All Forum Posts by: Stanley Ezeadi

@Rehan Noorani

And maybe for your first one don’t try to take on something that’s gonna need major work. Start off with a deal that needs light work and work your way up to the full gut jobs once you gain confidence.

I thought it would be fun to update this post for any lurkers out there. I made this post originally on November 25th. After realizing I wasn't focused on the right thing I contacted an agent I met earlier that month at a REI meet up here in Houston. We saw a good handful of properties that made sense strictly based on the numbers. After throwing down a couple offers and getting rejected and ignored. I went under-contract on December 3rd on a renovated home in Missouri City set to close Dec 26th. All was well until the inspection uncovered that it would need a new rough soon and also the demand for renting a room in Missouri City wasn't actually a thing. The amount of people looking for rooms in that area was small and scarce. So instead of closing on this pretty 1700 sqft home I passed on it and pulled out. This is all my fault due to not actually getting a sense of what the rent for room market was like and assuming friends would just rent to me.

After I pulled out of this deal, I took 2 weeks off from work to solidify my plan and write down exactly what I was looking for and why. I also took this time to analyze more deals with the goal of putting down multiple offers by the end of my break. Day 7 of my break a home was relisted in the MLS that fit my criteria. Realtor and I thought it was priced fair. It was THE lowest priced home in that subdivision, not a screaming deal but the numbers worked. We put in a full price offer and was ignored which I thought was crazy. But I guess there plan was to use our offer to entertain other offers and get closer to their unreasonable price they started at 600 days ago. Realtor and I called/texted agent and assistant if not every day/ every other day to follow up for the next 2 weeks until they threw in the towel and accepted.

After going thru another inspection an unveiling some what soon became manageable issues with the property I decided to move forward. Everyone wants a home run for there first deal but many never do there first deal. I've lived in a brand new studio apartment in the trendiest parts of town that costed me close to $1300. Worse case scenario if I cant rent out the rooms and my lifestyle goes up by $150 and I live in a 2400sqft home instead of a 400sqft one and still have a healthy reserve of 10k... not a big deal. We were able to close on Jan. 15, 15 days early before my 22nd birthday which was nice and there were over 20 non related people interested in the rooms available for rent. I spent my birthday weekend painting and getting deals on appliances and quotes on work that needed to be done.

Fast forward to today after paying all the bills associated with the home such as PITI, internet, power, biweekly landscaping, etc.(I have cash reserves) I am left with $273 at the end of the month and living for free. I am 15 minutes away from my job in the loop which is also nice and I am so glad I pulled the trigger when I did. I will rent my room out at the end of the year. And I am buying 2 rentals this year for sure and I will be sticking to renting by the room.

Thank your to everyone who took the time to comment. I hope everyone is doing well.

@Matthew Gullo I’ll be there.

@Pete Storseth

Sure it can work. But being a realtor is a full time gig. Whatever you choose to do, do it with 110%. The sooner you start the closer you get to your goal. There’s so many things you can do nowadays to boost your income. So many great paying companies that are bonus driven/sales driven, so many gigs are now out there and available. Choose something and go for it. And if you fail...well get yourself up and try something else and go at it at 110%.

Worse case scenario is you return to your job that you love but doesn’t pay as much. And you grind it out to 65. Which is very regular. But I’m sure this is not what you want to do! Keep me posted on your progress friend.

Hey Pete!

I was in your shoes about a year ago. And last month on January 15th I closed on my first House hack! But there’s no way around your income you simply need to earn more. I would  highly suggest you push yourself to double your income in 2020. While your working on growing your income this year, why don’t you rent hack instead? Rent a cheap 2 or 3 bedroom and rent the rooms to cover or significantly reduce your rent. This will prep you for when you become an actual landlord and are dealing with tenants. If you do this for about a year, save aggressively, and end the year at 35-45k in income you’ll be in good shape to get a loan on a nice 3/2  house thats move in ready in an OK neighborhood.

As far as Lenders and Banks go remember Yelp reviews can be faked! I would suggest go out to some events and meet someone who is house hacking in Houston and asked them who they used as a lender and get an honest review. 

And lastly there’s no need to rush into something that will cause further strain on your income. Save, save, save and set yourself to be ahead. If someone were to approve you for a loan and a 5k expense came up on your house what would you do? This is just something to think about. Best of luck friend!

Congrats on getting started John! I just got my potential first under contract. Starting small and growing from there is the way to go, although I have no where near the capital you started with. I think that's what's wrong with some newbie investors like myself is that we look for home run deals and then lose motivation when we see the price tag. Starting small is OK. Thanks for the post!

@Mark Sewell Agreed. My criteria is a bit different though my goal is to cash flow at least $500 over mortgage instead of covering just the mortgage. I found this to be really possible with 4/2 and 5/3 properties.

@Mark Sewell You couldn’t have said it any better! I was also a bit concerned because the in this investment property I would be living in it and renting the rooms.

Thanks guys for taking the time to respond. I haven’t found anything in Sharpstown that makes sense numbers wise but I did make an offer on something nearby and should get the result tomorrow.

@Isaac Magee

Thank you for sharing Isaac! I’d love to connect and ask you specific questions.

I was on my way to check out a neighborhood for a potential property and I happened to see all of the new development in the Sharpstown area surrounding Houston Baptist University. On top of the new commercial developments I am also seeing a lot of newly renovated SFH properties in the 77074/77036 zip code. I know growing up the area was filled with crime but do you guys believe it can maybe make a come back? I'm buying a House Hack pretty soon which I will rent by the room (SFH) but I'm not sure if the area is a decent place to live yet. The commute to work inside the loop is pretty nice. What are your thoughts on the area?