All Forum Posts by: Trey Watson

Find the deals first. Investors are easy to find if you have a good deal. 

If you have a decent deal, all you have to do is go post it on any major search site and it will get noticed, you will meet buyers (qualified and unqualified) and naturally grow your network. Facebook- Houston Real Estate Investors Page, myhousedeals.com, craigslist....etc..

@Theresa Omeludike Driving neighborhoods and spending time using/interacting with the MLS. Right now the MLS may not the best source for FINDING investment deals, but it will help you get to know the market. Its a crucial part of understanding the market.

@Donald Dickerson I think the MLS paints a better picture than any other property source.

Im a wholesaler/licensed agent an I'm always looking to connect with other agents. I'll pm you. 

@Courtney Downtain I don't know other markets very well, but in Houston you generally look to satisfy the 1% rule at the very LEAST. This means if the property costs 125,000, you would want to rent to be at LEAST 1250/month.

Generally the older the home is, the higher above the 1% mark you want to be. For example if the property was built in the 70's, you may need to buy it at 100,000 instead of 125. If the property is brand new or built within the last 5 years, then maybe you could pay 125k but it wouldn't be a GREAT deal. Avg to below avg. 

That being said I think in most cases with turnkey purchases, you're going to pay a premium which makes it more acceptable to buy something with less room in the deal. You're trading equity and cashflow for the security of having a paying tenant already in place. 

My opinion- I think you would need to get it around 90-100k for it to make sense for you. 

@Ray HuangNormal. 1 month is not something to worry about. If 1 month is the new redzone for people then we are all spoiled. It could be a little overpriced. 

@Rick Alvi I wrote a post on my website/blog about this last year and created a pretty cool visual. Ill paste below with the post and some pictures. You can see what time of the year people like to buy and whatnot.

Oct 6, 2015

I think it makes it easier to grasp the movement of the housing market if you look at it as a flowing trend.

Using data pulled from the Texas A&M Real Estate Research Center, I constructed a few simple graphs to illustrate what I believe to be key/basic measurements of our market:

1. AVG Home Price

2. Total $Dollar Volume of Sales

3. # of Listing

4. Months of Inventory

5. Number of Sales

You can download the pdf and zoom in on the graphs by clicking HERE or you can view the images below.

You can find the data from the Texas A&M Real Estate Research Center here: https://www.recenter.tamu.edu/data/housing-activity/#/activity/MLS_Area/Houston

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I'm an agent for a wholesale investment brokerage here in Houston. Right now I'm specifically looking to connect with landlords in the area who are interested in single family properties. Most of my clients want to flip properties which is fine (we service that all day) but NOT everyone is willing to hold for the long term. 

We find just as many great landlord opportunities as flips which is why I need to expand that side of my network- to balance out the demand. 

My question to any Houston landlord/rental property owner reading this is: what sort of % return or cash flow are you getting on your current rental properties? If you don't have any rental properties, what sort of return (within reason) would you expect on a cash purchase?

@Iman Yu Congrats on your deal it sounds like that will be a cash flow machine for you. 30 days on market is great in the grand scheme of things. 

We're pretty flexible with our investors in terms of which lender they use for our wholesale deals, but I have to agree with you that Security National Mortgage is one of the best. They're always on time and good to their borrowers. 

If you want to be in the 100-150 range and be above the 1% rule, your year build will likely be limited to 1980 or older (in most cases) which means you should expect to do some rehab, in order to make the property livable, and also to build in some equity.

There are many areas of Houston that meet this criteria, so narrowing it down to specific parts of town is tough. I can tell you, there are not many opportunities for a salvageable single family home within the 100-150 range inside or bordering the 610 loop. You'd be better off looking a neighborhoods bordering/close to bw8. 

Within the 100-150 price range, rents tend to cap out at 16-1700. Once you get any higher than that, you're often times dealing with transient tenants (meaning you may not have them as long because they are a professional looking for a temp place). Another point to consider is that if a tenant can afford more than 1700 in rent in this city, they are much more likely to qualify for purchasing a home. 

@Ryan Harthan