Looking in Bishop Arts/Winnetka

[John Doah]

Hello everyone,

I am new to the DFW area. I currently live in Winnetka Heights and think there is promising potential here with the old historic buildings, but I am struggling to find anything half way descent for sale that could be turned into a rental property. What I see now are buildings that are literally falling down and the asking price is basically the same as the rest of the surrounding houses in the same street that are not in disrepair. One listing has been there for over 150 days and they want 600k with a wrecked interior. Meanwhile, there is a fully restored triplex  a few streets down for 699k. Everything inside it has been gone over. It seems people are delusional about what their properties are worth because they all want to "cash out".  Given the historic preserve nature, I can foresee rehabbing these older homes with a ton of red tape associated with it. Furthermore, these houses are all made out of ship lap, which means they have zero insulation and single pane windows and the ones I am seeing do not have any type of central air conditioning. It looks like a money pit to bring them back to life, and the average income in Oak Cliff is a paltry 45k a year, so you'll be hard pressed to ask for $1700 a month (I noticed they just built tons - and are building tons more - brand new apartments left and right which I would think would depress the rent market for the older surrounding busted up homes).  I would say that so far crime here is really rampant. There is constant gun fire at night, and car/home invasions. Given that it is considered an 'up and coming area', compared to the rest of Dallas, I feel like it is priced as a fully gentrified and mature area with low crime - which it is not. If someone is familiar with the area and actually has some properties here, I would be very interested to have a discussion and hear your thoughts. 

Thanks and have a great day,

J.D.