All Forum Posts by: Sandy Sawyer

Hey @Joel Florian, love your comment! I agree, this whole economy is a house of cards just waiting for a gentle breeze! The only reason we get away with so much in this country is that every barrel of oil is sold with the American dollar. Once that changes, people are bound to notice, "the emperor has no clothes!" 

You can do one spontaneously from this post! (Covid might impact results of course) I met with a group a couple of years ago that just said "who wants to meet at 1pm today at Jason's Deli?" About a dozen people showed up!

Not sure where you live, but here in Houston they'll let you truck your kids to a school district you don't live in if you pay for it. From your post I'm assuming you meant that you live in the house and moved there because you have school age kids. 

Also, foreclosure and pre-foreclosure are 2 different animals. In pre-foreclosure, you’re negotiating a deal with the homeowner, finding out how much equity he has, even offering to take over his payments and save him from getting a foreclosure on his credit. After foreclosure, it’s now owned by the bank, not a motivated seller. They’ll set the price and not budge until it’s been on the market for a while, and you’re fortunate to get anybody’s attention.

I’m so sorry, Arta! There are a lot of factors for you to consider here. Switching gears only because of the school zone change may be a bit drastic right now. I suggest you run your numbers and go forward with renting it out if you aren’t losing money. The cost of selling and buying another property isn’t going to be cheap. If you’re in a desirable area, then just breaking even for a couple of years can get you a nice appreciation with the tax benefit of a long-term capital gain. Look around and you may find others selling for the same reason and too much competition right now. Waiting for the dust to settle, often with buy & hold property, time is on your side, forgiving early mistakes. You have a really good interest rate, and my lender just told me that could jump all over depending on this election.

Always look at comps in the area. What do the neighbors have? Don’t over-improve. Everybody likes a lemon tree in their yard. We live in a very culturally diverse area, so I’m always thinking what has the most universal appeal. When we sold our last house, I had planted cilantro in the kitchen window. At final walk-through, the buyer said, “Where’s the cilantro?” Of course I’d quit watering it weeks earlier & it was gone. But it shows that you are selling a lifestyle. My vote is always to go with something edible!

Ok so if you're going conventional loan route, you have to play by lender rules. That knocks out any kind of wholesaling, off-market deals. Unless...occasionally there is a motivated seller that is in a position to seller finance! I jumped back on here to let you know about a house that is on the MLS but cas-only & I'm sure will go into contract by tomorrow. 8715 Rocky Valley Drive, Houston, Texas 77083

Hi Kojo, isn’t appraiser one of the things certified by the state? They have a list of accredited schools, I understand you have to attend so many hours, or am I thinking of licensed inspectors only? Anyway, for my real estate license I attended Champions, they’re one of the best. I also attended their inspections class & investor class for continuing education. Learned what a death trap we all call home! (Ha Ha) if you have anywhere the same experience I did, recruiters will show up to buy you lunch & pitch to you to come work with their company.

Hi @Yuri Woitscheck, I personally loved Boulder when I visited years ago, there are more bicycles than people there! 

Hey Mark, I'm assuming you're a cash buyer. The best deals are off-market, not on the MLS. Most real estate in Texas trades off the MLS. Go join a couple of real estate investment clubs. Get your email on the buyer lists of as many wholesalers as you can. Get a fresh list of owner-occupied pre-foreclosures in area of interest and go knock on some doors. Go to the tax auction and make connections there, just watch & learn while you're there, it's fascinating! Don't use an agent to get your deal, maybe pay one to help with paperwork only.. unless you are buying a listed property. When the other side has agent representation, it's illegal for the agent to run both sides of the table. So they'll get someone else on their team to represent you. That's like suing somebody but letting them pick your attorney. Otherwise, the time to use an agent and the MLS really is to get top dollar on the retail market when you want to sell. Hope this helps.