Hi everyone! My name is Emmanuel, and I'm looking to buy my first property!

[Emmanuel Offei]

Hi everyone! My name is Emmanuel, and I recently relocated to Houston from Dallas for work. I'm 32, work as a full-time data analyst, and am married with no kids (yet). My wife and I are looking to buy our first home, and rent it out on airbnb. We live in the Memorial area, which is quite nice and I wanted to see if anyone in Houston has any advice about purchasing a home in that part of town, or really any area in Houston. Aside from that, I'm excited to learn all things real estate and join the bigger pockets family!

[Travis Timmons]

Welcome! Are you looking to buy a primary for you and your wife and rent by the room on Airbnb or buy an investment property exclusively for short term rentals? If it is the 2nd, I'd advise looking into furnished, mid term rentals or buying in another market. Houston is not a great short term rental market. It's a working town, not a vacation destination. The lack of zoning, increased supply in the last few years, hotel competition for the business traveler crowd, and no real peak season are going to make your cash flow slim and probably not worth all of the effort and expense. If you want to look at it as a defensive strategy to hold on to property in an appreciating market, that's not a terrible idea. Population growth, wages, and household formation stats make Houston a great market to invest in, but if your primary goal is good cash on cash return, there are better markets. 

Shoot me a message if you think that I could be helpful. We've launched short and medium term rentals a few times. It's hard and expensive, so you better choose a market/property with a return that makes it worth it. I'd be happy to chat further and share our experiences if you think that we can be a resource.