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Would you invest in Brownsville, Texas (Us-Mexico Border) Rio Grand Valley?
I'm looking into a couple large apartment complexes in Brownsville and just sent out an Loi for one of them. This is for a long term hold for at least the next 10 years. There is an 18billion dollar gas plant that is being built in Brownsville on the Port and is expected to bring in 5k new jobs. https://gcaptain.com/nextdecade-finalizes-18-billion-investm...
I'm also told that Rio grande valley is booming in growth around areas like Mcallen and brownsville.
Am I not calculating certain risk from being so close to the border with all the political/migration issues going on around there?
Just wondering what other people here think of the area and if you would invest in Brownsville.
I live and invest in the area, although not in multi family. I am in Brownsville and by the LPG port every single day.
The LPG port is absolutely enormous and will bring a lot of jobs to the area. It's under construction now and is staggering how big it is. Most people focus on Space X when they talk about Brownsville, but I think LPG will have a larger effect.
The bad part is that Brownsville itself isn't great. A good deal of corruption and other issues that come with being a border town. Transportation industry is huge with lots of goods going across the border, so in theory trade deals could cause waves here for better or for worse.
Things are definitely growing down here. It will be interesting to see if Brownsville can keep pace with McAllen with the new development happening nearby.
Thanks for the reply Jake, I really appreciate it
@Jake F. Just a follow up question if you were to take Brownsville an divide it in four ways what parts would you say are the best parts of town and which parts are the worst?
I heard that Los Elbanos Is a great location. I found the road Los Elbanos Blvd, but I'm not sure if that's referring to the neighborhood or just the road:
And I would assume anything close to the port is going to benefit from the job growth due to the LPG facility.
I can’t speak to this place but, when dealing with border towns in general, I would find and ask a customs and border patrol agent what they think of the areas.
Quote from @Arkadiy Iliyayev:
Thanks for the reply Jake, I really appreciate it
If you cut Brownsville in four pieces using the interstate to divide east and west and Ruben Torres to divide north and south, you'd be safe buying basically anything north of Ruben Torres with the notable exception of Cameron Park. All of the new builds will be north of Ruben Torres and up towards Olmito and Rancho Viejo.
It's not that you can't find a nice house here or there south of say Coffeeville Road or even Price, but it's pretty rare. I'd stay far away from south end, especially anything around downtown or Southmost. That is all class D at best, and you would need to have boots on the ground and speak fluent Spanish to have any hope of success.
As far as multi-family goes. There are some bigger complexes around Los Ebanos boulevard that you mentioned, but it's a street not a neighborhood. I wouldn't consider it particularly nice. I associate it with 1,000 sf houses on blocks with no garages and an illegal trailer dropped in the backyard. Class C type stuff maybe.
The complexes in the part of town dedicated to multifamily can be a mixed bag. Some look to be pretty nice while others are in a state of disrepair. That area would be around Los Ebanos, Paredes Line, and Price. There are some multi-family buildings in Cameron Park and Southmost, but as previously mentioned I wouldn't even consider those.
Anything near Space X or the Port of Brownsville won't be nice. And the LPG plant is nearer to the town of Port Isabel. PI is a quiet town more geared toward tourism on South Padre Island, but will likely frow due to LPG.
There are definitely some opportunities down here in the Rio Grande Valley for people who know how to operate, but one challenge you will encounter will be that it's very hard fine good employees. People down here operate at a different speed, and everyone who comes from out of the area is aghast at how poor the customer service is. I'm sure it can be done, but you will definitely have to hire from the local talent pool which is awfully shallow.
Another issue specific to multifamily in Brownsville is that eventually someone will definitely be using your units to stash illegal substances or illegal people. It's just 100% going to happen. Also, and they are. Right now and what happens in those member, it's entirely possible that some of your tenants run into immigration issues and disappear. It's just a fact of life down here. On top of that, expect the same thing to happen with all of your contractors. I've had a contractor calle 30 minutes after cutting him a check telling me he was arrested by border patrol at the bank.
I'm not I'm definitely not trying to scare you out there and deals. I like it down here and have found investing here to be lucrative. Just speaking from experience after close to a decade in the Rio Grande valley.
