All Forum Posts by: Matt Heerwald

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $250,000
Cash invested: $12,000

We purchased a bungalow on a large lot with the VA Loan and fixed it up while living there. We rented the property and broke even and used the VA Loan to buy our next house hack. We then sold the right to build on the large side of the lot for $316K! Our little 780sf house appraised for just as much after the sale as before and we have been able to pull an additional $160K out of it to fund other projects. The house is cashflow neutral and under management. The most recent appraisal was $690K.

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

I had the ability to buy a house with the VA loan and this was the top of my price range as a rookie firefighter, but right in the path of progress. I knew I could fix it up myself while I lived in it.

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

My uncle lived in it and it was badly neglected/gross. I ordered an appraisal and we settled on the appraised value, less 6% agent fees. Ge had owned it since 1999 and it had gone from $109K to $250K in 14 years. He bought a house cash in San Antonio with the profit.

How did you finance this deal?

VA Loan! I think I walked away from the closing table with $1,200 in my pocket. I had a great lender that I still use today, Joe Kralik.

How did you add value to the deal?

Cleaned, painted, knocked down a wall, sanded floors and gave it a cool, funky vibe to go with it's 1940's charm. Then we sold the right to build 3,300sf on that lot which resulted in us only paying 24% of the taxes on the property, saving us several thousand every year.

What was the outcome?

We refinanced $160K out of it last year to fund a BRRRR up in Fort Worth and to fund our MF pursuits in out of state markets.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

When luck comes your way, embrace it! don't be afraid to take the leap and learn. Do your due diligence, but have enough confidence to pull the trigger and you will continue to improve. This is a very forgiving industry!

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

Anthony Gibson
Joe Kralik

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $250,000
Cash invested: $12,000

We purchased a bungalow on a large lot with the VA Loan and fixed it up while living there. We moved out after 2 years and used the VA Loan on our next house and broke even on the rent. We then created a condo regime and sold the right to build on the large side of the lot for $316K! Our little 780sf house appraised for just as much after the sale as before and we have been able to pull an additional $160K out of it to fund other projects. The house is cashflow neutral and under management. The most recent appraisal was in October of 2021 and it was $690K. We were incredibly fortunate to be able to purchase that home in that location before Austin went bananas!

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

I had the ability to buy a house with the VA loan and this was the top of my price range as a rookie firefighter, but right in the path of progress. I knew I could fix it up myself while I lived in it.

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

My uncle lived in it and it was badly neglected/gross. I ordered an appraisal and we settled on the appraised value, less 6% agent fees. Ge had owned it since 1999 and it had gone from $109K to $250K in 14 years. He bought a house cash in San Antonio with the profit.

How did you finance this deal?

VA Loan! I think I walked away from the closing table with $1,200 in my pocket. I had a great lender that I still use today, Joe Kralik.

How did you add value to the deal?

Cleaned, painted, knocked down a wall, sanded floors and gave it a cool, funky vibe to go with it's 1940's charm. Then we sold the right to build 3,300sf on that lot which resulted in us only paying 24% of the taxes on the property, saving us several thousand every year.

What was the outcome?

We refinanced $160K out of it last year to fund a BRRRR up in Fort Worth and to fund our MF pursuits in out of state markets.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

When luck comes your way, embrace it! don't be afraid to take the leap and learn. Do your due diligence, but have enough confidence to pull the trigger and you will continue to improve. This is a very forgiving industry!

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

Anthony Gibson
Joe Kralik

Hey all, Mary and Matt here - we're investors primarily in the Austin and San Antonio markets. Matt is a spec ops firefighter with Austin Fire Department and was also a Marine [Javelin gunner]. We have buy-and-hold SFR rentals in both of the above markets, have flipped in San Antonio, and are passively invested in Austin and Nashville - but our next move is into multifamily, so trying to learn and network as much as possible on that front. Mary is currently working on getting her real estate license, as well.

Excited to connect with y'all, especially those of you involved in Texas markets! And thanks, everyone, for your important service. 

Hi! Anyone have trusted roofers they've worked with in the San Antonio market who are used to doing business with investors? We have a house in AO and just got the repairs request. It's actually quite short, but have a number of items related to roof. Need some estimates as soon as possible as we have a 5p Friday deadline to negotiate the repairs list with the buyer and then will need to complete any work prior to a Nov. 15 closing. 

Thanks in advance!

