Buy and hold investing in Lubbock

[Jeff Gonzales]

Hi BP,

I'm a fairly new investor and am interested in purchasing my next property in Lubbock. I acquired my first buy-and-hold property in February of this year through a turnkey provider (shout out Memphis Invest!) and feel comfortable enough now to facilitate a deal on my own. I currently live in Santa Fe, NM and would like to purchase a property out of state because the cashflowing deals here are few and far between (not to mention out of my price range).

I've been doing quite a bit of research and have settled on Lubbock as the place I'd like to invest in next. I have several questions for the community, though, as I've never actually been to Lubbock. Before I dive into the questions, here are a few criteria I'd like to mention:

• I'm interested primarily in single family homes in A class and B class neighborhoods
• Possibly interested in multifamily properties in B or C class neighborhoods
• Price range is < $200k

That said, here are some questions I have. 

1. Is it realistic to expect +/- 1% monthly rents in A and B class neighborhoods? I've been looking at areas such as Quincy Park and Tech Terrace, and it seems like this is achievable. It seems like there is lots of inventory in the $150k range that could rent for $1400-$1500. (Also, please correct me if neither of those neighborhoods I mentioned about is considered class A or B).
2. Texas Tech students obviously comprise many of the renters in Lubbock. I would prefer not to rent to students, but rather to rent to families. How realistic is this? For this reason, I've also been looking at properties within the Frenship isd district. From your experience, are there are a decent amount of families who rent?
3. Any suggestions for realtors or property managers? I'm partial to those who have experience with out-of-state investors, but am open to suggestions. 
4. Any suggestions for areas of town that meet my criteria? I've also been looking at the neighborhoods northwest/west of Texas Tech. I'm not opposed to buying on the outskirts of town, or even in surrounding towns (Idalou, Wolfforth, etc.).

Thanks for all your help! Hopefully I'll get to meet some of you in the near future - I'm planning my first visit to Lubbock to scout properties in July/August.

Jeff

[Matthew Ries]

Just to give you some perspective on the city's growth.

2005/2006 - I came to school at TTU and west of Loop 289, and South of 82nd street were very undeveloped.  Milwaukee was just a newly constructed road with no businesses.

Fast forward to present day - the city is well developed out past 130th St.  Milwaukee is a N/S running street with ~50k cars/day of traffic and lined with businesses.  A new Loop 88 is to be built connecting US-84 -> 130th St -> to Hwy 179 (Wolfforth) -> Shallowater

Lubbock Cooper is the 2nd fastest growing school district in the state of Texas (this might be a stat from 2016)

There is new construction going up straight S of town from University all the way to Milwaukee.

You can find new builds ~$96-105/sqft, but the numbers are really thin given the higher taxes in Cooper and Frenship.

Tech Terrance is expensive, and rented almost entirely to students, but if you go just outside Tech Terrance you can find great prices and still fill them with students.  Student rentals can be great, I think they bring balance to our market.  You have 2 hospitals, multiple universities, a law school and a medical/health sciences school bringing in quality tenants.

I tend to try to stay west of University and south of 4th St. - I don't have any intention to slum lord east of I-27 or deal with some of the large duplex neighborhoods off of Erskine St - that's just my personal opinion.

Let me know if you ever need anything in town.  Good luck!