All Forum Posts by: Abdul Rauf M.

Hi all,

I am in the midst of closing my refinancing with a bank but just recently found out that the underwriters my insurance agent were working with declined my condo coverage. I have the inspection report available if anyone here can assist in recommending a company. Thank you everyone. 

Thank you @Jordan Thibodeau actually i quite agree with you. Excel is about all that I need because that was also what i only used the past few months. But should I want to run this business like a business and with my proximity to the US being an issue, I thought having some sort of system would help the business in keeping things better organised. Thats why I listed all the above in the hope of receiving advices from anyone who has run their Real Estate Investment as a business and if they used anything else or have any other recommendations. :-)

Hi Karen,

Thank you for your reply. I was wondering if anyone could help me. From my understanding, yes it is attached to a permanent foundation. The modular homes are not upscaled like Blu Homes (They are really really nice!) but Oak Creek Homes. How do I check how the real estate department defines SFR or Modulars? Who exactly can I call? I am just working with a realtor and she is now asking around. Any other homework I can do meanwhile?

Thank you Karen.

Hi everyone,

This type of topic may have been repeated over and over and I apologise in advance for any annoyance i might cause. :)

I took the plunge of investing in real estate in the US beginning of this year and have been flying to the US from Singapore 4 times in a span of 5 months. Till date I have acquired about 5 properties as what I have mentioned in my other forum posts. When I started out, I avoided using too much money on paying for real estate softwares and such as I rather invest my money on deals first.

On the flip side of this, it has somehow caused a little bit of a mess in my business. Example, my receipts and expenditures are all not as organised as I would like it to be and I am only now formulating a proper system so that my business can start automating itself eventually in future.

My reason for wanting to invest in systems and softwares is because of the fact that businesses and entrepreneurs from Singapore will receive a substantial amount of government grant should they choose to invest in anything that can bring about a higher level of productivity or education. I am keen on leveraging on that benefit without using any of my personal money.

Now I have been reading a fair bit in the forums and the lean is to start simple and not over complicate your business. However since I will not be using any of my own money, I was thinking what are the experts opinions on paying for the following. Remember cost is not an issue here and if I dont spend on such expenditures, I will not receive any money back from my government for helping them to save. 

I am keen on having everything run from the cloud so you will find my choices here are something along that line
1) CRM: Freedomsoft 4 OR Infusionsoft OR Zoho by propertymob OR Realeflow OR Podio (I have read of some advice against buying the above such as Freedomsoft and advising to save the money instead but after reading up further, i would like to use a dedicated tool to help me with Wholesaling)

2) Property Management Software: Propertyware OR Buildium OR Appfolio OR Rentec (I would like something comprehensive and allows online payment and tenant screening)

3) Fix-N-Flip project management: Co-Construct OR Procore (This will be useful for me in my 2nd or 3rd year of REI but buying it first and understanding the software wouldnt hurt)

4) Accounting: Xero (I like its 3rd party addon with other cloud services like the above Co-Construct)

5) Receipt app: Expensify OR shoeboxed

6) Google Apps

7) HR: hrcloud.com (Employees management which I will hire)

8) Evernote Premium

9) Biggerpockets Pro subscription (For all the cool stuffs that you cant get anywhere else!)

10) Liveplan.com subscription (For presenting the business plan to my investors in Singapore)

I also wonder if anyone has tried the tools from this website? http://www.realestatetools.com/ They have iOS versions and look quite useful and nice.

I am terribly sorry for this very long post. If anyone have any other recommendation, please share or you may PM me directly. 

Thank you!

Hi all,

My question is mainly directed to the realtors here.

I have a lot that I am intending on demolishing the present house, and then placing a nice modular home on it and eventually sell it off. Doing up a new construction seems too pricey and the comps in the area of the house does not really support a newly constructed house sale but when I saw the price of a modular home, it seems to make more financial sense. After doing a bit of research on modular homes, it seems that the banks treat it the same as "stick-built" homes since these Modulars are not Mobile/Manufactured homes. And the claims are that modulars are even better quality in its built. The only downside is that it needs to be transported to the location and that may cause some form of stress to the property while en route to its destination.

