All Forum Posts by: Jordan Decuir

@Jason Hirko Is that DOM increase on previously-flooded homes or all of your homes in general?

@Jason DiClemente Makes a good point as well

@Stephen Gonzalez The answer to that is probably HIGHLY subjective and dependent upon each person’s individual circumstances and investment objectives. In terms of investment return potential, using less cash for an investment would bring you higher returns on that investment from a percentage standpoint. On the flip-side, now that you have leveeaged that property, you will have that additional fixed monthly debt service (i.e. mortgage payment) that could be seen as increasing your risk in terms of potential for default on the loan and losing a property to foreclosure along with your invested cash in most cases. The other side of that is that the less cash you put down into any single property may decrease your market risk in the event that property values go south because you only have a small amount of capital actually tied up in that one investment, as the lender provides the majority of the capital generally speaking. I would say that for most that are attempting to BUILD wealth, it is the better move to put less cash down on a property to get the leveraged return on investment. For some that are simply looking to protect their wealth, perhaps putting down more cash or funding an entire purchase with their own cash may be more-suitable for that person’s investment objectives. It’s all subjective in my opinion however.

Just a quick update to anyone interested, below is a link to the Houston Association of Realtors'  monthly market snapshot. September 2018 saw decreased transaction volume compared to September 2017. Much of this could be driven by the incremental early-September 2017 transactions that pushed from the end of August 2017 as a result of Hurricane Harvey, tight inventory, and Back-to-School effects (this happens every year so I don't know about the validity of this driver however, but it is something that HAR points to). We could also be looking at a general cooling of the Houston market in general as the major driver for the year-over-year monthly decline in September 2018. Year-to-Date however, total transactions and median prices are still up (~5.8% and ~3% respectively) in Houston as a whole. 

Note as well that the data shows that rents are down.

Obviously real estate is HYPERlocal, but this general market data helps with the macro-level data analysis for all of us as well. Happy Investing to All!

https://www.har.com/content/mls

@Tony Marcelle That’s hard to say. Choosing comparables is less about distance and more about choosing properties that truly are highly comparable to the subject property. In terms of timing, rule of thumb is sold within the past three months, but in different markets that can be different. For example, if you’re in a quickly-moving market then a property sold three months ago may not even necessarily be comparable due to fast-moving market dynamics. If the only comparables that you can find are from 4,5,6 months ago then you may need to just work with that. The main point is that it’s hard for me to have a good idea way over here in Houston (Katy), TX. It’s a good idea to link up with a local agent and get their point of view on getting comp’s in your specific market I wish I could tell you more than that but real estate is very local...even more so, it’s actually HYPERlocal so that’s why having someone to work with that is in tune with the local market dynamics can put you in a good position.

@Tony Marcelle Sounds like that realtor either didn’t know what he was talking about or didn’t want to do work (both of which are probably at least somewhat true). @Dan Barli is spot on, fnd another realtor to help you estimate market value. It shouldn’t be too hard to find an agent to pull recently SOLD comparable homes in each property’s area. If you are looking to flip then that agent may get a listing once you are ready to sell, so it is in their interest to help you. Also, if your goal is to buy and hold rental properties, you may want to get comparable sales and also rental comparables data from a property manager. A property manager likely has the same or similar access to your local MLS as an agent does there in your market, plus a property manager may be more in tune with the rental market than the standard real estate agent there. Best of luck!

@Joel S. If you’re more interested in staging for pics for your property listings, flyers, website, other marketing items, etc... then you could consider “virtual staging”. Generally you would pay roughly $30-$50 per picture and could layer in virtual furniture and items into your pics to help make the pictures pop on your marketing pieces. Obviously this won’t help you much once a potential buyer walks into the house and it is empty, except in that you could whip out those pics to help them visualize the space as they walk through.

@George Ozoude Any updates around any investments that you may have made or are looking at?

Welcome David Gonzalez I think that you are getting started by doing exactly what you did here. Listen to podcasts, maybe read some books...attend some meetups and get to meet some people involved in RE investing and you will figure out how you can add value. Good wholesalers can be a valuable resource for RE investors. Have you begun any marketing to find properties? How do you plan to source deals?

Thanks for the input David Weintraub . What rates and terms are you seeing for hard money loans where you are currently?