Advice for repositioning an entire portfolio

[Daniel K.]

Hi,

I want to solicit some advice about a move I've been thinking of for a while. I have a small portfolio of single-family homes in the Austin MSA. They have obviously appreciated quite a bit. This has me thinking about selling the whole kit-and-kaboodle and buying properties in a place like San Antonio. What's holding me back is my team in Austin is awesome (my team being: lender, realtor, property manager), and I find the prospect of finding a new San Antonio-based team daunting because...

1. The Austin team was found/built while I was living in Austin...
2. ...but since then, I've moved overseas.
3. The new agency rules re: ratio of investor loans etc.

I think I generally have two ways I could sequence this...

1. - Option A) Start the process of finding/building a relationship with a lender, realtor, property manager... while being up-front with them that I first need to sell my Austin properties first...
   1. Variation A.a: Start 1031 exchanging them as their leases end one by one...
   2. Variation A.b: Forgo the exchange and pay taxes now...
   3. Variation A.c: Try to offload all of them in one shot as a portfolio...
2. - Option B) Start selling the Austin properties first and figure it out as you go. This will be tougher when doing a 1031 exchange because of time limits, so maybe bite the bullet and pay taxes now.
3. - Option C) I love my team in Austin, and the portfolio is appreciating and cash flowing modestly. Why change a horse that's working?

That is where my head is right now, and it's not as organized in my head as I would like it.

Question to the group: If you wanted or have repositioned your portfolio, how did you go about it?

Thank you so much for your attention and participation.

Daniel