All Forum Posts by: William Dampier

Welcome to BP, Khizar!

One of the great listeners of modern times was Sigmund Freud. A man who once met Freud described his manner of listening as follows:

“It struck me so forcibly that I shall never forget him. He had qualities which I had never seen in any other man. Never had I seen such concentrated attention. There was none of that piercing ‘soul penetrating gaze’ business. His eyes were mild and genial. His voice was low and kind. His gestures were few. But the attention he gave me, his appreciation of what I said, even when I said it badly, was extraordinary. You’ve no idea what it meant to be listened to like that.”

If you aspire to be a good conversationalist, be an attentive listener. To be interesting, be interested. Ask questions that other persons will enjoy answering. Encourage them to talk about themselves and their accomplishments.

At City Bank Texas, our goal is simple – to add value to you and to help you achieve your goals by listening. As the Commercial Real Estate Lender, I pride myself on providing a peace of mind and making life easier by offering lending solutions custom tailored to meet my client’s borrowing needs!

 
• Real Estate. Acquisition & Refinance.
• Industrial. Office. Self Storage. Multi-Family. Retail Strip Centers. Single Family.
• Conventional loans for Owner & Non-Owner Occupied Commercial Real Estate
• Attractive interest rates
• Innovative loan options
• Flexible terms & affordable payments with long-term financing

I am here to be a resource for you, think of me as part of your team. If I can assist you in anyway, please let me know. Simply put, we win as a team!

Bill

At City Bank Texas, our goal is simple – to add value to you and to help you achieve your goals. As the Commercial Real Estate Lender, I pride myself on providing a peace of mind and making life easier by offering lending solutions custom tailored to meet my client’s investment real estate borrowing needs!

• Investment Real Estate. Acquisition & Refinance.
  • Sing Family. Retail Strip Centers. Multi-Family. Self Storage. Industrial. Office.
  • Conventional loans for Owner & Non-Owner Occupied Commercial Real Estate
  • Attractive interest rates
  • Innovative loan options
  • Flexible terms & affordable payments with long-term financing

I am here to be a resource for you, think of me as part of your team. If I can assist you in anyway, please let me know. Simply put, we win as a team!

Bill

(713) 988-8305

Houston is an Oil & Gas city. Period. While Houston is more diversified today than it was in the '80's, it is still dominated by Oil companies. The two (2) fastest growing industries in Houston are Business Services and Hospitality. What industry do you think that the Business Services and Hospitality depend upon? If you guessed the energy companies, you guessed correctly my friend! Other than New York, Texas has more Fortune 500 companies than any other state - including California! Willing to go double or nothing and take another guess which industry leads the charge? If you guessed the energy companies, you are right again!

Is the Houston market going soft? Depends upon who you ask. Home sales are down, rent prices are going up.  But make no mistake about it, this is an energy city. 

RentersWarehouse is one of the best in town. Richard Drake and his team know the market better than anyone. 

Patten Law Firm is one of he best, Investor friendly title companies in the market. 

"Three factors drive Houston's economy - the price of oil, the value of the dollar, and the health of the U.S. economy. Two of the three are currently struggling at the plate. 

Crude trades at least half of its June '14 peak. Exploration firms have slashed their budget 50 percent or more. The rig count has fallen nearly 60 percent. Drilling permits are down 40 percent. Layoff notices appear in the media almost daily. One week, analysts forecast crude will slip below $20 in the spring; the next week they predict crude will top $80 by the fall.

What's certain is that the industry is in transition, with more layoffs, bankruptcies, mergers, Ned acquisitions to come. Oil price, a catalyst for growth in recent years, are now a drag on Houston's economy". - Greater Houston Partnership, October 2015.

Houston may be more diversified today than it was 30 years ago, but don't kid yourself. Sure, Leisure and and Hospitality has added 21,900 jobs since December '14, but who do you think they are catering to? Business Services has added 8,800 jobs during the same stretch. Something tells me they are servicing a particular industry - O&E. 

I'm not predicting the end of the world, but I would caution against believing that we are out of the woods just yet.

@CJ Middleton - First, and foremost, thank you for your sacrifice and service to our country. You are a real life hero!

Welcome to BiggerPockets! You'll find a wealth of knowledge within this site.

Bill

@Nolan Merrill - Welcome to BiggerPockets! There's a lot of experience and a wealth of knowledge out there! Best of luck to you!

It seems many of the post and threads I see on BP these days are "Newbies" introducing themselves. I really hope they take note and read all the comments on this post.

Waylon is a great friend, a seasoned investor, and one of the smartest fellas I know. To see how easy it was for him to lose $3,000 from a crooked Wholesaler, should serve notice that we all need to be conducting due diligence when investing.

Thanks for sharing your experience, @WaylonThemer.