All Forum Posts by: Marc Stevenson

@Kit Elliott I lived in San Diego for 40 plus years till I relocated to DFW 5 years ago. I flipped may properties in the San Diego area. It's a challenging market for sure, but not impossible. Flipping is not for the faint of heart for sure. If you're just getting into this, I would highly recommend finding a mentor that can help you as you learn. I'm currently focusing on buy and hold in Texas using the BRRRR method and am very happy with this type of investment. I wish you all the best. Happy Investing!

@Corry Taie I left California (San Diego) 5 years ago for DFW. I landed in Mansfield TX and we absolutely love it! We had a house built 3 years ago and have since bought rentals properties as well. It's a great market for many different types of investing. I love the BRRRR method for buy and hold which is what I'm focusing on at the moment. I have a large list of vendors i.e. hard money lender, lenders, insurance, and more. Happy to answer any questions you may have if you choose DFW. It's a great area! Good luck on your move!

@Darashaun Williams Awesome! I've done BRRR it's my favorite way to invest in Buy and Hold properties. Happy Investing!

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $96,500
Cash invested: $15,000

Great little 3 bed 2 bath SFH. I gutted and remodeled the Master bathroom and put a new central A/C unit in. Everything else was pretty much ready to go. I'll be holding this so there is no sale price yet. I used hard money initially. I have a tenant in and am in the process of refi-ing now.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Looking add building my buy and hold portfolio.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

It was an off-market property that someone referred to me.

How did you finance this deal?

I used a Hard Money Lender and am getting ready to refinance now that the remodel is complete, and a tenant is in place.

How did you add value to the deal?

I gutted and remodeled the master bath and added cental A/C.

What was the outcome?

All in at 112K. It appraised at $155K

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Be ready to jump when the right deal comes along. Don't get caught up in paralysis by analysis and miss a good deal.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Yes. Marshall Reddick is the hard money lender I used. McCaw Property Management is my PM.

@Breonna Mahana I would recommend contacting the fair housing department if you haven't already to make sure that you understand all the rental requirements of leasing a property to properly protect yourself.  Also, DO NOT create your own lease.  We see this all the time when someone tires of self-managing and then brings their property to be managed.  Find the lease that your state approves and use it so you are property protected.  As an investor myself, I wish you all the best!

@David P. Man Brother that is just terrible.  Unfortunately, we deal with these kinds of things fairly often.  One suggestion would be to opt for pet screening.  We require every tenant to sign up for it upon renting one of our properties (whether they have a pet or not).  It's an ongoing screening that serves two primary purposes.  1.  If they do have pets and do not disclose that it is a vicious breed, the pet screening with tell you exactly what the breed or mix breed is.  2.  Even when they do not have a pet; many times, a tenant will not have a pet initially but will get one at some point during the lease and it allows you to be informed when they do so you can collect pet deposits and pet rents and verify it is not a vicious breed.  Another point to remember (a lot of people that self-manage their properties are unaware) that many of these that are considered "vicious breeds" are not covered under many/most homeowners insurance policies, so it leaves you very vulnerable when an accident occurs.  I'm so sorry this happened to you but thank God it was not the tenants' little girls.  I wish you a speedy and full recovery!

@Trevor Caswell Good Stuff!  Thanks for sharing!

@Jonathan Mooney I certainly understand...not all PM are created equal :) There is a big difference in a PM that also owns and understands the owner side of things and one that does not.  Doing your research and asking for referrals is a great place to start. Some good questions to ask would be:  Are you departmentalized?  Do you use your own maintenance team (are they your employees - this is important because if not many times the front end looks good, but you may get crushed in back-end maintenance fees.  Are they licensed/insured (this is probably the most overlooked and most important question to ask- as if not it would fall back to you the homeowner if something happened).  Hope this helps!

@Andrew Postell @Jonathan Mooney Thanks Andrew, it's always a pleasure working with you.  Hi Jonathan!  Happy to help if we can.

@Cameron Moore  Thanks for the info.  

So often this is an afterthought to owners and even tenants.  Many potential tenants have little to no idea when they are selecting a pet that certain breeds can be very difficult to rent properties to for the reasons you've outlined.