My concern is that when I spoke to the agent who is assisting me, she mentioned that a modular home will not be listed as a Single-Family unit in the MLS. Is this correct? She is checking on this again and I am really hoping to move this forward. How are modular homes classified in the MLS or sold in the resale market?

Any advices are greatly appreciated.

Thank you kind gentlemen. Yes I am learning really intently on how to better evaluate property prices in future. These is lifelong learning for myself and I am enjoying every bit of it. Thank you again @Ned Carey and @Cameron Palmer.

Also I have looked up the recent transaction and it is correct. Amongst the many properties in Humble, some of the recent sales for the condos in this complex were closed at $10k give and take a few thousand. As far I am concerned, it is still rather puzzling to me how the rents for these condos were able to fetch so close to SFR rates when they are only 1 bedroom apartments.

Regardless, I guess these properties are best to be kept for cashflow and not to be flipped.

Oh and btw (i am not sure if this is appropriate and my apologies if it is not), the association's complex is looking at selling off another unit of 1 Bedroom apartment that is presently in their inventory at less than $15k. It is already tenanted out at $600/month. If anyone is keen, do send me a PM and I can run it by you. It is located in Humble Texas.

thank you for the reply @Ned! Yes I did read from several books and posts about zillow being unreliable as a source for house sale estimate. So do I then get a realtor to run the comps and give me an estimate as to how much he can sell the apartments for? Or can I hire a property appraiser for this? Thank you for helping. :) still new to US real estate. :)

Hi everyone,

I am still a newbie in real estate investing and have been looking at investing in Texas Tax Deeds more than anything else. I have a question that maybe some of you here have the answer to. 

I recently acquired from the tax sale, 4 condos at once. They are located in Humble Texas. All 4 were part of the same Cause number so that's why I got 4 units at one go. I did my research before the auction and found that maybe I will attempt these properties. The auction bid started at $18k and I eventually won it at $28k. For 4 condo units. That is about $7k per unit. 2 of the units already have tenants in them. Add in about $3k renovation costs per unit will bring up to $10k per unit. I decided to bid for this one because of the very good rental yield it gives me. At $10k per apartment, I am able to rent each out at $600 per month. If you deduct 50% costs, I will yield $300 nett and the rents will more or less pay off the cost of the apartment in 3 years. 

My question actually is, when I checked on zillow, the market value was listed at $60k - $70k per unit. But the tax records appraised it at only $10k+. Why is that so? The difference is so wide it puzzles me. And the neighborhood is quite good with good schools nearby and it's safe.

Also my most important question would be, is this a good deal from a cashflow perspective?

Thank you for any inputs!

oh yes my mistake. It's on the east side! Thank you @Will Pritchett I am not giving up because of this little mistake though. :)

@Paul James yes thank u I will send u a PM.

Dear all,

This is my very first post and I hope I am posting this in the right forum. I recently bought a lot from the county office that have a house which was damaged in the fire. I am seeking advices from the real estate pros here in formulating what I can do with this property. I bought this property without doing proper due diligence (yes mistake learnt! :)) during the auction as a few other properties I was aiming for got bidded out of my budget. Regardless, I am now seeking the best exit strategy for this property but am also willing to hold it for cash flow.

Property profile:

Location: West San Antonio near Sidney St (Is it advisable to just list the address here?)
Zoning: Residential use
Cost:$8500
Code Compliance: about $1k++
2Bed/1Bath
628sqft
Zestimate for 2Bed/1Ba in the neighborhood is about $50k - $70k and $80k and above for a 3Bed/2Ba. Rents are going at about $700 or more.

Some of my options are:

1) Demolish and construct a new 2Bed/1Ba house for rent or sale
2) Demolish and construct a new 3Bed/2Ba house for rent or sale
3) Demolish and sell the lot off.

Limitations for me
I am presently working on this deal from Singapore but have formed some nice partnerships with a few people in San Antonio who can help to oversee any decision I may undertake. In future, I will be in San Antonio more to run my business. I am seeking a good and reliable General Contractor who can give me a quote for the above options I listed.

If there is anyone with experience in the San Antonio area who can help me with advices, I am eternally grateful. 

Thank you