It’s resolution time for me, something I always undertake around this time of year – a couple of weeks after welcoming the New Year. I find that promises made while the confetti is still falling tend to be long on champagne fueled optimism and short on realism. So I usually wait a couple of weeks to commit.

My fun resolution is tied to my interest in photography – create a history of 2008 in 52 photos by selecting a photograph each week that I think is good enough to show, and spend a few minutes writing about why I picked the picture and what the moment meant. If you look around you’ll see a lot of photo-a-week galleries on the internet, but this will be a private project for my family. So no downloads for me…

And my professional resolution this year is…drumroll…exactly the same as my resolution last year: to sell some properties that have accumulated some equity and flip them into a fourplex using a 1031 exchange.

The two properties I need to sell are a couple of nice townhomes in the West Memorial section of Houston. I bought both of them from an investor a couple of years ago and the market has treated the area pretty well.

The market in Houston is a bit soft in this price range, but since I’m buying and selling at the same time I’m not that concerned; my main goal is to ensure that my portfolio has the right amount of leverage and that I’m generating a good cap rate on my investment. These properties have appreciated, but rent rates in the neighborhood haven’t kept up.

Last year, publically declaring my resolution seemed to have some psychological effect in making sure I got it done. Worked last year….we’ll see if it does this year too.