All Forum Posts by: Kevin Castaneda

Hi Chris,

I'm not a real estate agent, but I also looked into these requirements.

Getting your real estate license and can be both time consuming and pricey. I decided to wait until I'm start doing more deals first before I get it. 

 Here's the info you're looking for. Real estate agent licensing is managed through the Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC).  I beleive it's 180 hours of education courses before you take the test.

https://www.trec.texas.gov/become-licensed/sales-a...

https://www.trec.texas.gov/renew-license/real-esta...

Once you get your license, you'll also need to do 90 hours of Sales Apprentice Education (SAE) courses during your first two years. Those requirements only give you an inactive license though. In order to actually buy/sell real estate or get access to the MLS, you'll need to sign-up under a broker as one of their agents.

Brokers have varying fee schedules either based on a portion of your sales commissions (80/20 split), a flat fee ($500), or  a monthly fee ($300-ish)... or some combination of any of those features.

You might also need to join a Realtors association depending on which Multiple Listing Service (MLS) you're desiring access to. Here in San Antonio the big association is San Antonio Board of Realtors (SABOR) and I believe they use ConnectMLS. Association affiliation has it's own costs such as monthly dues to the association as well as fees to have access to the MLS.

http://realestate.sabor.com/pages/apply-for-member...

Here's what the cost breakdown looks like, based on my research:

Based on my research, it would probably cost about $5,000 a year to maintain a license and MLS access... not including the time it takes to get the license. Hope that helps!

Maybe some registered agents can comment and give us both some feedback on what it's like from their perspective?

Hey BP friends,

When and who removes the windows during your rehabs?

My family and I are performing the demo on my first house in San Antonio, Texas... and I can't seem to find any info on when windows should be removed during rehab, haha! 

The windows on the house are all intact so it's not as big of a security concern. I'm planning on replacing all the windows, but want to make sure I'm setting the contractor up for a smooth install when that time comes.

Thanks for all your advice!

Hey BP friends,

I'm rehabbing a 1920s house in San Antonio, Texas, that has shiplap planking covered by vinyl siding on the exterior and shiplap covered by drywall on the interior walls and ceiling.

My family and I are demoing the house and have already removed the interior drywall and trim, but... what about the planking?

Should I remove all the shiplap planking from all interior walls/ceilings and replace it with drywall?...Or would you recommend keeping the interior shiplap planking and putting new drywall over it?

Considerations:

A. The foundation is pier and beam

B. The house will need all new electrical, plumbing, HVAC, trim/casings

C. The house will need exterior wall insulation

D. Most of the old shiplap planking is splitting as we remove it, so it isn't even salvageable

E. Would the interior planking help at all with insulation since the house is so old??

My thoughts are rather than take all the planking off, we could remove the bottom few planks in order to facilitate all new electrical and plumbing replacement. After these trades are done, I can install new planking at the bottom and use blow-in insulation to fill the wall stud cavities. What do you think?

Thanks for all your advice!

@Kevin Siedlecki Is the 10-12% you are calculating once you have just purchased the property (ie. around 20% investment basis) or once the property has been fully paid off?

@Rick Pozos, Why wouldn't you use the Cap Rate? The cap rate helps indicate the overall profitability of the property - even if it is an SFR?

Trying to clarify: You say you look for a property that cash flows $200 per month - are you talking about $200 cashflow after budgeting for expenses/management/etc. AND once the mortgage is paid off? I recognize that a property will "cashflow" a lot each month - it really just depends if you count budgeted expenses such as annual repairs as "cashflow". I'm considering cashflow as monthly "net cashflow" after subtracting my budgeted percentages for mortgage/maintenance/vacancy/management/CAPEX and other similar expenses. What do you personally shoot for in terms of monthly "net cashflow" if you just acquired a property with around 20% in investment basis?

What Cash-On-Cash (CoC) return do you like to see on your rental properties, and at what point in your loan term do you calculate your CoC from when deciding a property is worth purchasing?

I'm doing some returns base-lining for SFR rental properties in my local area which happens to be San Antonio, Texas. Lots of BP investors say they're getting +20% Cash-on-Cash (CoC) returns on their rentals but never describe how they get their calculations! For example, maybe they're not including CAPEX or property management costs and are effectively "inflating" their calculations! I for one think you should always include repairs/maintenance, vacancy, management, and CAPEX in your calculations ....While high returns like this sound great outloud, I'm also skeptical since the CoC percentage can be so greatly influenced by refinancing to a small investment basis (eg. BRRRR strategy). While CoC returns can be extremely high with a small investment basis, over time this percentage will shrink closer to your property's Cap Rate.

So, how do you approach CoC to determine if an investment is worth your time? Or you focus on a high Cap Rate since this number is closer to the CoC percentage you'll get once the property is fully paid off?

Thanks for the responses!

@Steve Vaughan, I don't know yet why the owner is selling.

@Ramon Jenkins, Thanks for the Repairs and CapEx sugggestions. Taxes, Utilities, and Insurance were all monthly values in my initial calculation. The property looks like it's being sold by a private seller. Immediate renovations is a great question - something I had in mind to ask as well. It could require them as there are very few pictures, but I'd need to view the property to determine that.

Welcome to BP, Marty! I'm pretty new here as well myself! Hope you enjoy great success in your financial endeavors!

Hey friends, I'm fairly new to real estate (still waiting to pull the trigger) and am trying to get the knack for quickly identifying if a property's numbers would make it a good investment. My thought was that this property could potentially be both a great investment or "house hacking" property. I'd appreciate any input or advice you can provide? How do these numbers sound? Anything I've missed/underestimated?

Units: 4-plex

Rent Est: $2700 ($675 x 4 units)

List Price: $165,000

20% Downpayment: $33,000

Mortgage Amount: $132,000 

Mortgage Payment: $670 (30 yr @ 4.5%) (P = $175, I = $495)

Taxes: $435

Utilities: $200 (water/pest/garbage)

Insurance: $150

Repairs: $135 (5%)

CapEx: $135 (5%)

Vacancy: $270 (10%)

Management: $270 (10% - if went that route)

_________________________________________

Projected Cashflow: $435

Thanks for commenting!

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone! It's exciting to see so many like-minded people doing things here in San Antonio. I hope I'll get the chance to meet some of you in person around town in the near future!

@Andy H., thanks for sharing about the meetup! I appreciate it!