All Forum Posts by: Tom Cooper

Thank you for your service, @John Kerr.  I wish you well on your investing.  Please go to some of the many free meetups in Houston - you can learn a lot as well as meet plenty of other investors.

@Account Closed, I have not used them yet, but I just learned about a Houston inspection firm that works only with investors.  They have a full inspection service and also a much less costly "Major Items Only" inspection.  Here is their website and I am not affiliated in any way with them.  https://www.principleinspections.com/what-we-do/

@Janet S., I suggest you find a new property manager.  @Jerry Ta is a good place to start but there are a number of others in Houston that will do you a fine job without that fee.

I second @Jerry Puckett!!!  A true professional!

Right Path Real Estate (two Thursdays per month), Real Deal (@Charles Nguyen who is a BP member/poster), Jet Lending Big Event, and Fort Bend RE are all very good.

@Raffie Mardickian, there are literally thousands of wholesalers and those trying to start in wholesaling in Houston.  Good investment agents are even harder to find.  Your best bet to meet them and find the better ones are to attend some of the many great meetups in Houston.   Here are a few of the better ones, in my opinion.  Jet Lending/Renters Warehouse Big Event (this Wednesday), Right Path Real Estate (two Thursdays a month), Real Deal (@Charles Nguyen who is active here on BP). Welcome to REI in Houston.

@Fred Heller is dead on.  Those may be nice houses, but not a good fit for rentals in Houston at those price points.  Kind of small for that price and area as well! 

@Edgar Cifuentes, How did you come up with your offer price. IMO, you are taking advantage of her with that lowball offer. It does not sound like the house is really distressed , as 5K repairs is basically nothing. Also, the 130-150 might be a starting range, but you need to come up with a specific range for that house. How do you get from 150K down to 80 with only 5K in repairs? Most houses like that in Houston are selling for at 80-85% of ARV - repairs (wish they were 70% but they are not) so that puts you at $115-122K. Sounds like she should list it and it will sell quickly.

In my opinion, after Katrina, two big factors led to the quantity of foreclosures, and I believe neither will have nearly the same impact in Houston and surrounding area.

1) A substantial portion of New Orleans' population left and has never returned.  That was a huge impact on the economy (retail, construction, services, etc.)  and led to substantial job loss, likely the number one cause of foreclosure.

2) The tourism and convention business, a huge portion of New Orleans economy, effectively disappeared for a couple of years - again huge job losses.  Houston has that as well, but is a much smaller percentage of our economy.

Unless we lose a substantial portion of our population (which I don't see likely at all), very few jobs will be lost in Houston, thus a very small number of foreclosures. Obviously the wild card is how widespread is the FEMA support going to be for those without flood insurance. Yes, there will be some foreclosures from that side, but I just don't see it being anywhere near that projection.

Would suggest you touch base with some of the veterans here on BP, who can hopefully answer that question.  Here are a few to get you started: @Scott Carson, @Bob Malecki, @Dave Van Horn, @Dion DePaoli.  There are numerous others who I highly respect, so this is just a start.