Dallas Investor

[Mike Wylie]

I run a digital marketing agency in Dallas and do real estate investing on the side. Currently, I have 2 condos in the SMU area. My wife are exploring more condos as well as looking for our first flip.

[Trevor Reed]

My recommendation would be to avoid condos and TH - not only do the HOA fees eat at your cash flow but they can be a variable cost you can't control as time goes on. There are many options out there, you just need to find your focus. If it's college students, utilizing the loan funds, I'd look at the UDT or UNT areas. If it's more working class, e.g. teachers, servers, etc.. I'd look at Carrollton (careful of the foundations) and north Dallas. I am a realtor and manage large apartment complexes and single family homes, I can attest to the fact that the tenant base is incredibly different depending on what you focus on. As someone said earlier, be careful on the flips right now, especially your first one, because the market is tight and if you don't have solid contractors (or know trades yourself) you can lose money or break even (and lose time) - both of which are not desirable. You may want to take the approach of buying with the intent to renovate then put it for sale or rent and see what kind of hits you get. Don't be afraid to rent, the rents are amazing right now if you take the time to reno correctly.