OMG, not ANOTHER new investor!

:biggrin

Gosh, can I even call myself that yet? Probably not since the only piece of real estate I own is my own home.

Originally from Ohio, I’ve been in the Houston Texas area for about 10 years now. Growing up in Ohio, my dad “dabbled” in real estate owning a couple of SFR properties as well as a duplex. He always stressed that real estate was a good long term investment. Of course, that was a long time ago and he’s long since passed. However his words have always stuck with me.

My wife and I are financially stable and both have good careers. Instant financial gratification is not the reason we want to get in on the REI ground floor. We’re at a point where our child will soon be in College and we want to start building some real wealth for our future.

We’ve considered flipping but not sure that’s the direction we want to go right now. We’ve done very well over the years rehabbing our own homes so we have some idea of what goes into flipping. However, we honestly feel that rental properties is where we need to be.

A Big shout out to Michael (PropertyManger) for his well kept blog. What a true wealth of information, an honest look into the world of rental properties. I mean, if the bath tub pictures don’t scare you away, one might have the stomach for this afterall. :biggrin

So here we are with a teaspoon full of knowledge, finances to actually do something and the desire to build a nice business for ourselves. We’ll be attending the RICH Club meetings in the very near future and hope to start building up a network of associates with whom we can learn from.

So, just wanted to say hello and thank everyone for all the terrific information that you share on a daily basis.

One last thing, is there anyone more annoying than Armando Montelongo? :banghead

SPitz,

Welcome to the forum!

Mike

Welcome! :beer

I will be at the RICH club this Saturday Dec 1. You sound a lot like me a couple of years ago. Our son is a couple years off from college and both my wife and I have pretty good corporate jobs. But we have decided that this real estate is where our future is going to be.

In Houston the environment for flipping is not the best. In order to flip a house in general you have to buy a house that needs work put that work in and sell it for a profit. The problem is getting enough of a spread to make a suitable profit. Most places that you hear about flipping working they use the new value of the rehabbed house as well as the market appreciation to get the large profits. In Houston we appreciate at about 5% to 6% per year. That means you don’t get much help at all. In Houston if you can get $10k from a flip you have actually done really well.

But in Houston you can find houses that cash flow as rentals pretty easily. It is not every house, but you can find a house per month if you look.

Bluemoon…while not experts by any means (heck I guess we’re not even amatuers yet), we’ve noticed exactly what you’re saying about flipping in Houston. I over heard some folks chatting one time about their “flip” and the couldn’t understand why they were’nt doubling their money. Too much time watching “Flip this House” if you ask me.

As far as the RICH club this Saturday, I was hoping to go but have a previous commitment. I’m trying to reschedule that and come to the meeting but I’m not certain I can get that changed.