All Forum Posts by: Tyler Sample

I have my eye on a 0.55 acre lot listed at $59K in rural south Texas (Jackson County). The sellers are selling this 0.55 ac out of their current 0.84 lot with their home on it. I feel like they are asking way too much for the 0.55 ac but I also do not want to make them mad if they think I am lowballing by giving them a realistic offer (12-15K?). How much should I offer for the 0.55 acres if their homesite land value (0.84) is only $8,820? Is there a formula for making offers on property based on tax value?

Hello,

Here is my input as a former realtor while in college and then a resident of Leander and Cedar Park over the last two years: 

RR may be appreciating fast but Leander has more growth potential if you are looking at a long-term rental, I would even consider offer seller financing if you ever want to move on to a different investment. I rented the whole time I was there, first year being a room in a house and I'd say if you have a 400K house you could have a target audience for young professionals and easily have them at $700-900 per room. Friends that were paying $600 per room were in 20-30 yr old houses and newer. So if you're looking for something like a nice Terra Vista home and having roommates, like your house, I would go more on the high end to make sure you are helping yourself but also getting interest from people that know the worth of what you are offering. (Assuming you are very clean cut and professional yourself).

 I would post ads with the local chamber, small business groups on Facebook, and for sure have a screening process that costs you at least a little bit to ensure they are the right fit. References helped me get my room as well as my job offer letter. Credit check and previous rental history can typically be a make or break when getting more info after their background check. 

Hope that helps!

Is this a thing and could it be profitable/worth dealing with? Buying two lots for 10K each (seller is desperate) and the tax assessed value currently is 35K per lot. How much should I ask per lot (residential) based on the equity I will have in them and how do you determine that? I am a former realtor so will be listing as FSBO online, thinking about doing seller financing but never have before?

All speculation at the moment - I've come into two vacant lots (0.37 acres each) in the city limits in my small hometown (6,000 people) and they need some brush cleared. Realtor said cost to tap into utilities will be $1,000 per lot. How much more would it cost if I want to have the ditch dug out and install a culvert on each of them? Both have 75' of frontage. The grass/yard is currently flat all the way to the street with just a slight slope where a ditch used to be years ago. All unimproved.

Any recommendations what I should do with these lots to flip them for cheap? Will have immediate equity once they are mine, seller is desperate to get it off their tax roll apparently. 

Thank you all for the comments, much appreciated!

About to close on my first home. 3bd/2ba. Any videos or ways on screening tenants you guys recommend? Going to advertise mainly by word of mouth but would like to know how to handle people's credit information, pay, etc when deciding who I really want living with me. Trying to keep it simple but I want them to sign a contract and do it somewhat official. Any advice?

Hello everyone, 

I am making my first rental property purchase and have been having mixed feelings about what I am actually going to do with the house. Would it be more beneficial to fix up the property and sell by offering financing or keep it to rent out? Started straying away from the idea of renting to tenants once I talked to friends that had plenty of horror stories about their rental properties... are there more cons in seller financing than just selling it myself?

Let me know your thoughts!

Hello everyone, 

My family is land rich, cash poor. My grandparents have lived off of oil & gas wells their whole lives, have millions of dollars worth of land, and are very complacent with this. My grandpa has thousands of dollars worth of checks scattered in the midst of his heap of paperwork on his desk and says "I'll get to it one day." This frustrates me so much. They collect annual revenues from small royalties, hunting and cattle leases, and have been selling off smaller properties lately to help them squeeze by. I will one day inherit said royalties and land (very small amount due to it being divided up between so many family members) but I'm just sitting here thinking, "Man, if I had what they had I would be selling property to invest in larger properties and gaining capital." I have gained a small amount of traction by convincing them to sell me a small lot in a nearby town for $500 that is due to be re-zoned soon and be part of a neighborhood. Basically it is a land-locked lot with no street access and the city will soon be building streets to these lots that random people own in order to create housing. I have the neighbor who is interested in buying my lot for $5,000 and am waiting on it to clear title. So boom - a little over $3K in my pocket all by simply asking my grandparents a question. On top of that, I contacted the neighbor on the opposite side with the same size lot who is willing to sell me his lot for $700. My idea is to sell both lots to the neighbor willing to pay for my one. He is interested in both now but we have not set a definite price. 

I give this example to show I know it is possible to capitalize on my grandparents' lack of motivation to do anything with their property. The only thing is I'm afraid it stops there...I go to pipeline lease meetings with my grandpa and am a part of things like that but as far as handing over the torch I think he thinks I am too young. It would be a dream of mine to have what they have and work to turn everything positive. My questions are what would you do in my situation? If I wanted to start acquiring my family's land and turn profits how would you go about doing that? Find smaller deals and sell until you get enough capital to start buying the large family properties? I am afraid that over time my grandparents will have to sell bigger properties, like the ones I grew up deer hunting on which are very sentimental to me, and I will have to watch my childhood be sold to some big-wig from the nearest metroplex. 

Just for reference between my grandpa, his two deceased siblings, and another landowner in town, they own 15,000 mineral acres of which roughly 5,000 are surface. 

Growing up and seeing what my grandparents do, it has always been a life goal of mine to be a land investor. Of course that's my goal, right? Lol. But seriously, it's what I am set on doing. Whether I own 5 acres when I die or 50,000, I will be in the game somehow. I have a pretty decent start using the leverage of my family but I have a large hunger for growth and in my eyes there is no reason I shouldn't be a bigger player in the game one day than they are right now. 

Please share your thoughts if you are an experienced rural land investor or if you have a similar family situation. Thank you!

I'm 25 and make 70K a year. The catch - I have 50K in debt between my car and school loans. I want to be a big-time investor (I know, the usual right). What would you do to make my dream a reality?

Awesome, thank you.