Investing in North Texas (Dallas/Fort Worth)

[Gary Wong]

I am a pretty new real estate investor in North Dallas. I currently only have one SFR rental . I been looking around DFW real estate listing and listening to podcast while I am accumulating money to invest. I heard Texas is a great place to invest but I am just not feeling it personally.

A question that pop in my head is that I notice other state have way lower property tax compare to Texas, so is Texas a good area for investment? Most the property I find only have the 1% rule. Almost impossible for 2% rule. And property tax is taking up most of the expense making it seems like a 150k house would have the escrow payment of 250k house in other states.

What are your opinions on this?

[Hattie Dizmond]

@Gary Wong

My answer is the same as it is every time the CA investors start complaining about Texas property taxes...  Our state has a balanced budget.  Our schools and infrastructure are well funded.  And, none of our towns are going bankrupt.  All of that without a personal income tax!  It is more difficult for out-of-state investors to wrap their minds around it, because they don't get the advantage of the lack of income tax.  However, you do.  You also get the advantage of it costing next to nothing to register your car.  You don't pay property taxes on your car...I could go on.

You're not going to find many properties in DFW that meet the 2% "rule".  However, Rocky hit it right on the head.  Stop worrying about the "rules".  They are guidelines.  Establish your own criteria for minimum monthly cash flow and invest to that number.  Don't worry about someone else's rule.

The reality is that in 2014 the top 2 large market, growth areas in the country where DFW and Houston.  The top growing Tier 2 market was Austin.  The Telecom Corridor area is exploding.  There isn't enough inventory in the DFW Metroplex to satisfy the demand for homes, so people are renting who would prefer to buy...all the while new people are pouring in.  

Texas is a great place to be right now.