All Forum Posts by: Raffie Mardickian

Hello BP fam, looking for a real estate attorney in the Houston area (west Houston/Katy) for consultation on asset protection and business structure.  I have a small portfolio of 3 single family rentals and want to get everything structured the right way before expanding. 

Thanks 

 Thanks for the advice, Yes, my strategy would be for the long term, but like you said, if I sit on it for a few years and then flip it, that could also work.

Hey guys, I need some advice on a potential investment (Rental property), I've been looking for a couple of months for my 1st rental property and something came up this week, in a great neighborhood, 200,000 ARV selling for 150,000 with minor cosmetic repairs needed. My initial thought was, WOW! 50,000 initial equity in the house in a great community with value continuing to rise. After I did all my calculations, with expected rent and taxes, insurance, expenses , including repairs, vacancy, cap ex and prop management. With 20% down I would be breaking even each month, taxes are ridiculous!!- NO CASH FLOW!....I would have to put around 40-45% down to cash flow , or I could essentially buy cash with LOC and then refi the full amount because the ARV is soo high. I could be basically just paying the closing costs out of pocket, but still NO CASH FLOW!! I don't know what to do, this house will not last long, Do I walk away? Do I put more money down to cash flow, but be out of pocket 40-45K or should I refi, and be low money in, but NO CASH FLOW???? Please help!! Thanks

Any recommendations on a property management company in the Houston area? Thanks.

@Tony Castronovo Good way of looking at it, with it being safe enough for the wife to go alone, Thanks for the advice. 

@Andrew Johnson You are right about all the good deals being in the bad areas because of the competition in the attractive areas. Thanks for replying.

@Christine Kankowski Thanks for the advice, Yes, Katy and Cypress are target areas for me, and you are right, the problems with the bad areas are much greater than the positive cash flow potential.

Hey guys, I'm a new investor and have been looking for my 1st rental property for about a month now, I'm targeting an area of town that I'm familiar with, good schools, middle income families, lots of jobs, steady appreciation and neighborhoods that rent very fast.  During my search, I've come across several leads of properties in other parts of town that are not as appealing, higher crime rate, lower income families, not much appreciation.  But when I crunch the numbers, they cash flow 10% cash on cash annually.  I'm torn on what to do, I really like my target area, but the deals are hard to come by because everyone wants to be there. Do I pull the trigger on one of these properties in a bad area, or should I hold out and wait for something in my target area?  I'd hate to put my money in a property that will be hard to lease, and maybe even hard to sell in the future, along with the tenant problems I might come across because of the area of town its in.  Any kind of help/advice would be appreciated, like I said, I'm looking for my first rental.

Thanks

Hi everyone, I wanted to throw out a question and get some ideas/feedback back from you guys.

Trying to soak up as much information as possible before I make my first purchase

 If you had to start from the beginning,  and you had $50,000 cash to invest, and your ultimate goal was to quit your day job and do this for a living within the next 5-10 yrs, how would you invest?  Buy and rent? Buy and flip? Foreclosures? Single family? Multifamily? Commercial? Keep in mind, $50,000 is available and a possible extra $50,000 through a credit line. Any and all feedback/ideas are welcome.   Thank you.

Hey everyone, new member here from Houston area.  I've been wanting to get involved in real estate for a few years now, but never took the step. I'm a local business owner here and always have been interested in commercial real estate (shopping/strip center or individual shops) I'm in the automotive industry so my ultimate goal would be to buy and rent warehouses/auto shops.  I know commercial real estate takes a lot of money, so I've heard I should start small with single family houses.  I've been reading about the brrrr method and it really interests me and would give me the opportunity to buy multiple houses (one at a time of course) and be able to cash out and use the same money to buy the next property.  I have money saved up and also have a line of credit I could use for the initial purchase and rehab.  I have many questions, and any kind of help would be appreciated.  Is the brrrr method a good way for beginners to start? Where do I find these kind of houses? Should I consider foreclosures? Should I manage the property myself or get a management company? I'll add more questions later.  Any kind of feedback or advice would help. Thanks in advance.