Austin, TX Condo - buy, live in, rent out, sell

[Justin Dickinson]

Investment Info:

Condo buy & hold investment in Austin.

Purchase price: $420,000
Cash invested: $10,000
Sale price: $680,000

I bought a 2bd 2ba Condo in a fast growth area of Austin, TX. The location of East Austin was one of the fastest growing areas in the country, and lead to a 37% return in a 4 year period. I lived in the Condo with my wife for 3 of the years, before leaving my W2 job and short term renting for the last year before selling. We traveled the U.S. off of the cash flow property and eventually made our way to Portland, ME before selling in the 2021 market.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

I moved to Austin, TX for work and wanted to immediately buy real estate in an area that was seeing significant change. Rent was high and properties were still low in this neighborhood.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

I bought through a Realtor.

How did you finance this deal?

Conventional loan - 5% down.

What was the outcome?

$225,000 tax free income. I took advantage of the no capital gains tax period and will put the equity into investment projects closer to home here in Maine.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

I served on the board of the Condo association with many changes happening and to help allow for short term rentals in the community. We were able to successfully rent our unit and begin to understand the challenges of property management.