All Forum Posts by: Kenneth Sok

I didn't mean to detract from the conversation at hand. My point was only to illustrate a bit of what we do here in Houston. My experience with title companies and EMD's has not always been pleasant but that's just my anecdotal account so take that with a grain of salt.

When a deal has gone south through no fault of the buyer, we have refunded them their deposit without hesitation. On the flip hand, we've had buyers who have made our deals incredibly difficult too. Trust is needed on all sides from buyer, seller, and wholesaler. Everyone needs to walk away from the deal satisfied, and the best deals I've done are not the ones where we made a boat load of money but where everyone walks away smiling (especially the seller).

As @Sam Craven has pointed out, trust and respect play a huge role in these transactions. Without them, we wouldn't be able to do what we do. When I hear about "investors" who are taking advantage of others or being shady, it drives me nuts b/c it hurts not only our profession but also hurts the sellers who really have a problem they need solving.

I agree with @Sam Craven on everything he said.

Sam's already said it perfectly so I will just add that it is a pain in the butt to get money back out of the title company when you need both signatures to release the funds for an EMD. Even when the buyer has promised you the money but the deal has gone sour, there's no incentive for them to just sign off their money to you even after your agreement. We've had money sit in an escrow account for months and it went nowhere when the buyer decided to back out on us.

It's unfortunate that, like many things in life, the few bad apples ruin it for the rest of us. I'm glad we have a forum for sharing this information about bad wholesalers, buyers, investors, etc. and get it out there that people don't tolerate this type of behavior. These type of people usually go from city to city looking for new blood. Let's make sure we spread the word about these type of "investors".

With the property on Troulon, I would recommend staying away unless you have expertise dealing in lower end neighborhoods.

I actually visited that property some time ago and the neighborhood was definitely rough to say the least. You're going to be looking at high turnover rates as well as low-quality tenants. As I said, if you don't have the controls in place to handle it, it may be wise to avoid.

Those properties have been sitting on the market for quite some time too. Unless you can negotiate with the seller on those for a lower price, I'd stay clear. (And even then, I'd be nervous about that purchase).

@Eric Tait - Agreed. I've heard many veteran investors now discounting them even further now to hedge for any possible changes that may come from city hall to elevate the houses X ft.

With some of these houses, it's too much of a gamble to invest into them when you don't know what type of regulations the city will lay down in the near future.

Unless you're buying at a deep discount, it's a bit too risky.

All REIAs have pros and cons. I have been a member of RICH, Prosperity, and current member of Wealth Club.

The one for you will you depend on what niche you're looking to get into.

All of them specialize to some degree or another in a particular field but will also have overlapping courses, events, etc. Quite frankly, there are so many nowadays it's almost a part-time job to go to every single thing.

RICH is a good starting place. It has lots of general knowledge for you on various topics. Wealth is the same way too. They both bring in lots of quality speakers and experts on whatever you are looking for. Almost every course you take will cost money but consider that money well spent for education if you are just starting out.

Prosperity is Wholesale-centric. Go this route if you want to focus on this niche but keep in mind it is a lot of work (much more than most wholesaling gurus will let on).

Lifestyles is buy & hold-centric. I haven't tried them yet but have heard various opinions from others so please ask around what other investors think of their strategy.

TITANs as far as I know is fairly new. Went to one of their events (held at RICH) and it was well done. They seem pretty good too. Definitely give it a try.

Hope that helps! Best of luck and happy investing!

Michael Plaks

He goes to a lot of the big REIA meetings.

This thread has so many amazing responses. I'm so grateful for everyone chiming in.

Based on the many opinions, I believe that removing the popcorn ceiling will not impact my rental income much one way or another. As such, I plan to patch up the trouble areas and focus on other more value-adding aspects.

I really like the golden-rule that many have mentioned here and have decided to run with that. I believe providing a quality rental that someone would be happy to live in not only attracts quality tenants but also makes it that such tenants will be more likely to keep my unit intact versus one that is already "damaged".

I know there are lots of horror stories out there with tenants that will tear up your property. Hopefully, my future tenants will not be as such. But if they do, let's hope they tear up my ceilings so that I can remove that popcorn ceiling in the future.

I would say the same for any niche within real estate (buy & hold, wholesale, rehab, notes, etc.). Find someone (i.e., a mentor) and make yourself useful to them.

Everyone has some skills or assets to provide. Maybe it's time, money, or just determination and persistence. Whatever it is, go out there and find someone doing what you want to do and do it.

Best of luck!

At this point, I have taken out a section about 4x4 (that took way too long). I don't want to continue this process unless I have a faster solution or a professional do it for me. I believe the two best solutions as most people have discussed are:

• Overlaying drywall throughout the house to cover up all the popcorn ceiling
• Patching up the problem areas and moving on

My concerns right now are with the possible asbestos. Whether I overlay or patch, do I still need to worry about asbestos for later? If I patch, the asbestos popcorn ceiling is still there but it's been painted over how many times over. Is that still a concern? If it's overlayed, should I still be concerned?

Thanks for all the great responses!

@Jane A. - Thanks Jane! Looks like this may be the best option to go.

@Kimberly H. - This should be a light rehab. Nothing fancy. Rental comps are around $1000-1200. It's definitely not a major overhaul. I think the consensus seems to be to put drywall throughout.