All Forum Posts by: Andrew Frowiss

Hi @Andrew Rader these are just my thoughts on the topic!

It all depends on what you are willing to manage in my mind. If you have more houses you might stand to make more on the appreciation (depending on the market in your area), and it would be less of a headache for you especially with a property manager. 

I really like short term rentals, but they are difficult to manage, and there aren't many property managers that will manage your STR. I would recommend calling around to see if there is a company that would do this for you.

I personally would rather have more properties than 1 with a higher income, but that's just me!

Hi @Greg Campbell I use the Facebook marketplace to find Tenants along with the MLS. Pre pandemic and post I have had the same experience you just mentioned, but I still am able to find applicants and schedule showings. It's about 1 showing for every 50 responses to my ad. It's still a decent place to find Tenants. I highly recommend against Zillow though. They are decent at finding me renters, but they have terrible business practices that will drive you crazy.

They made me sign a contract to use their service and never gave me anything that was promised in the contract. Also very hard to get in touch with if you have any issues. 

If you are struggling to find a Tenant you may want to consider getting a Realtor/Property Manager to get it on the MLS. These are just my thoughts on the situation. Best of luck to you!

Hi Leslie,

I would recommend looking into Killeen TX. Austin is a really good rental market, but it's not really a cash flow city anymore and is more of an appreciation play. Killeen is a little more north of Austin and it still has properties that cash flow and give decent appreciation while having much lower purchase prices. You could get a triplex or a quadplex for the same cost of a single family in Austin. A lot of my clients are buying there now instead of Austin.

Hi @Chris Orlob I think someone in your position and with that amount of time per week could invest in real estate. I would recommend looking into long term rentals. If you can find a good Property Manager to take care of the Tenants and the property, then it's more of a passive type investment. This wouldn't take too much of your time since they should be handling the makereadies, Tenant placement, and everything else. Spend your time finding and buying properties, and utilize the people who make this their full time career. 

You could also try and find some Property Managers that specialize in short term rental properties. It would have a higher up front cost since you have to furnish the units, but it's a similar process with higher profits/turnover. My PM company only does long term rentals so not all will.
 

Hi @Tanner Grant great question! 

I would look into house hacking as a good starting point. You may be able to qualify for some down payment assistance programs if you are a first time home buyer. With certain loans you can have a downpayment as low as %3, but they would likely require you to live in the home for a certain period of time. Fix it up over the time you live in the property, and when you save up enough money for your next purchase get another home. Rent out the one you lived in previously and rinse and repeat! 

Another thing you can do is develop your deal finding abilities. In my experience if you can find a good off market deal for someone to flip, or rent (emphasis on good) there will be other investors that would likely want to partner with you on the deal. There are plenty of investors out there with enough money who struggle to find deals. Partner with them, and learn as much as you can. Eventually when you have your own cash you can do it all yourself, but I find partnerships to be a great way to get into the game. That's how I did my first two deals (1 wholesale and another a flip). 

I hope this helps!

@Jason Nguyen

Long term buy and hold still works, depending on the area you buy, and price. I'm in Austin which used to be a cash flow city. Now investors are more likely to break even or be a little negative on cash flow, but the high appreciation makes up for it. It's still a great option to build equity for retirement and future investments. Stack equity until you have enough built up to invest in a different market with lower appreciation/purchase prices and higher cash flow. 

Hi @Eric Garcia I don't have experience doing this myself, but I have a friend who bought a 4 plex and has been doing air bnb out of all of them. He said it's a lot of work to manage, but it was working really well for him. Sounds like a good strategy if you don't mind managing it yourself or can find a PM company that does vacation rentals.

Hi @Kegan Scholl what area are you trying to buy in? I'm a Realtor and Property Manager in the Austin area and I'm currently helping some clients in the same position. First time home buyers looking to house hack. 

I would recommend talking to some lenders about buying your first home. If you are a first time home Buyer they may offer some down payment assistance programs that you want to consider. Once my investors are ready to buy (pre approved or have cash ready) I like to jump on a zoom call with them to analyze some deals and show my clients what the rents are for a particular house.

I would also read Brandon Turner's Book Rental Property Investing. It's a good read for new investors!

Hi @Martin Vargas and welcome!

Glad to see you are starting your investing journey! I would recommend reading some real estate books (I really like Rental Property Investing by Brandon Turner), and talking with other investors about what they do. If you have some cash to invest I'm sure there would be plenty of investors that would partner on you with a deal. There are investors out there with the experience, and knowledge of how to find deals, but don't have financing. Maybe they could teach you and get you your first deal.

If you don't have cash like in the scenario above then I would recommend learning everything you can about finding and getting deals. If you can manage to get a deal under contract to wholesale or flip (and it's a good deal) there will likely be people with money lining up to take the deal off your hands (and pay you to wholesale the deal) or partner on it with you and teach you along the way.

Either of these strategies you can rinse and repeat until you are ready to start doing stuff on your own. 

Another option is saving up your cash and learning as much as you can now. You can work with a Realtor or wholesalers to get deals on your own when you are ready. I'm not as familiar with the Houston market as I'm in Austin, but there are lots of opportunities in Central TX that still have good deals.

Would you invest in Houston? Or are you open to the other markets in Central TX? I've been finding good success finding deals for my clients in Killeen TX, and the purchase prices out there are much cheaper than in ATX. You can get a 4 plex for the cost of a single family house in Austin.

I got my start by finding deals for my friends who were investors with cash. As soon as I got a deal under contract there were people lining up the block to take it off my hands and pay me for it, or partner on it with me to split the profits. 

If you are interested I would be happy to talk to you more in-depth about my experience in my area.

1. I don't now what your Lease says or what state you are in, but I'm thinking getting a new fresh Lease may be better. I also My PM company put together an Addendum to be added to every Lease which lists all the Tenant responsibilities (move in/move out condition, lawn care and what that really means, carpet cleanings and all that good stuff. I would consider putting something together like this for your future Tenants. I find that sometimes there may be grey areas in your Lease so I like to spell things out for everyone involved.

2. I always try and coordinate with the Tenants a day that works for them. Even though the Lease says I can stop as long as I give notice, I would prefer to give them the option. I always try and keep my Tenants happy. If your Lease says a minimum of 48 hours you need to follow the Lease. I would call or email them a week or so ahead of time. I don't like doing things last minute, and your Tenants may be the same way.

I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors!