All Forum Posts by: Michael Le

Welcome to BP, @Norberto Molina. If you've come to learn then there is definitely enough here to keep you busy. Since you upgrade to the BP Pro account, take advantage of some of the calculators you have access to. Run a bunch of houses through there to see how they work and also get a feel of what sort of numbers you need for it to be a deal. And what sort of numbers your buyers will need when you try to wholesale it.

If she's got no equity because she bought it wrong, but the current price is good... then maybe you can do subject-to, which allows her to walk away.

Quick look at the numbers seems like it wouldn't cash flow very well, however.

Congratulations. Most of us don't have the excuse of two young kids to hide behind and yet you went out and proved there is never an excuse.

If you're going to buy in Katy, why not find a house that is undervalued or at least valued properly? Why would you take over their overpriced house unless you're considering a short sale?

Like @Matt Motil says, you might want to consider renting it out. If you have enough equity, see if you can refinance and pull some money out (and still cash flow from renting). And then use that money to invest.

What is your thinking behind this? Is the lot in such a prime location? Because it sounds like you're putting up all the risk on this. If you have the funds to build the house, why not just buy the lot and reap all of the reward?

I just listened to the podcast with Ken McElroy. He started out of college working for a property management company. He said it gave him to opportunity to see so many deals that flowed through the office, as well as taught him obviously how to manage them. I think that might be a good path for you. Go listen to the podcast and see if you agree.

Nice job and a good lesson that sometimes we have to look a little deeper and closer.

That's great @Justin Larpenteur. As evidenced by the BP site and community, many people like to share their knowledge, especially to others who are eager to learn. You're seeing it happen for yourself, so just keep it up.

@Tristan S., suburbian HOAs are generally accepted facts of Houston life now. But they're not as bad as the monthly condo/townhome fees. I don't like those properties because it's hard to cash flow due to those maintenance fees. In addition, they can also charge you one time fees if their pool of money is not enough to cover certain CapEx replacements. Say the roof across the 8 unit building needs to be replaced and it will cost $10k and they only have $7k. They'll now charge each unit $375 to make up the difference. That might eat up your profit for half the year.

Have you considered looking at houses on the east side of town, near BBVA Compass stadium? The houses on that side of town are still relatively cheap but I see a lot of renos etc as gentrification is happening.