All Forum Posts by: James Mills

Howdy, good to see more folks from Houston! Look into the various meetups, I believe there is one happening next Thursday evening in Midtown.

Am going to try to make it out. Been lurking for a short while, and would like to actually meet some folks and see if I can't come up with an avenue of getting into REI from.

@Joe Fairless 

I don't know anything about underwriting, currently. I have heard about the local RICH club, but may look into something someone less formal for initial networking, as I am not yet in a position where membership fees wouldn't slow my startup progress.

@Sonny Ngo 

Hi, Sonny. Also from Houston. My interest for my first deal is in multifamilies, preferably triplex or fourplex to minimize my risk. I have found difficulty finding prospective multifamilies on the traditional websites (trulia/zillow/har/realtor.com). 

Since I am not quite to a point where I am ready to dive in (need more research, more capital, and to minimize debts and polish up credit score), is using such websites very useful for me for checking deals? I am hesitant to contact any realtors yet as I don't want to waste anyone's time, seeing as I don't foresee having my downpayment money together for at least 6 months. But at the same time, I would like to start running mock deals and get practice seeing what really is and isn't worth looking at. 

My current plan is to get about $5k socked away and utilize an FHA loan, but I have no experience with the mortgage world, and am not sure how to estimate what sort of rates/loans I could get with a low 700's avg credit score.

Being a young person (26), I have primarily been looking for homes TSU/UH/EaDo areas, knowing that the constant influx of students could assist me in keeping the other units filled, with the safety net of peoples parents being their co-signers and giving me more assurance that my rents would get paid.

So, after that wall of text, thoughts? 

Thanks, Guys! I have listened to a handful of the podcasts on multifamily, and now need to get into some heavier reading and more financial planning, to put myself into an actual position to do any of this.

Hello all. My name is James Mills, and I am from Houston. When I first moved into the city from the suburbs about 5 years ago(I grew up in Clear Lake), I met a friend through a neighbor who had bought a fourplex and was living out of one and renting/managing the others. The idea fascinated me, and since then I try to keep in touch with the gentleman once in a blue moon to check on his progress. He has since opened a small restaurant in the greenway plaza area (he used to manage a small restaurant in downtown), and is in the market for his second fourplex. 

Fast forward 5 years. I stumbled across bigger pockets in May after finding out how decent my credit scores were (I'm in the low 700's) and looking into recreating a similar setup for myself. I began listening to the mutlifamily podcasts and started browsing various websites for real estate in Houston. 

My current status is very early in this entire scheme. I have modest/good credit, but low income, so I am hoping to find myself a duplex/triplex that I can utilize an FHA loan to get into. I recently started banking with USAA, due to my stepfather being a veteran, and have heard that they are incredibly helpful when inquiring about financial advice and planning for your future. My hope is to get with them and have them help me formulate a plan on how to best start socking away money towards a first home.

Would love to hear from other Houstonion multifamily owners on how to best tackle this aspiration of mine. I want someone paying my mortgage.

Welcome! I too am from houston, and there appears to be quite a few of us :)