All Forum Posts by: Mark S.

Awesome, I look forward to seeing everyone there!

Thanks @Account Closed  Those are some great suggestions.

I checked out both of the reports and they make it a lot easier.  I reached out to some county clerks as well and they have a lot of the same information and will send it to you.

I think my main question at this point is it going to make more sense to try and purchase the properties at auction or during the 20 day period between when the list goes public and the auction.  For example you could secure a contract during that period and get the homeowner out of foreclosure.  Or you could purchase the property at auction.  

I have started to look into both of these and will put together some data on which has a higher ROI. The markets are so localized it may be very hard to know where the better deals are.

Thanks for the feedback!

So a couple of my friends are thinking of purchasing properties at foreclosure auctions and it sparked my interest. The idea of purchasing a home at an auction was really appealing but I am not sure of how well it pays off. My previous investment properties were all bought through a realtor with 25% down, the more conventional way. I am hoping to figure out the most profitable way to purchase the houses. Is it better to try and purchase directly from the homeowner or at the foreclosure auction itself. I figured it was worth a look and this is what I have found so far.

I started by searching for foreclosures in my local area, for me this is Collin County Texas with a focus on Plano, Frisco, McKinney, Dallas, Sherman, and the north suburban DFW area. A lot of this information I found on the county websites through the tax-assessors office. They upload the “ Substitute of Trustee” sale documents and you can view them, about 50% of them have the address listed. The other ones list the CAD address by block, I haven’t figured out how to decipher those yet. I am guessing a trip to the County Assessors office will let me know how. After I have the address and name I have been putting together analysis on the houses.

I have compiled a list of about 22 houses set to be auction on May 3rd. I really want to see how the sales price compares to the principal balance on the house as well as the average price per square foot for the zip code. Once I am able to recognize a deal it will be about creating a lead funnel for the distressed homeowners. I tried to put myself in the shoes of someone being foreclosed on and came away with a couple of things I think are important to consider. What is the person scared of? How other people will view them. Really they would do anything to stay in their house and keep going forward like nothing ever happened.

It is amazing the amount of resources there are out there to compile this type of data together. You can really get an amazing perspective on local real estate through the county website and some other resources. I have been able to figure out the equity stake the homeowner has, who they are, and get a good idea of the value of the property through the comps.

I will update the post once I have a little more data put together.

Sounds great.  How many people are interested in coming?  I can call ahead and reserve us a table or room.  Let me know so I can get something.

Thx

HI @Rhonda Cruz,

Texas and the DFW area are great places to invest.  The population here is surging and bringing in lots of recent college graduates who make great tenants.  Let me know if I can help you with something in DFW area specifically.
Thx!

Hey @Soren Thomsen,

If you and your partners are interested in a multi-family I would probably suggest starting with a 4-plex or less.  They are easier, albiet hard, to find than a larger apartment complex in the area and will offer you a good introduction into property management before you bite off a big chunk.

Like Matthew mentioned you can also do conventional or FHA financing on these size units. If you or your partners have never owned a home before it may be a great place to start since you would only need to put 3.5% down. You would not be able to purchase the property in the name of an LLC though.

There is a real estate meet up in Plano I am hosting on April 20th at 12p at The Shops at Legacy.  We had some great networking there last time and you can get some first hand accounts from people who are investing in the area.  I will include the link below.

If you are interested in seeing what the loan situation would look like feel free to reach out to me.

Best of luck to you!

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/521/topics/286233-plano-shops-at-legacy-meetup?page=2#p1895162

Hey @Ricardo Cortes,

I don't see why not.  We were pretty laid back last time and not much into the pitches but there are lots of people interested in networking and finding deals!

Thx

Hey @Brandon Allen,

I have a meet up in Plano for real estate investors, the next meeting is on April 20th at 12p at Nikolas at The Shops at Legacy, you are welcome to join if you are interested.  I will include the link below.

Thx

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/521/topics/28...

Hey @Teena Lee and @Wes Gregg,

I know a property management company out here, PM me if you would like the details.

Thx

Texas heat can be brutal, but in reality running from my air conditioned car to my air conditioned office or house makes it not that bad.  

It is a great market to invest in and there are tons of jobs for someone recently coming out of college.  I moved to Texas two years ago and couldn't be happier I did.  

I agree with what @Shawn Thom said about moving a little out from Plano or McKinney to find deals.  You might also look on the Northern fringes of the metroplex near places like Anna, Melissa, Van Alstyne and Sherman.  There are still deals to be found out there but you need some local knowledge of the area. 

Let me know if I can help!