All Forum Posts by: Keith Evans

Thanks for the welcome gentlemen. @Travis West it's great to see other locals on here! I have signed up for a couple of the local groups on MeetUp and am hoping to start making it out to some of the meetings, I need to build up the courage to go alone as "the new guy" though as my wife won't be able to join me most likely.

Liam,

Thanks for the lengthy reply. Before I get into my response let me correct my earlier post. We GROSS $83,000, not sure why I typed NET, I was apparently letting my fingers travel faster then my brain. My net is significantly less due to numerous pre-tax expenses (Daycare FSA, Health FSA, retirement, etc etc) we gross around $56,000, a large difference from what I first posted.

As far as SFH vs. multi-unit, I can certainly understand the desire for multi and the increased cash flow, however at the moment I don't feel we are up for the task. I am also not interested in a real fixer-upper yet despite the obvious advantages. What I am interested in is gaining supplemental income, albeit minimal, while increasing our overall net worth. I hope as I become more experienced I can successfully delve into things like rehabs and multi-unit housing, and my ultimate goal is commercial property, however that is way down the road.

Luckily I have, IMO, a good network going. I am friends with multiple attorneys, my neighbor is an escrow officer (who did our personal home's refi at rock bottom costs), we have a terrific realtor, and my father owns a major home inspection company (www.homecert.com <--hopefully posting links is acceptable).

Just created my intro post, if you're interested in learning a little more about me than what is in this thread please check it out:

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/55-new-member-introductions/topics/114240-another-new-guy

To save you the time of reading my intro I will put the necessary points here. I am a married father of 2, I am 25 my wife is 23. Combined we net about $83,000/year. Our only monthly debt is our home, which we pay $1135/month on and is financed @ 3% for 15 years. We have about $50,000 in equity in our home ($155 ARV, $104 owed). Our area is booming to say the least, we have Exxon building their global headquarters 6.5 miles away, a new hospital just broke ground (Texas Children's, a specialty hospital) 3 miles away as well as other various developments going on within 15 miles of our current home. This becomes more important for plan 2, but applies to both as we intend to start locally.

Due to our limited income we only have about $10,000 we can invest at the moment. I am wanting to invest in SFR homes long term. The homes I would want to purchase for renting are in the $130k price range. So here are my two real options as far as I see it (other then waiting and continuing to save):

1.) Get a HELOC up to $30,000 and use ~$20,000 plus my saved investment money of $10,000 to cover 20% down and closing costs of a $130,000 home to rent out.

2.) Move to another home in our area hopefully in the $175,000 price range and rent out our current home. Judging by comps we could rent our home for $15-1600/month. Our yearly taxes are $3900 and our current insurance costs are $866/year. This would net us a positive cash flow of $3-4k the first year if my math and estimated expenses are accurate.

I am looking for opinions on the two above strategies and also hoping for new ideas I have not considered. Thank you in advance for any info and assistance you can provide. Also, if my ideas stink, don't hesitate to call me out, you would be doing us a favor in the long run.

Hey everyone, I signed up this morning and have been taking time to read around the forums and get a feel for the place. I figured I should take a minute and tell you who I am before I jump in asking questions that have already been answered a thousand times. I promise to do my due diligence searching topics before creating my own.

So, about me. I am a 25 year old happily married man living just north of Houston in the city of Conroe (on the northside of The Woodlands for those of you who know the area). I am in law enforcement, more specifically I am a District Parole Officer working a specialized caseload of sex offenders and I am our gang intel officer for our office as well, and my wife is a high school teacher, needless to say we don't make a lot of money. We have two beautiful children, our son is 3.5 and our daughter is 1.5. Despite our income we are very involved in our finances and, in my opinion, do a great job managing our money. We own a great starter home that is our only debt. I have been interested in real estate since my early teens, specifically wanting to be a landlord (or slumlord, at least I'm honest). My father owns a Houston home inspection company called Homecert and my brother is a Captain in the Air Force. My brother would be willing to join me in a Series LLC and has the capital to be a good partner if I decide to go that route, however I would prefer it just be my wife and I for the moment. I will save my strategy for my next thread as I plan to ask for the opinions of the community but that's a little bit about us. Anything else you would like to know please feel free to ask.