Always been fixer uppers ourselves, but would hire contractors for the work also.

They are like prepackaged buttery deals of ROI goodness, love'm.I have some on the edge of hell, and others in middle/upper class regions in norther Virginia.

I thought about the fixer-upper strategy but I think it will require too much time from me to supervise it.Anyway, what is your opinion?

I have purchased upper end homes as high as 80% less the rehab costs and due to the rising values and execellent condition that we put out the back end the homes will sell quicker than a similar comp that is still being lived in  or has not been cleaned up.  

If the house has multiple levels you are wasting energy pumping cold air to the upper levels and you end up with some rooms too warm and some too cold.With window units the tenant has the option to cool only the rooms being used at any given time.

As for cash flow homes, they are pretty difficult to come across and the multi unit market here doesn't really exist in a 2-4 unit unless its in "C" or "D" areas....this might or might not present an opportunity i am not sure.3) Houston is a big oil and gas city and costs in general for housing here compared to the coasts are LOW while incomes the last 2-3 years have been competitive to coasts...this means a lot of discretionary income is around so there might be investors that will keep the real estate market from bottoming once they find cap rates that make sense4) there is a huge overbuild of commercial properties in the city and ive heard that there is more commercial space coming online this year that is new sqft than the ENTIRE city of St Louis sqft total...and that doesnt even begin to factor in the several huge multi unit mixed use projects all over the city just coming online....soo the mid-upper "a" or "b" properties are probably all overpriced and will see some pressure....which is why i stuck to a "c"/"d" property because they are pretty much not adding more of5)  This deal seems fine but if i am going to start really building this business in Houston I really need to get a better handle of what can drive this economy if it ISNT going to be oil and gas.  

I want to buy a single or multi (preferred) ASAP and will work on a partnership fixer upper after that.

In Texas's latitudes, I'm not sure if compass orientation would play a role.Here in the "upper" portions of the Midwest, anything facing north is sheltered from the mid-day sun by what ever it's attached to.When this house was built, I had them put the condensing unit (CAC) on the north side to shield it from the sun most of the day.With the sun higher in the mid-day sky, dunno if it would help that much.David J Dachtera"Success is not a destination.

I'm planning on kicking both tenants out before closing as part of the deal, they are actually a mother in the lower unit and her son in the upper unit and the PM told me the owner doesn't fix anything because the tenants don't care so why should he.... yes great guy...and the PM is just one of the owner's friends so I don't think he is getting paid to manage it, just does it because he's friends with him. 

If your upper tenant don't like the smell, they have rights.