All Forum Posts by: Aaron Gordy

Aaron Gordy has started 84 posts and replied 1202 times.

Hey Joseph

The fha has a lending requirement for fourplexes that could cause you issues and that is the self sufficiency test. You should research that lending hurdle a bit. There are ways to make a deal work but its a little complicated.

0 Votes

Samsung is making waves and it will have a huge impact upon the northeast part of Williamson County. Samsung has already devoted around $40 billion to the project and now they are getting an additional $6.4 billion from the government. It will be certainly interesting to see its effects upon the demand for space in the coming years.

https://apnews.com/article/samsung-chips-computer-semiconduc...

1 Vote

Austin, Texas

Quote from @Michael Smythe:

@Amirra Elgamiel If you call any agent, they will typically charge 1 month of rent to find a tenant.

Just like in a sales transaction, where the buyer's agent and listing agent split the commission, an agent will offer another agent that brings a tenant 50% of the one-month of rent as commission.

Many owners are trying to put pressure on PMCs to lower this fee because they think the monthly management fee should cover at least part, if not all, of this.

Here's were penny-pinching owners screw themselves: PMC's will charge lower than the one-month of rent, but they offset it and do NOT tell the owner the negative repercussions!

Here's time & money an agent or PMC needs to spend to get a rental listed:

1) Make sure it's clean

2) Hopefully, take professional pics and just not use the camera-phone

3) Take room sizes and note positives and negatives about the property

4) Since most rentals aren't advertised on MLS, research multiple sources for rental comparables to determine rent.

5) Write a GREAT ad for the property

6) Syndicate or manually enter the ad on numerous websites

Then, once published for rent, how much time do you think they spend taking all the phone calls (most of them from idiots who don't take the time to read the ad), doing all the showings, chasing applications & supporting docs, processing applications?

To protect their time and try to, you know make some money, many PMCs that do placements for less than one-month of rent, cut corners like:

- Not putting it on the MLS or offering a ridiculously low split to other agents, so those agents do NOT show the property.
- Only doing showings at specific days & times, leading to longer vacancies
- Requiring prospects to fill out applications first, before scheduling a showing to protect their time invested/wasted (which turns off some prospects, leading to longer vacancies).
- Charging owners for pics
- Charing inflated application fees to make, you know, some money for their time spent
- Some even charge tenants MoveIn Fees and other charges to make money.

So, don't be short-sighted and expect PMCs to work for free!

They will make their money somewhere, somehow

On point! Absolutely true

0 Votes

Austin, Texas

The going rate in the Austin metro is 1 month's rent as a fee.

0 Votes

Austin, Texas

I would suggest buying 5% down owner occupy for a few reasons. One, you will get a lower interest rate than an investment loan. Two, your property taxes will be lower but you will have to file a homestead exemption. Three, your insurance will also likely be less. Fourth, just as you pointed out, you can sell with no taxes. You could also lease it out for 2-3 years and as long as you have lived there for 2 years then your taxes will be zero when you sell unless we have a house appreciation pop that is off the charts that surpasses the max benefits (unlikely to happen). Fifth, the tax advantages in the years that it serves as a rental are beneficial.

Given that you will have 5% into it then the ROI could be astronomical, if rents go up nicely and also the prices go up nicely too. One of the best investments, in terms of ROI, has been when I bought a duplex with zero money down as a Veteran. Infinite returns.

2 Votes

Austin, Texas

Buy a duplex with fha money. It's 3.5% down. As long as you have a decent job you should be able to qualify to buy a duplex.

1 Vote

Austin, Texas

Depends upon the finish out. Some contractors are good at some things and not at others. If I were you, I would look around in the area that you are focusing on to see who is doing something similar to your desired finish out and get their contact info.

0 Votes

Austin, Texas

Know your goal for the property. Is it a flip or a buy/hold? Will it be a short term rental? Each way will have a different finish out and budget. Make sure that your financing is rock solid too. Get a solid contractor. Rehabs are fun but highly risky if you don't have a solid plan in place.

1 Vote

Austin, Texas

It depends upon the highest and best use, imo. If the highest value is as an str then that is how it should be marketed. It also depends upon land size and location too. Its value could be valued much higher than you realize. For example, we had a listing near tesla factory. It had a home and a mobile home on it. The seller thought that the best value would be a rental property. We determined that the best value would be as a demolish/scrape and sell it to a developer. The value increased by hundreds of thousands. A developer did buy it and is now planning on a meat market/gas station at that location.

1 Vote

Those big oak trees will be tough to work around....

1 Vote

Austin, Texas

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All Forum Posts by: Aaron Gordy

Aaron Gordy has started 84 posts and replied 1202 times.

Post: Starting my journey

Post: Samsung is making even more waves in Austin metro

Post: Is it common for PMs to charge a tenant placement fee?

Post: Is it common for PMs to charge a tenant placement fee?

Post: Looking for long term investment properties in Austin

Post: House Hacking in Austin

Post: Looking for a contractor in ATX

Post: Big rehab project - advice needed!

Post: Turnkey Property near Austin, TX

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