First time investing tips and help!!

[Johnny Paramo]

I am looking to buy my first rental property in west Texas. I have come across a duplex that is going for $160,000. The appx rent per unit per month is $925 for 676 sq ft and the other is $900 for 664 sq ft. I have already been approved by 3 different loan companies with the interest rate varying from 2.5% to 3.0%. If I do get this property I plan to live on one side and rent the other. Currently there is a Rene at renting one side of the property. This property also has an HOA fee of $380 for both sides. Just want to see what options are out there and any help and feed back that I can get would be helpful in my first investment property.

[Matt Moreland]

Hey, @Johnny Paramo, happy to hear you are getting into into investing out here in West Texas. I've got some duplexes in Lubbock and Midland and am happy I made the decision to get into these markets as well!

Is the $380 in HOA fees per side or for the property as a whole?

Something to keep in mind is the taxes, with property taxes averaging between 2.4-2.5% of assessed value out here. Depending on how new/old the property is, your insurance could be relatively cheap or fairly expensive. Have a newer (2017 build) property out here that comes out to just over $80/mo in insurance, but if this house is built in the 1970s as an example, you're not going to see those same numbers since your risk factors are going to different and greater in the eyes of an insurance company.

If this property is in Midland/Odessa and the numbers work while it is as down as it is right now, I would say it is a promising buy. Rents have plummeted since the oil field took so many job casualties, so once everything returns to homeostasis I would reckon the gross potential rent would come back up as well. Feel free to shoot me a message if you want to chat more, we've gone through ups and downs with our duplexes in Midland and I'd be happy to drill into more detail on the property you're looking at with you.