Houston - Property prices

[Sanjay Aluri]

Hi,

I'm a new member to BiggerPockets, joined with the intent to take benefit of collective wisdom and knowledge to build a rentals RE business. Im a beginner to RE investing and would highly appreciate your advice.

Tried reviewing few potential properties in HAR.com and find the steep increase in property appraisals between 2014 and 2015 (almost 26% in most cases for under $150k properties). Is the market overpriced? with the O&G industry under recession should the prices be under strain? Im also seeing the sale prices are also shown as 5-10% discounted too (still very high compared to 2014 appraisal). I'm wondering if the high tax appraisals one of the reasons people are willing to get rid of their rental assets? Im also seeing rental prices/month are also going down.

Would appreciate advice from experts on is this a good time for Houston investment or is it highly speculative right now. My thought is for rentals it is better to go for properties that are more or less stable in prices, isnt it?