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

[Aaron Gordy]

Option c. Its an appreciating market and has been an good real estate market since the mid 1980's. Why sell your winners? You like your team. Stick with it. They are making you money while you are in Europe. If you want money from the properties why not do a small cash out refi loan (which is tax free) that makes sense? With that refi, I bet that you could get more than a cheeseburger and could probably get a few breakfast tacos from your two favorite restaurants fedex'd to you overseas so as to continue the debate over who has the best tacos and chase it down with a good German beer or Belgium beer, depending upon preference.