House Hack in Dallas, TX. Neighborhoods?

Question

Hey BP! I'm a recent college grad and moved to Dallas, TX about 6 months ago and looking to house hack in the DFW area. I've been looking in North Dallas, North Oak Cliff, and some neighborhoods in Arlington but are there any other places I should consider? Also, looking to buy in the first half of 2020 if that helps!

Thank you!

Andrew Postell · Answer

@Andrew Ajewole to me it would depend on what TYPE of house hack you would like to do.  Meaning, if you are trying to find a duplex, triplex, or quad....you will have very limited options.  So just finding ANY property along those lines would be more important than location.  Garland is a great recommendation here.  Currently about 30 2-4 unit properties to choose from.  Most start around $300,000 and go up to $1,000,000 though.  Don't get me wrong, other large metros will have hundreds of listings...but in Texas, land is so cheap we don't build as many multi-family properties as a San Francisco, Washington DC, NYC, etc.  Because land is expensive there, they HAVE to make all properties multi-family.  Here, quite different.  So 30 is a great sample size.  Certainly rely on a real estate agent to help you with your search.  When you buy a property, you don't pay for the real estate agent....the seller of the home pays for him/her. Certainly an incentive to use one and it sounds like you may already have a good one to lean on.  Hope this helps!

Jorge Gonzalez · Answer

Hey Andrew, I’ve had quite some success house hacking a single family home in the North Dallas area, very close to Richardson. The main reason for this area was the quality of tenants it attracts such as young professionals working in the Addison, Galleria, Richardson, and Las Colinas area, a ton of corporate jobs within a 15 mile radius. In addition, you get a very low maintenance student tenant pool from UTD. In this specific home, I have cash inflow of $1,900, and expenses are $1,600, so I’m cash flowing about $300/month while getting to live for free. The great thing is, that my cash going into this deal was a 3% down with a conventional loan, so I was in this deal for $11k capital. After PMI is gone, expenses will go down to $1,450. I went so well that I’m already onto my next deal, I have my next home under contract in the North Irving area. These two areas are worth considering, especially if you’re looking as central in the dfw metro.

I attribute a lot of my success to the relationships I’ve made here with my investor friendly agent @Kenneth McKeown and my lender @Tyler Hodgson. They have both given me the best investment advise in the Dallas market given my life circumstances and investing strategy.  These are the guys you want in your team! They are dominating the Dallas market and are investors themselves. Let’s connect in person sometime, would love to discuss more.

Andrew Postell · Answer

@Andrew Ajewole hmmm, if you are looking for a 2-4 unit to house hack I would certainly NOT recommend doing the BRRRR method.  I state this because you can use a FHA 203K and/or a Fannie Mae HomeStyle loan.  Both would carry a lower rate than a BRRRR transaction and both would have less out of pocket for you as well.  Certainly lots of different stategies when you do this. Bigger Pockets does have a Realtor Search tool on the site but let us know if you have any other questions.  Thanks!

John Johnson · Answer

Go to Garland.  I nephew just moved to Dallas and he just started his first HH.  After looking at most of the metroplex, we found Garland had a great balance of houses that needed love & care and were not over priced.  On the upside, the city is being gentrified at a fantastic rate which is helping drive higher home values.

Tyler Maten · Answer

Hey Andrew I also just recently graduated from college and am located in Dallas, TX! Always looking to connect with others with the same interest as me! Let's connect and see if there's any way we can help each other out!

Andrew Ajewole · Answer

@Jorge Gonzalez Thank you for such a comprehensive answer! I've connected with both Kenneth and Tyler and hope to build a relationship with them as well. I would love to take you up on that offer to discuss more! I'll DM you

Andrew Ajewole · Answer

@Andrew Postell I've been looking for MF under $350k but looking to stay near the D and not FW lol. I like your point about the cost of land in Texas! My plan has been to a traditional HH but it sounds like BRRRRing a SFH while living there may be more suited for this market. Also, do you have any investor-friendly agents you trust and would recommend? I've been gathering all my data from pulling comps off Redfin and Realtor.com mainly, thank you!

Andrew Ajewole · Answer

@John Johnson Could you also detail the HH? You dont have to give property details like address lol but I would appreciate a breakdown of the numbers!

Andrew Ajewole · Answer

@John Johnson I looked for about 30% of rehabbed multifamily properties in turning neighborhoods or solid duplexes under $350k, how did you determine that Garland would be the best location to invest rather than the other areas like Oak Cliff, Lower Greenville, etc?

House Hack in Dallas, TX. Neighborhoods?

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