All Forum Posts by: Sandy Sawyer

I know what you mean. I'm in SW Houston. As a Realtor I can scan the MLS every day, and I'm on many wholesale buyer lists. But the feeding frenzy is surreal! All my deals have been when people called me directly wanting to sell their house. It's hard to apply the 1% rule around here. I think you have to just crunch the numbers for real and see if you think it will cash flow. Be sure to leave a little wiggle room in the event rents start to drop or vacancies rise.

Hi @Khang Pham I'm also a Houston investor (and Realtor); would love if you'd share your top 3 lenders! Flipping with hard money scares me to death! I'm more of a buy & hold rehab, rent, refi, rinse and repeat type. 

I agree with @Luka Milicevic

It sounds like a nice gesture until he crashes your car. Cover yourself by making him go through Turo.

So, looking on the bright side, it looks like everyone left their rental to go buy a house!

Which vessel you travel in depends on your destination and timeline. Know how you want this to look in 5 years, in 10 years. Are you completely hands-off? Are you good at networking & delegating? This will help you to know what you're looking for, so you can identify it when your deal shows itself.

I've used Transact Title, they have several locations around Houston area. Tell them Sandy Sawyer sent you.

I looked into tax leins many years ago when I came across a book I think it was called The 16% Solution. There I found that the 2 states best to invest for tax leins is Arizona and Indiana. You almost never actually get the property because there is like a 2-year right of recapture. The county needs their tax money and you the investor are providing that for them. In return the late fees they collect go to the investor when the homeowner gets the money and pays, which they normally do. Think about it, if there is a lot of equity they aren't going to just let the house go to a tax lein. But the fees are super steep. I know this firsthand because our first house was in Indiana. I didn't realize until like 2 days after the due date to pay taxes and handed over a cash-advance check I happened to have in my purse. 2 days late and 16% late fee! So it's all about your returns not so much acquiring property when it comes to tax leins.

I agree with @Ray Alsaigh; I'm a Houston Realtor and investor. Relationships are important here because people work with those they feel they can trust. That said, the market is hot right now here partly because out-of-state investors are swooping in with their bags of money and don't know what they're doing. When the market turns, they will be the ones with the short end of the stick. Here there are pockets within pockets of areas, some good, some bad. It's like a land mine, which is why I only invest here because I live here. I recommend against buying off-market if you don't know what you're doing. In fact, it may be better, even if you can afford to pay cash for a property, to get a local lender for your first property so you have another set of eyes on your investment. They won't let you pay more than it's worth. I just bought a property with a conventional mortgage last week. The appraisal cost more for an investment property because it includes a market rent assessment. I'd say that's pretty valuable if you don't live here. PM me if you'd like more info; I have a local lender I can recommend too.

It's not been my experience that a teacher's salary has ever got her the median home ownership. They usually either rent an apartment/house, or partner with someone that can help buy a modest home. 

I received an email a week after closing, title company's 3rd request for funding from my lender. But lender wants me to send another $2,000 to increase flood policy from covering my mortgage amount to one covering full replacement value. (It's never flooded.) Can they play with people's lives like this and get away with it? I would have paid cash for the house had I factored in this additional cost. What can happen if I don't pay it?