All Forum Posts by: John Collins

@John Collins

Interesting question. Can't speak for other markets, but we're here in Denver and Colorado Sprigs. While there are searches you can do on the MLS for rentals, so few landlords list their properties on the MLS that I don't think it gives an accurate portrait of rental prices.

As someone else said, we use -- and have many of our investor clients use -- Rentometer. We also use Facebook marketplace and zillow. Just be aware that none of those sites give you prices that people actually received in rent. Those sites are all based on the average price of rental listings. They won't know what they actually got. So sometimes you'll see a similar unit for, say $2,200, when you've heard it should be closer to $1,800. On closer inspection, you notice that that the $2,200 listing has been on for 55 days. Hmmm...no one's biting at that price? Tells me you can't charge that.

So just keep that in mind.

@John Collins

I cant recommend from first hand experience but I know others who I've worked with have recommended DyeBrick. It's a tinting/staining product made specific for bricks.

With regards to painting, all the big companies have a product designed for brick. When painting brick you really want to make certain you a) prep and clean the surface so the paint adheres properly and b) make certain you use a breathable paint that wont trap the moisture inside the brick/building envelope behind the paint. If you go to a Sherwin William's any of their staff should be able to help you with this, they may offer a staining product too at this point.

Hope that helps a little, if you do stain let me know how it turns out, I'd love to see before/after. Best of luck!

@John Collins

Sorry for the confusion. That wasn't what I was getting at. How much does your property cash flow if used as a rental? 60k÷cashflow would be the number I was asking. Point being if your cash flow was say $500 per month it would take you 120 months to make the same 60k as selling. If you were making $300 per month cash flow it would take you 200 months of perfect renting and no major out of pocket capex. I personally buy and hold, but there is a number that makes sense for me to sell as the short term profit would expedite how quickly I could grow.

@John Collins never flooded! Not in a flood zone! I was able to offer 20k less than the original price and they took my offer because the property was outdated. My family moves a lot because my husband is a welder, so we lived in it for a year and updated the property as we lived in it. My husband installed LVP, I painted and restored the stairs, we got new appliances and counter tops. It cashflows $500 after I pay my property management, we had to put 22% down - I wish I would've done it differently because the cash on cash is 10%. I'm looking into refinancing so my cashflow and CoC increases.

Clear lake city and league city are one of the BEST places to invest but not a lot of people do it. Most houses in Clear Lake City have never flooded and are not in a flood zone, your homeowners insurance will still be SUPER high but at least you don't need flood insurance. Good luck! Pm me if you have more questions!

@John Collins

How many months would you need to work in your rental to make 60k? That's the biggest issue with being set in just flipping or just holding. There will always be a number that makes sense for you personally to do one or the other. Even if it's not your preference.

For example my 35k property cash flows $300 per month in a C neighborhood. So $3600 per yr if rented and no major problems occur(eviction,major capex). If I could sell it for 55k tomorrow I would do it in a heartbeat. The 20k would take me 6 perfect rental years to make. However the proceeds of the sale would allow me to buy 2 similar properties. Having 2 would increase my cashflow from $300 per month to potentially $600 per month. That would allow me to scale twice as fast.

All depends on your situation and needs. I think most would agree that both flipping and holding are jobs even when using property management. Just because you flip this one doesn't mean you are stuck only flipping.

@John Collins bought it in 2018.

@Theresa Harris

Yes just one unit.

@Jordan Decuir I own a property in Clear Lake City, about 5 minutes from Nasa, even though insurance jumped after Harvey I cash flow $600 per month on my property! Good luck!