All Forum Posts by: Leigh Ann Smith

In my previous post, I meant to say that not all of the homes in that ZIP CODE will go to Friendswood schools.  Obviously, all of the homes in the school district will.  :-)

Hi @John Thi , We are newbies who don't have any deals under our belt yet, but we've lived in Houston most of our lives, so I can share the little bit I know.

Friendswood school district is coveted.  Most of the homes in Friendswood are high-end, but there are some neighborhoods with older, smaller homes.  The zip there is 77546, but not all of the homes in that school district will go to Friendswood schools.  

Spring Branch supposedly has some really good schools (not sure if they are all good).  That's the area that's mostly north of I-10 between 610W and Beltway 8 (Sam Houston Parkway).  It's also closer in to town, so that's a plus for downtown workers.  

There are lots of refineries and chemical plants on the east/southeast side of town (I-10E & Hwy 225), so there is a decent base of people there who are working and have a reasonable paycheck.  Those are older areas, and you might be able to find something that would be a good rental property with a bit of rehab.

You can find some decent deals on the south side of Houston (that's where we live and where we're looking for our first deal), but foundation work is very often part of the package.  That's our next thing to research....just how much does foundation work cost, anyway? 

Speaking of the south side of Houston, keep in mind that all coastal counties (even if the home is in the northernmost part of the county) require windstorm insurance, and it's very pricey.  We just payed $1,800 for ours for the year.  There is even a part of Harris County that is in the windstorm area.  Check the Texas windstorm maps to be sure.  Flood insurance is often necessary in the Houston area, even in the non-coastal counties, and it's going up 25% per year right now. Keep us posted on where you decide to focus!

Hi @Sandeep S. , welcome to Houston!  I think you made a great purchase based on this bit of Houston news:  http://www.chron.com/news/gallery/Exxon-Mobil-039-...

Would you plan to flip this house or buy and hold?  It seems like it doesn't need too much work, so it might be hard to make any profit on a flip.

If you want to use it as a rental, what kind of people would want to live here?  A retired couple, maybe?  Do retired couples move very often?  My guess is that they don't, but I  could be completely wrong about that.  Maybe they'd move to be near grandchildren.  The small size and 1 bath would not make it very attractive to families with kids. Maybe it would work well for a young couple or for a single person.

That's a very large yard. Do you think a renter would keep it mown?

Sorry I don't have any advice for you!  We're newbie investors from Manvel, and I just thought I'd share the questions that came to my mind about the property in case it could give you more angles to consider.

@Casey BradfordI should qualify my previous advice by saying that my husband and I are paying ahead on our home mortgage.  We are 56 years old, so for us it makes sense to get the house paid off so that we'll have it free and clear for retirement.  In our real estate investing, we do not plan to use our home as collateral for any loans.

When we were younger (in a previous house), we paid ahead on our mortgage too aggressively, and at one point found that we were way too "cash poor".  Also, that was during the 90's, and that money would have earned a lot more in the stock market than what we saved in interest, but there's no way we could have known that would happen!

@Matt Laird ,  I'm a newbie and have heard this thing about your home not being an asset a couple of times now, but I don't get it. Care to fill me in?

Hi @George P.

@George P.I agree that it's silly to narrow it down that much.  There are not too many contractors who are that specialized, after all.  I do know that the reason they ask for your contact info is that they pass it on to the contractors, who then contact you.  The contractors pay Home Advisor per lead they are given, rather than just a flat fee to be listed on the website.

Hi @Casey Bradford , what is the interest rate you are paying on your house?  If you can get a better return by investing the money, then it makes more sense to do that.

However, you also need to consider your circumstances.  How secure is your job?  Will you have enough cash saved to carry you through an illness, do a major repair on your home, replace a car, send the kids to college, etc?  To me, one of the biggest disadvantages of real estate as an investment is that it is not very liquid.  If liquidity isn't a big concern for you, then you can just see where you'll get the most bang for those bucks and put your money there.

I just wanted to throw out Home Advisors as another idea for finding contractors.  We have used them several times in the past to find contractors to do work at our house and will likely utilize them for rehab work when we find an investment property.

On their website ( www.homeadvisor.com ), you put in the zip code and the type of job, and they give you a list of several pre-screened contractors/companies to contact.  The screening process is described here:  http://www.homeadvisor.com/servlet/RedirectServlet...

I'm new here and accepted 2 colleague requests from local wholesalers.  A week later, both of them say "account cancelled".  What does that mean?  Is it likely that they were reported for some kind of bad behavior?

Hi @Mike Watts , did you end up deciding to do the foundation work?  If so, how did it work out?  We looked at a house yesterday in the beltway 8 & I-45 south area that has a badly cracked slab.  You can tell as soon as you're inside, because the slope is so noticeable.  Not fixing it would not be an option.  My guess is that whatever the max number of piers is, that's what it will take to fix it.  The flooring has to come out anyway, so that part is not an issue.  We are planning to run the numbers to see if this house could work out, but I'm not optimistic.

We are your neighbors, by the way! My husband and I live in Manvel.

Leigh Ann