Wanted: Multifamily for house hacking in Dallas

[Alan E.]

Hey Dallas BPers,

My apartment lease is up in spring of 2019. I want to buy a 2-4 multifamily unit using an FHA loan and make it my primary residence.

I work downtown Dallas, so I want to be within a 15 minute drive of a DART train station. Ideal dart stations are Mockingbird, Bachman, Burbank, and Cedars. Anywhere near the red/orange lines south of 635 would also work. I also fly a lot, so West of downtown Dallas, towards the airports, I would also be interested in.

Can you recommend neighborhoods that I should focus my attention on within Dallas city limits? Also, what websites should I search to find available multi family properties?

If you are flipping one of these, or looking to get rid of one, or know of anyone who is, I would be very interested in buying the property.

-Alan E.

[Omar Khan]

@Alan E. There is not a lot of 2-4 unit inventory in Dallas. This was a shock to us as we had lived on the East Coast, 2-4 units in the south (barring some newer duplexes) are not valued as higher, and often at a discount in Texas. In fact, in most Texas markets that I researched they usually house lower-middle to lower-income households. 

I don't know if this is a cultural thing but every single realtor/investor I talked to told me the same thing. This is different than the East Coast which has a solid inventory of 2-4 unit buildings.

Obviously, the above is a generalization. If you came across a 2-4 unit in Highland Park that would be different than buying the same thing in Irving, but the general point remains. 

House hacking is very appealing but compared to other states Texas is still very affordable. Hence, the focus towards single family residences.