Seattle, WA · Member since 2013 · 8 posts · 5 votes
My husband and I have been doing some homework regarding buying a potential investment property around Austin. For those of you that have SFH rentals I'm curious how you distinguish your rental from other similar homes? I currently live in Seattle, which has very distinguishable neighborhoods and the homes are older and not in planned developments so each home is very different. Upgrades to an older home are very evident. With so many new developments in Austin that have similar homes that need little upgrades due to being newly built how do you stand out as a more desirable rental?
Hi Natalie! Im actually headed to Seattle for the first time on April 25-30th. A buddy and I are attending the PNW Big Badass Real Estate Wealth Expo! We were both born and raised in Austin, TX. Feel free to reach out directly if you need some help analyzing or looking at potential properties in the area and I’ll do what I can.
Hi Natalie! Im actually headed to Seattle for the first time on April 25-30th. A buddy and I are attending the PNW Big Badass Real Estate Wealth Expo! We were both born and raised in Austin, TX. Feel free to reach out directly if you need some help analyzing or looking at potential properties in the area and I’ll do what I can.
Thanks Doug, I may take you up on that. I actually just saw that expo listed. I hope you enjoy Seattle, it's a beautiful city. Definitely no good TX BBQ unfortunately.
Hey@Natalie Novak, Austin’s a pretty hot market and homes listed at a competitive price (for their area and condition) tend to sell/lease quickly. A couple easy things you can do are include a washer/dryer and fridge, update the appliances, and make sure the place is cleaned up for showings. A fresh coat of paint, a good carpet cleaning, open blinds, and a glade plug in go a long way.
In short if the home looks clean and move in ready and is listed at a fair price you shouldn't have to much difficulty filling the home in the Austin market. Just make sure you have a realistic idea of the average days on market for the area, so you know what kind of hold time to expect.
The rental market in Austin, and real estate market as a whole has been fantastic. With the influx of talent to come and work for major companies like Oracle, Apple, IBM, Samsung and more, development is still growing, yet at a slower pace due to higher costs. The rental rates are expected to rise.
In regards to different rental rates and how to differentiate, it will have to do with location and needs of the tenant. SFR's closer to downtown will tend to be older homes as compared to the newer developments with more square footage and amenities up north in Cedar Park, Round Rock and now as far as Georgetown. Though, acquisition prices are high for SFR's.
Flipping has been a major trend around the country, but I would say Austin has run out of homes to bought for flipping to make sense for profit margin.