All Forum Posts by: Michael Smith

Talked to Noble and they seemed to be a good fit. Others I have talked to want a lot of money set aside for payments, repairs etc. I havent actually used them yet but getting qualified now. 

Hi, there is a house that is going up for auction and I was wondering what the best way to get funds for the deal would be. I was thinking a hard money lender might be the best way to go.

Hi, so I have a rural property outside of Houston and rent it on VRBO. Its 2.5 arces total with about 1.5 acres empty field. The house with a front and back yard sit on about an acre fenced from the other 1.5. Am thinking about what I could add that might add value to the house and or to renters looking to stay there. Any ideas?

interested as well.

Lots of agents fail and Texas has gotten a large amount of new agents recently so yes there will be more competition but remember most will fail.

I owned and sold my beach house during corona. The local government shut all rentals down for a bit but in May rentals came back strong. Thats when I had multiple offers come in on my home. You should have a few months reserved anyway due to hurricanes, flooding etc. Even without the virus there isnt a guarantee of cash flow.

Have you checked loopnet? Commercial brokers? You could rent out the other rooms on Airbnb/VRBO as well for sort term rentals.

I was lucky in that my beach house was already set up with a maid, a VRBO account with many great reviews, furnished, etc. I have a remote key but when the battery dies then what?? I have a lock box as a back up.  I have multiple sets of sheets an the check out procedures have most of the cleaning done by the renters. Makes it easy for my cleaning crew. 

So VRBO does my calendar, and mentions additional amenities provided as well.

You can get an idea by looking on line and looking at properties to see what they are charging, how many days they are vacant and see if you can calculate how much you need during the off period.

I make decent money just off of one property, it pays for itself and then some.

Here in Houston, you can get probate leads online for free from the county tax assessor. When I did probates, it did not seem to be a lot of other writing them or calling them. I base that on what the leads told me. You might try to check your county to see if you can also get these leads.

As far as motivation, I found absentees to be more motivated. I had several probate leads that wanted full price or more for their homes, if they wanted to sell at all. Absentees on the other hand were calling me several times to try to get deals done. 

As far as deterring other investors, I wouldn't worry about them. One, if they are mailing as well as you there is a chance that they might call you and not them. Works the other way around I know but say they get one letter, another one, and then yours is the one that finally gets them to take action well there you go. I also found that several leads told me "Your the only one I have called that answers or called me back".

I would not recommend them at all. I joined them in June and sent a total of 4 campaigns. Three of those four were incorrect in some way. The first one was not the campaign I requested, the second one wasn't sent out at all, the third one I was charged twice for. For the amount they charge I expect a lot better than this! One campaign did not send all at once so I wonder if they can handle large campaigns at all. As far as the postcards themselves they were good quality. There has to be better, cheaper options out there.

I would say your experience with them so far is a sign of things to come.