05.20.06
Texas bill on property tax reform
I own two SFR in Texas, and one unfortunate aspect of investing in real estate in Texas is the high property taxes you pay. It varies from county to county but usually the prooerty tax is about 3% for non-occupant owners.
The 3% hit is one reason I’ve hestitated at looking at any high price point real estate in Texas, and also why I haven’t bought more TX RE, my purchases have been at the 100K level.
So when I heard there was a change in the winds at the National Wealth Builders Expo a couple of weeks back, my ears perked up. Today I went a’ googling to see what the story is.
I found an article in the Houston Chronicle that indicates that the school taxes would be shifted more to business. Note however that if you put your properties into an entity and that entity has more than 300K of gross receipts you would not be exempt.
I dug out my Nueces County Consolidated Property Tax statement which is the nastier one of the two I get. The school taxes are hefty. Of my tax bill of $3245.46 the ISD (independent school district) taxes are $1610.66. Not to mention an additional $246.71 for a community college.
Could be a significant savings.. I would certainly look into buying more TX real estate if this comes to fruition.
Now that I know the name of the initiative:
“Texas Tax Reform Commission Plan”, google found a lot more information for me. The governor’s site has a report on it. Looks like it is a done deal.
05.01.06
The Power of Networking
When you first get started in real estate it can be a bit frustrating. You go to a seminar .. where they make it sound sooo easy and then you get home and reality hits. Where are all the deals I've heard about? Well let me tell you .. they are out there. But to find people and deals, the secret is network, network, network. Here's an example of a successful strategy from a friend of mine.
I make an effort to meet someone new a week for coffee or lunch who is focused on personal development and personal wealth. The person who's already developed a strong stream of passive income or someone who plans to do so are my favorites.
Usually, these are real estate people or entrepreneurs.
I take the conversation to potential partnerships i.e. rather than just staying in touch, we talk about doing something together that can be completed in days. If this works, we do a bigger project. I'm talking short, short time frames for these projects. If we jive, then we introduce bigger projects. That's how all my big projects caught life.
If someone turns out to be rather inexperienced, I turn that session into "practice". I try to give as much help to this person for their investments, business start-ups, personal development etc. Wherever they're headed. When they ask if they can stay in touch, I ask them (very politely and very nicely) to find a reason for us to do so. Partnerships that have value for both groups are the ones that work.
I always ask them to introduce me to another person…. (my pipeline).
We chat about families, passions, vulnerabilities and other good stuff.
I practice small talk and how to get out of my self-conscious skin. For so many, talking to people comes so naturally. People are drawn to you. Me? I gotta do jumping jacks in weird clothing. So I practice and laugh at the flops.
Unreturned phone calls, not telling the truth, out of control egos and lone wolves confuse me. So I stay away. Unless they ask for help.
I partner with folks who have a heart for people. My partners aid orphans in Kenya, give away winter coats in S. Chicago, help cancer patients and build libraries in Nicaragua. All give extensively to charity. They inspire me to care. I hope I do the same for them.
I really am not very good at this. But I do the NGU thing. Never Giving Up makes up for less intelligence, looks, gabby prowess and a bunch of other things.
