All Forum Posts by: Jason Hall

Try to rent it out or sell it with owner financing.

Sorry you're having issues. Money and family is frequently a terrible mix. Why not owner finance or get a mortgage for her interest in the property? You can rent out the houses and use the proceeds to pay her over time for her interest in the property. Or, obtain a bank loan, apply the proceeds from the rentals to the mortgage and your sister gets the disbursement from the bank for her interest. Basically, you need to find a way to buy her out. As far as the property taxes, whether you are entitled to reimbursement for her share of the taxes will depend on how the title is held.

I've used Power to Choose to select providers for the past several years. You really have to have a handle on your seasonal average kwh consumption to get the best deal. And you have to examine the spread between the different rates at different consumption tiers. 

For example, my usage drops substantially in winter, but rises precipitously in spring and summer. So I selected rates that had higher prices at low consumption tiers to get lower rates at higher consumption tiers. I did this because I knew my contract would cover a period where my consumption increased. My most recent contract is for 8.6c Kwh for 12 months (I finally got tired of switching providers), but in the past few years I've had rates as low as 1.6 to 7.3. for 3 - 6 month intervals. 

Also, many providers jack up rates when you're no longer a new customer. If you look closely at the rates, many of the best ones say "new customers." If you select a provider and they try to do that come renewal time, ask for a manager and request that they honor the rate on the website and sometimes they will do it.

 No, I'm a lawyer.  I usually don't do work for people who don't need it. But hey, if someone is willing to pay, who am I to deny them?

I'll sell you some LLCs.  Only $800 each, guarantee no piercing of the veil ;)

Join the Houston real estate investors group on Facebook. Contract assignments get posted very quickly and you can see what kind of numbers people are putting up. The Dallas group is very active as well. There are also a couple of Bigger Pockets episodes with Houston investors, one of whom does turnkey rental properties. I don't recall the specific episode numbers though. And of course, there's the David Green book on long distance investing.

I think you're over complicating your analysis. You're not living in the property. If the property has a good cap rate and you can withstand any reduction in rents or vacancy increase from an economic downturn, what difference does it make where the property is? Both of those suburbs are very popular. These areas are similar enough that I think you're splitting hairs.

An insurance provider can pull records of properties that have had claims, included repeat loses. Many of the flood homes in Houston will have high insurance rates if they are in the flood plain and don't have elevation certificates. Houston does have a flood issue, so you just have to be very diligent in finding out the claim history for any properties you purchase. And keep in mind the problem has gotten worse, not better, due to all the growth. It increases runoff and results in waters rising faster than draining. If you're keeping the properties, make sure they're not in an area that has a flooding issue because a property that has not flooded in the past may flood in the future.

Live in a travel trailer. You can't fit anything in it that you don't need. Ask me how I know.

Skiptrace the kids and check the deed. Did the decedents hold it as joint tenants or were they tenants-in-common?