College town vs Good School District - DFW

[Chloe Thomas]

Hi everyone! I am just starting out, right now I am thinking of buying a 2-4 unit MFR in DFW and living in one of the units so I can take advantage of the owner-occupied loan options.

The problem is, I am having trouble narrowing down the particular part of DFW I want to concentrate my search. Depending on who you talk to, there are about 6-7 million people in the Metroplex and growing. It's a sprawling urban area with tons of sub-markets to consider. Needless to say, it's pretty overwhelming. 

I know this is very region-specific, but what it basically boils down to is whether I should get a duplex in an area with a nice school district (N. Arlington/HEB), or a quad in an area that caters to college students (TCU in Ft Worth or Denton)? My main concerns with the first scenario is that the duplex will not generate the revenue to cover all expenses, and from what I can see quads are hard to come by. In the second scenario, I am worried about the kinds of reckless tenants a college town attracts, and it would mean a longer commute to work for me. 

Anyone been in this boat?

[Adam Wright]

In DFW, the commute time would be a major consideration for me.   I am assuming you work in Grapevine so from TCU, you are looking at 45 minute to 60 minute commute each way.  I35W is going through a major expansion so it is more of a "parking lot" than usual these days.   Denton might be slightly better going south to Grapevine, but this also can be stressful.  Arlington and HEB seem the most favorable based on commute time.  

Of course, you need to look at the availability of MF in these areas. I did a quick MLS search and found 11 properties in Arlington ISD. All of these are near the UTA campus. These MF range from $92K to $400K. HEB has six MF, four north of 121 and two south of it. Tarrant County College is in close proximity. These six MF are between $150K and $300K.

It looks like Arlington/HEB win out for me.  I hope this helps.