Where around Austin or Dallas/FW would you buy MF or condos?

[Siraj Ahmed]

Hi fellow BP members!

I am visiting Dallas area soon for leisure but i would like to make use of this trip for business purposes as well to ask you guys what area(s) in Austin or Dallas/FW are worth looking into? I am looking for MF buildings, condos, apartments, and townhouses for buy and hold. I am looking for B to B- properties. 

What towns or subdivisions do you invest in?

[James Palin]

Hi @Siraj Ahmed

For condos, anywhere in the immediate Dallas area has a lot of condos.  The neighborhoods of Uptown, Oak Lawn, Turtle creek and downtown.

Addison has lots of town homes that have been built in the recent years.

For multi families, 2,3,4 plex, Knox Henderson, Greenville, and east Dallas has these types of home since it is an older part of Dallas.

Hope this helps.  Let me know  if you need any further information.

[Gene Livingston]

For Dallas I'd recommend the 75/635 area (northwest of that intersection). Also a bit further north into Richardson (try beltline exit from 75N and go west. For duplex, agree with James, and would add Mockingbird exit on 75, then go east towards White Rock..lots of duplexes in that area.  Also look at "lowest Greenville" where it turns into Munger. Continue on Munger and you will find 4-plex heaven lol.  Also Oak Lawn before it turns into Preston. One of the example streets there is Holland Ave. Great properties there, but good luck finding a cap rate you like (you won't).  

[James Palin]

Hi @Gene Livingston

I forgot about Munger, also there is some multis around Junius Heights.

[Cezar D. Sandu]

Speaking from my current living situation, with buying a condo in the Uptown/Turtle Creek area, it would be very difficult to have a positive cash flow unless you acquire the condo unit in foreclosure, etc. Good deals are very difficult to find and the HOA fees will essentially cancel out the positive cash flow you may have. I rent a condo unit on Turtle Creek and can tell you the HOA fee for that complex is around 400-600/month, which is average for that area.

[Gene Livingston]

Adding to above, another angle would be to get a list of all the Dallas Community Colleges (DCCCD), and study all the condo/sfr areas around those campuses. Especially look at the Richland College area, as well as Brookhaven.  Avoid the other college areas (around SMU and UTD). Northlake (a DCCCD campus, which is in Irving, not Dallas) maybe ok too, but Irving has been getting a bit...funky, lately lol. Why is Irving so ugly????

[Siraj Ahmed]

@Gene Livingston thank you for this information. I just quickly searched 3 areas, Brookehaven, Richland and Irving. Seems like Brookhaven is very  expensive, around 150k for condos. 

However, the condos in Richland are cheaper but are these safe areas? How much would rents be for a typical one bedroom?

Irving seems just a bit more expensive than Richland. Is this a better area. But from your comment above, it sounds like its ugly lol. Does that mean people dont want to live there? Whats typical 1 Bedroom rent?

[Siraj Ahmed]

Hi @Cezar D. Sandu. Thank you for offering that valuable advice. I am looking for positive cash flow every month and the HOAs around 150-250 a month for a 1 BR. Anything more, and you are not positive CF

[Gene Livingston]

There are a lot of nicer houses in the Brookhaven college area, yes. But look at the blocks west of Marsh and South of Valley View.. bread & butter houses there. Lot of good areas in Carrollton too.

In Irving you get extremes... higher end houses and nicer apartments in the Valley Ranch area (planned development; HQ for Dallas Cowboys), and then you have the area around Beltline and 183, and south of 183 at the other end of the spectrum. 

[Gene Livingston]

Reviving old post:-) Valley Ranch is no longer the home of the Cowboys; however it's now becoming an interesting rental and infill development area. Very active area. New Home Depot, Wal-Mart etc along the 635/Olympus/MacArthur corridor. Lots of tech moving in (Amazon Fulfillment, CoreLogic, Options Clearing Corp, IBM, many others).