Update: 

We're planning to use this conditional lien waiver form from Texas Construction Assn, but it looks like Texas may have recently changed laws regarding lien waiver language. So we just want to make sure we're getting all this right and are looking to, at a minimum, have a conversation + form a new attorney relationship. 

https://www.texcon.org/images/texcon/pdf/Final_Payment_-_Conditional_Waiver__Release.pdf

Looking to get connected for some quick legal support on a property we're renovating in San Antonio. It's unfortunately a very short timeline: we're meeting with our electric contractor tomorrow at 2:30p to hopefully terminate the relationship as amicably as possible and have him sign a change order that reflects that, as well as a conditional lien waiver (as we'll be paying with a check). 

Need to make sure we do all this appropriately, according to Texas law! As quick background, this contractor has caused around 2 weeks of delays plus various other damages. We do not believe we should pay him the remaining $2,900 in full and have been working to collect documentation to support that (honestly, with the issues he's caused, it looks like he should owe us). Again, hoping to resolve this with little conflict tomorrow, and want to cover all bases from a legal standpoint. 

If you're interested and able to help on this tight timeline, please feel free to leave your contact info or DM us so we can get in touch!

Many thanks, 

Mary and Matt

Agree that subway tiles for a shower surround are both currently on-trend, but also classic, so hard to miss with that. They're also wonderfully cheap. 

For floors, would do something heartier, easy to maintain and that matches overall color scheme. I know a lot of people who look at houses all day long (read: realtors, investor, etc.) are sick of the grey schemes, but for renters or new buyers, grey paint is still very attractive and fresh. So something like – grey walls, white trim, subway tile shower surround, charcoal/dark grey/slate-colored floor tile. 

Floor & Decor is one of our go-tos for wide tile selection at solid prices!

Thank you all for your helpful responses! Much appreciated. 

@Will Barnard - roger that. We wanted to try working it out with him first, so good to know others support that route. 

@Peter Sanchez - we're meeting with him tomorrow. We've pulled together all supporting documentation we can regarding ways in which he has delayed this project or caused damages. We're planning to meet with him, explain our situation and the proof we have of his shoddy work, and suggest he accept $XX payment, sign a change order and a conditional waiver (since we'll be paying w/ a check), and call it a day. If he doesn't want to go that route, then we'd say we'll continue this with our attorney. 

@Charles G. Johnson - we're in San Antonio a lot these days and plan to continue investing in the market. We're located in Austin and are always interested in making new connections down there. Would love to be in touch. 

Thanks again, 

Mary and Matt

Hi all –

We've been working a flip down in San Antonio, our first one in this market, and have had a big issue with our electrical contractor. Our contracted electrician's team (of a different 20 yr old each week) has done consistently poor/incorrect work and has caused multiple delays to our project in addition to creating issues for the rest of the team working around him. Our GC (he didn't hire the electrician) estimates a total delay of 14-19 days total.  For various reasons, we've tried to press forward with him but have now hit the final straw (submitting an incomplete drawing for the meter loop to the city's energy company, delaying the completion of the job further). 

So - we are not inclined to pay him the remaining draw of 50% due upon completion of the work. We are a week and half from the date he said he would be finished and as of yesterday, he hadn't even been scheduled for the new service drop which takes 10-14 days. We compiled a rough list of all the damages and delays this guy/his team have caused, and honestly, he technically might *owe* us money. 

Our attorney wants us to go through legal channels to compile a legal termination letter and all necessary documentation to support our claim that we shouldn't pay him. We are hustling to finish the project and just told our GC to take over the remaining electric work so we can wrap this project up. We don't want the electrician back out at the property, and he's requesting his final payment by tomorrow...he's unsurprisingly more in touch now than he's ever been. 

Our question is: for those who have faced similar situations, did you take the legal route, even if it took more time and was cumbersome/expensive? Or have you tried to work it out directly with the contractor before bringing your lawyer into the equation.

Our preference might be to give the electrician two options: either take a small check and never come back to our property, or we go through our attorney to terminate. Would appreciate any experienced thoughts!

Thanks @Jaysen Medhurst!  The calculator asked me for the sales commission and I entered the raw figure rather than the percent.  Turns out my realtor wont be making 6000% on the deal.  Much more reasonable number.  Oddly, for flips, the calculator doesn't have a purchase price in there, just runs the numbers for your desired outcome and gives you a max purchase price to achieve your results.  Thanks for the feedback!