Considering Move to Dallas/Fort Worth

[Corey Jahn]

My wife's job would put us near Southlake/Grapevine. Considering buying a fixer upper... Would love some advice on everyone's takes on under appreciated areas and where you all see the most potential for growth. We'd be coming from Austin, so I understand both markets are pretty similar at the moment, so it may be a every single area seems to be growing... 

We'll be up this weekend through Monday or Tuesday if any other investors would want to connect, it'll be tough starting in a new market but would love to find a mentor and help add value to whatever they are doing while learning as well. I've embarked a little on flips down here in Austin and have a very small % of a development that is only 2 months old, still working through the platting phase, so I have a lot to learn but am very eager as well. My specialty has typically been putting the deals together and partnering with a GC, but I really feel as if I need to do every aspect before I'll truly be successful, so open to learning/partnering with anyone. 

[Cary O.]

Hi @Corey Jahn - welcome to the DFW metroplex! The Southlake/Grapevine area is a beautiful place to live, but the price point varies noticeably from Southlake to Grapevine. You will find more affordable properties in Grapevine than in Southlake, where median home prices are over $500K and generally larger than 3000 sqft. 

As far as areas of growth, the DFW metroplex continues to draw several businesses and continued development, which means population growth is expected to continue for the next few years at least. The North Fort Worth /Alliance/ Keller areas in Tarrant county and Frisco, The Colony, McKinney, Allen areas near Legacy West development in Collin County are expected to have significant growth for those reasons. 

Home prices in DFW have risen over 50% in the past 5 years. In this article from Forbes, Dallas was the top city to invest in housing with an expected continued 30% increase in price by 2020 for the following reasons: 

1) 6.2% three-year population growth (2012-2015)

2) 3.9% job gains in 2016

3) 9-10% annual home price gains

link to the article: http://www.forbes.com/sites/samanthasharf/2017/01/...

For flippers, you may find it challenging to find margins of 30%, but the rapid increase in home values has helped with the lower initial purchase margins with flippers selling at a premium.