All Forum Posts by: William Alvarez

James Wise no we never opened it but we were gonna do a menu with everything under 500 calories using low fat sauces, low fat cheeses and high protein/low fat meats, etc. great idea but have no clue about the restaurant business think I will just stick to real estate!

I was going to do a health sandwich shop a couple years ago and name it "The Flat Belly Deli" you could name it the "Fat Belly Deli"

Everyone here has such great views and opinions. My personal take from all this is that I still think I am going to stay on the same path. Use the paid off rentals to cash-flow the new ones and repeat. At this rate, (along with some business income thrown in), I expect to pay off each house in 3 years or less. My goal is to have 10 homes paid off free and clear by the time I turn 45. My long term goal is to retire from the fire department, and live off the 10 rentals and my pension. Real estate is something that is a passion and doesn't get old, so there is no need to retire from learning and investing.

@Adam Hofmann ...It sounds like to me that you are definitely on the path to success. Keep up the good work.

@Andy Robison ....To be honest, I haven't had a lot of maintenance problems except for a water heater about a year ago. One house is rented by a nice older lady that pays 5 days early, and the other one has had the same tenants for five years. Never had vacancy for over 2 weeks. Beginners luck I guess.

@Bill Briscoe ...I do understand what you are saying. It makes total sense. I roll both paid off mortgage cash-flow into the one I just recently bought. I also throw as much of my job income as I can. It's a lot to think about, so many options and great ideas. Thank you for your reply.

@Chris K. ....You think the same way as me. Having 6 paid off to me seems like a lot less headache. I would think you could have these for a while, build up your cash-flow, sell everything and move to commercial property rental.

@James Syed ...Thanks for your reply. What you said does make sense. Using leverage to make 5% is a great ROI.

@Duncan Taylor ...My father in law owns quite a bit of rentals and snowballs money into more and pays them off quite fast. He makes it look so easy, and never borrows money. I understand the whole leverage concept in order to get more properties. It just seems like a lot of potential risk. Thank you for your advise.

@Pam R. Thanks for your reply. I like the snowball method, where you purchase say 4 rentals and use the cash-flow from 3 to pay off the other. Then use the paid off cash-flow to pay the others. This might be the best option.

Hey guys, I am new to BP, but am very impressed with the amount of experience and knowledge on this forum. I have two rentals that are paid off and cash-flow $1250 each. I recently acquired another one that should produce the same monthly income. I put 20k down. These homes range between $85-120 in the Houston area. My question is should I continue to try and payoff the rentals with my business income as fast as possible, or just let the house pay for itself. My original goal was to payoff a few and then let the paid off income snowball into the new ones until each one was paid off and repeat. It seemed like a good plan to me, but I see on here that a lot of BP'ers seem to acquire as many as they can. My method seems like a slow one. Is there any benefit one way or the other? Any advise is welcome.

I just recently purchased a house to use as a rental using HAR. The website is great but, it is no secret and everyone in Houston uses it. The problem is that the market is so hot, investors are waiting to jump on deals fast. You have to be ready with all documents, cash, approval letters, reserves in the bank, etc...I offered full asking price on a house that was on the market for only 5 days and it took the seller's agent 3 days to accept. I got the house after beating out 8 other offers. I offered full price because I knew there were so many others looking as well. I knew what I could get for rent and that I would be making money. Hope this helps.

Thank you guys! Houston seems to be a great place for REI.