the lot of 15k and that's my goal too. Get the lot cheap and subdivide and save on it and keep it under $200k. My next project. Got the lot for 40k and subdividing to 3 plat and plan to do 3 SFH.

@Mark Sewell What do you mean? I don't understand. I meant that there are many people who market their business and also many who don't know what they want and they always say to others lets get coffee and talk. We all have limited time and we cannot be preachers or someone to direct your life or don't have way to do so. 

There are people don't even know the ABC of investing and don't do their home work even going through BP materials and they want to meet with you. I been there many times. After that I decided, if you are serious about it, you better put things together and show me and we can meet later.  I am not trying to avoid anyone, just trying to find people who really needs help and can be helped as long as my time permits. That's all! I met and meet BP Investors all the time.. As you know, I am always happy to share and help. 

@Huy Thai You shouldn't according to my experience but you never know.