All Forum Posts by: Matt Huber

Hardwood floors are put over concrete via skids laid in tar (or construction adhesive) over concrete since you can't nail the hardwood into concrete.  Better practice is to put a plywood subfloor in which to nail over the skids. It might be OK to put in two layers of OSB in opposite directions so the seams don't match (for better strength. Since concrete is porous and water vapor can penetrate, vapor barriers may be desired under the floor.

My house had an old garage transformed into part of the house and the skids were on tar.  The skids was OK except they used  particle board for the subfloor, which was absolute crap.  Additionally since I was changing the floor to 3/4" cherry hardwood, I did not like all the elevation changes with adjoining rooms so we completely tore out the old skids and replaced them with new ones to adjust the elevation.  Since a garage floor is sloped, we needed shorter skids the closer we moved towards the center of the house to make everything level.  We also put in cross bracing to further insure the skids weren't going to move.

If you have too much height between the concrete and the ceiling, make the adjustment via the height of the skids and the thickness of the subfloor.  Make sure to calculate the height what else you may be using, for example hardie backer and tile versus 1/4" laminate, 1/2" engineered wood, or 3"4" sold wood would produce uneven abutted finished flooring if you are transitioning from one material to the next.  Since you're already tearing down to the concrete, that can be adjusted by skid height.

Hello Christina,

I recommend joining the Rich Club (richclub.org) which is likely the oldest real estate investment club in Houston as well as the largest and least expensive.  I've often found the value of mentorship was inversely proportional to the cost, the more you pay, the less you get - though not always 100% true.

Knowledge is the most important factor in real estate, beyond money and credit. If you don't have the funds and/or credit to buy with a conventional/FHA loan that severely limits your options to wholesaling or partnering or being very creative.

Congratulations on taking the first step.

Yael, a partnership will either be the best or worst thing you have ever done.  That said, the only money I have ever lost in real estate was in a partnership run by a dishonest general partner.  The only time I have lost money is when I let it out of my own hands and let others control it.  I did meet an awesome partner in that horrible deal and he is someone I trust to wire 6 figures without even signing a piece of paper, so something very good did come out of that very bad deal.

Partnerships are precarious as you must have the same goals going into the deal, the same goals running the deal, and the same goals exiting the deal.  Sure you can have partnership agreements that structure a split, but reality may not let you separate from the deal in a manner most conducive for you - say a 1031 exchange for example.  That said, you can learn from an experience partner.  I would move slowly and make sure the partner does have legitimate experience before considering one.

With the money you're making you would be foolish if you're not banking a ton of it in a self directed retirement account, whether it be IRA, SEP IRA, 401(k), or ROTH 401(k) and perhaps even one with check book control. Having your own 401(k) has lots of benefits as you can tailor the plan to your needs and borrow with the 401(k) to purchase properties with no UBIT (unrelated business income tax) as would apply with other retirement accounts such as the IRA or ROTH IRA. (Though do check into the reality, beyond the possibility as you may need non-recourse loans which may or may not be easy to obtain.) With the right 401(k) you can even work for your own plan - though unlikely a good move compared to what you're doing now to make money, perhaps useful later on though. Without looking up articles, I believe you can bank up to $57,000/year in a 401(k), though that may be presuming you work for yourself and can tailor your own plan.

I strongly vote for you to go slow and research what you want to do, both area and type of property.  Educated yourself, perhaps by joining a local real estate investment club and/or taking some real estate investment courses/seminars, network and meet people doing what you want to do and learn from their experience. No matter what you choose, your lack of time will require you have third party property management even if the investment property is in your back yard.  Since you're buying by Cap Rate, you can relatively easily compare buying opportunities, but do understand never to buy on pro-forma numbers, sellers lie.