All Forum Posts by: Andrew Herrig

@Account Closed There just aren't a lot of 2-4 family properties built in Dallas. When you couple that with the insane flood of investors wanting rental property, you get low inventory and high prices. 

Try to go off market if you can. Keep looking at properties on the market too. Just be consistent, eventually you'll find something as long as you are being reasonable on your numbers. 

@James Krahula I just picked up my first property in Rowlett. It's a 3/2/1, 1350sf. Should rent for $1500-1600 when fully rehabbed. 

Rent/price ratios are much better there than other parts of North Dallas. Like @Andy Webb said, be careful of foundation. We put about $12k into foundation repair and the resulting plumbing issues it caused, but we knew that going in. 

Just FYI - I wouldn't pull rental comps more than a year back. There was a period in 2016 I believe where there was a lot of tornado damage in Rowlett and rents got to ridiculously high levels because of so much demand. It's back to normal, but if you use that period in your search you will skew your results.

@Tony Karns I don't think the big property tax protest firms will do a better job than you can do yourself. It's really a question of if you have the time. I decided this year I did not want to mess with it as I had already gotten assessed values down as far as I realistically could.

I agree with @Andy Webb that the best thing to do is try to get the condition of the house downgraded by documenting work needed.

@James Krahula Besides pocket listings and word of mouth listings through relationships, a realtor can get you access to "coming soon" listings that are only on MLS. This is a relatively recent addition to MLS, probably to help agents compete against Zillow/Realtor.com. There are generally a few hundred coming soon listings on MLS at any given time in DFW. Sometimes you can get a good deal if you move fast and get an offer in before it hits the general market.

If I were in your position (single/no kids), I would be looking at a house hack as my first deal. Even in Richardson, you can get a nice 3/2 for $250-300k. Even better you could get a duplex under $400k. Rent out one side, and rent out the spare bedrooms on the one you occupy and you could be living for next to nothing if not free.

Turnkey is not a bad thing, but realistically over the long term you are not going to see much if any cash flow once you factor in repairs/capex/vacancy/etc until the mortgage is paid off.

@Tony Karns I used Resolute this past year. Prior to that I did all my tax protests myself. Only got 1 of 8 properties reduced. To be fair, I had aggressively protested in prior years, and Dallas County has gotten very difficult to get any leniency out of.

Bottom line, there is no magic to it. If you have the time, I'd probably just do it yourself. If you have a HUD from the last couple years, that will pretty much guarantee they will lower it to the purchase price at least.

@Anthony Edwards What makes you say wholesaling is a good way to break into real estate investing? It is certainly a great learning experience, but to be a good wholesaler you need to develop a large range of skills, and be prepared to spend $3-5k per deal in marketing unless you have a lot of free time to spend on the cheaper marketing alternatives. 

@Timma Kumar If you can rent a house for $2k that costs $4k per month to own, why would you want to buy? If you own, you get some principal paydown plus appreciation, which I suppose could offset your additional costs. I'm not familiar with the CA market, but I can't see appreciation continuing at the rate it has for the last several years. 

Rental houses in TX would provide some cash flow or at least break even and would withstand a recession better than Bay Area real estate.

Ultimately it comes down to what you want. If the question was should I buy an investment property in the Bay Area or TX, I would say TX hands down. But you are comparing buying a primary residence to buying rental properties which is more of a personal vs. financial decision.

East or West of Sunland St?

@Erin Elam Tired landlord and inherited property tend to cover a pretty good percentage of the deals I've done.

@Robert Grunnah What is your cost per deal with direct mail? Using your numbers of $200k over 30 deals that is over $6k per deal which seems high even in competitive TX markets. Done right, PPC is still generating good returns - maybe $3-4k spend per deal. You need to spend at least $5-10k per month to make it worthwile in my opinion.