All Forum Posts by: Jeff Wallace

Welcome to the wonderful world of real estate 

I can almost hear the contractor as he walked back to his truck..... "F-ing HGTV!!"

@Jameson Hooton

For the first few years - I was well below minimum wage .... WELL below minimum wage.

Last year's Flips - an average of 12 hours a week

(time spent riding around looking at houses - deciding where to eat lunch - laughing A LOT - tossing a baseball while we wait for the cleaning lady to finish and the staging lady to start)

$583/hour

Last years rental income - self managed

$5,000/hour

@Joe Villeneuve

See....was that so hard? - Why spend so much of your valuable TIME arguing?

@Ryan Johnson

I never had any luck finding an agent that knew what they were doing and would work hard to find great investment opportunities for me - until I got my own license

Here’s the problem - 

1- Most hungry and aggressive agents are new and don’t know their head from their A$$ when it comes to what you want/need.

2- most successful agents have a dozen investors looking for the same thing you are... 

instead of focusing your search on finding the perfect agent, spend some time networking with agents and other investors alike - basically meet a ton of likeminded new friends doing what you are doing/want to do - then you will start getting leads from people who don’t have the capital or clients to handle projects that come across their desks.

@Eric Reed

I have bought from them a few times - it is unlikely that I buy again - New western does a lot of marketing and gets many properties under contract every month - they also get a lot on MLS - in my opinion, they usually try to take most of the profit before passing it along to the investor/flipper - I think they can have moderate buys if you are a landlord, but I haven't seen them with much opportunity for a flipper - also, they do not pay attention to market areas - if I tell them I'm interested in the woodlands/Montgomery county, I will get emails for everything from the entire metro...

Good luck and happy investing

@Eric L.

We have done well investing in the Spring area - One thing that helped our bottom line was to reduce our expenses by investing in areas that have lower tax rates - we moved completely out of Harris County to Montgomery County and found further savings by buying in neighborhoods without a MUD tax - we effectively reduced our expenses by one percent or more (which is like having an extra month of rent).

Good Luck and Happy Investing,

@Matthew Marcelissen

Congratulations on taking the first step and jumping in on your first flip - The first step is always the hardest - good luck with the project.

jeff

@Vijaianand Thirunageswaram

Congratulations on a successful flip!!  I monitor the Houston forum, so I have read many of your posts - The primary theme I see in your posts is that you generously offer your time and expertise to new investors and allow a group of new or wannabe investors the opportunity to walk your flips and tag along with you while you are looking for or working on a project - very generous of you - 

I see that you were able to give an amazing opportunity to a new investor when she may have not had the confidence to move forward on her own without your guidance - 

I am a fan of collaborating with other investors when you do not have the funds to complete a project on your own ... it can be a win/win opportunity that otherwise would have to be passed up ......

However, when I read the details in this post, a few things come to mind - it seems that you used very little of your own money ...$5,000? .... and the rehab was primarily paid for by the new investor ....$63,000?

You refer to yourself as a "REI Mentor" and you freely offer your mentorship to new investors, but it might be wise to stop short of taking another investor's cash for a project that you are taking the lead on until you have more experience - You have said that you are not a professional flipper, but the primary problems you faced were not specific to flipping. Foundation issues, location (located near heavy traffic road and neighbor with poor maintenance), incorrect comps ("House wasn't part of the better subdivision"), etc. These aren't issues that are specific to flipping and should be a primary focus for any real estate investment -

The bottom line is that you made a profit despite the challenges you faced - and congratulations for that - but it seems to the bystander that you gambled with another investor's money while investing very little of your own - you put yourself in the position of a teacher or mentor when in fact you are not extremely experienced in the business of flipping - consider how you would feel if you lost a portion of your partner's investment....

Today I am closing on the purchase of my 15th flip for the year, and I wouldn't dream of taking on an investment partner who wasn't equally experienced and had an equal say in the decision process.

Good Luck with your future projects and Happy Investing

jeff 

$100 - spend it

$1,000 or more - don’t waste your money

@Eric Rodriguez

The simple answer is .... Great - but .... from one neighborhood to the next the values can vary dramatically so you need to know your comps....