Newbie in Texas Dallas

[Mehdi Mir]

G'dy all

I'm moving to Dallas, Texas from Australia, where I've gained extensive experience in real estate. While I'm well-versed in the Australian market, the U.S. market is completely new to me. I've read numerous guides and watched many YouTube videos, so I have a good theoretical understanding, but I'm still unsure about the best way to start investing in U.S. real estate.

My plan is to begin with long-term rental properties and then eventually move into flipping and the BRRR (Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat) strategy. I'm also interested in wholesaling, though I'm not sure how to get started in that area.

I would greatly appreciate any tips or advice you might have on navigating the U.S. real estate market. I'm already familiar with platforms like PropWire, Redfin, and Zillow, which is helpful.

Thank you for your assistance.

Cheers,
M

[Kasi V.]

There are several turnkey providers across the nation. I like to start the process with them because most of them provide all the data required. 

But Don’t Trust Turnkey Provider Data Blindly!

I wanted to share a cautionary experience for those relying on data from turnkey providers, including RoofStock.

Back in 2018-2020, I purchased three properties through RoofStock and was generally happy. However, when I recently browsed their listings, I was shocked at how much the data quality had declined. I usually use their numbers to shortlist properties before doing final due diligence—but this time, the discrepancies were massive. Properties that initially appeared cash-flow positive turned out to be cash-flow negative after verifying the actual numbers. What a waste of time! 

And it’s not just RoofStock. Many platforms and turnkey providers manipulate or misrepresent data to make deals look better than they are. To make things even more confusing, each company presents data in its own format.They use different assumptions for down payment percentage, interest rates, loan tenure, and expenses. Many conveniently omit key costs like leasing fees, vacancy rates, or maintenance reserves, making their projections appear more favorable than reality.

The best strategy? Run your own numbers. After years of experience, I developed a spreadsheet with key formulas and checklists to calculate the true Cash-on-Cash Return on Investment (CoC ROI). This way I can do an apples-to-apples comparison between properties provided by different turnkey companies.

With this, I can determine in under five minutes whether a property is worth further investigation. Of course, deeper due diligence still takes time, but at least I’m not wasting it on misleading listings.

Bottom line: Trust, but verify!Always analyze the numbers yourself before making an investment decision.