Quote from @Jake F.:
Quote from @Arkadiy Iliyayev:
Thanks for the reply Jake, I really appreciate it
If you cut Brownsville in four pieces using the interstate to divide east and west and Ruben Torres to divide north and south, you'd be safe buying basically anything north of Ruben Torres with the notable exception of Cameron Park. All of the new builds will be north of Ruben Torres and up towards Olmito and Rancho Viejo.
It's not that you can't find a nice house here or there south of say Coffeeville Road or even Price, but it's pretty rare. I'd stay far away from south end, especially anything around downtown or Southmost. That is all class D at best, and you would need to have boots on the ground and speak fluent Spanish to have any hope of success.
As far as multi-family goes. There are some bigger complexes around Los Ebanos boulevard that you mentioned, but it's a street not a neighborhood. I wouldn't consider it particularly nice. I associate it with 1,000 sf houses on blocks with no garages and an illegal trailer dropped in the backyard. Class C type stuff maybe.
The complexes in the part of town dedicated to multifamily can be a mixed bag. Some look to be pretty nice while others are in a state of disrepair. That area would be around Los Ebanos, Paredes Line, and Price. There are some multi-family buildings in Cameron Park and Southmost, but as previously mentioned I wouldn't even consider those.
Anything near Space X or the Port of Brownsville won't be nice. And the LPG plant is nearer to the town of Port Isabel. PI is a quiet town more geared toward tourism on South Padre Island, but will likely frow due to LPG.
There are definitely some opportunities down here in the Rio Grande Valley for people who know how to operate, but one challenge you will encounter will be that it's very hard fine good employees. People down here operate at a different speed, and everyone who comes from out of the area is aghast at how poor the customer service is. I'm sure it can be done, but you will definitely have to hire from the local talent pool which is awfully shallow.
Another issue specific to multifamily in Brownsville is that eventually someone will definitely be using your units to stash illegal substances or illegal people. It's just 100% going to happen. Also, and they are. Right now and what happens in those member, it's entirely possible that some of your tenants run into immigration issues and disappear. It's just a fact of life down here. On top of that, expect the same thing to happen with all of your contractors. I've had a contractor calle 30 minutes after cutting him a check telling me he was arrested by border patrol at the bank.
I'm not I'm definitely not trying to scare you out there and deals. I like it down here and have found investing here to be lucrative. Just speaking from experience after close to a decade in the Rio Grande valley.
I focus primarily on the upper valley but I can refer you to people who specializes in the Brownsville/SPI area. Mcallen and Brownsville are both part of the Rio Grande Valley and are 1hr away from each other. They're both really different in my opinion. Brownsville has a lot of old infrastructures their city preserves historic buildings. The McAllen/Upper RGV area is more focused on building new infrastructures.
BOTH locations are safe Ive noted on some of my posts how Mcallen was voted one of the safest cities in the nation despite it being a Bordertown. Also Edinburg (another city in the RGV) is one of the fastest growing cities in South Texas.
The RGV altogether has experienced A LOT of growth since space X also since the implementation of the new football program at UTRGV.
If you have any more questions let me know id be glad to help!
Quote from @Arkadiy Iliyayev:
I'm looking into a couple large apartment complexes in Brownsville and just sent out an Loi for one of them. This is for a long term hold for at least the next 10 years. There is an 18billion dollar gas plant that is being built in Brownsville on the Port and is expected to bring in 5k new jobs. https://gcaptain.com/nextdecade-finalizes-18-billion-investm...
I'm also told that Rio grande valley is booming in growth around areas like Mcallen and brownsville.
Am I not calculating certain risk from being so close to the border with all the political/migration issues going on around there?
Just wondering what other people here think of the area and if you would invest in Brownsville.
Hello Arkadiy, yes I would invest into the Brownsville area. The RGV itself has several great investments and worth investing here for multi family.
I recently sold a 18 unit a month ago and my same investor is purchasing another 36 unit from me and after funding he'll be picking up another 38 from us, this gives you an idea of opportunity in the area.
If you're looking to large complexes let me know, i'll be picking up a potential 60 unit that you might be interested in, I work throughout the whole valley.