All Forum Posts by: Dan Burstain

Just make sure the paperwork does not allow the builder to change the price to market at closing.  I have seen this done.  Otherwise, it is a good deal as you are just putting a low deposit and gaining all the appreciation till the homes are complete.  If anywhere in the Austin and surrounding area you are looking pretty.

Price point will dictate area suggestions but Leander, Georgetown, Hutto, Round Rock, East Austin, Kyle, and others all have their reasons for a great investment spot.  The jobs/companies are not going to one part of town.  They are in every sector.  Apple in the Northwest, Dell and Amazon in the North, Samsung in the Northeast, Tesla in the Southeast, Google and Oracle in Central along with University of Texas and Government. Micron, AMD, and one or two others are talking about expanding more into the surrounding area with tens of billions of dollars.  The future remains very bright.

It is true, PM fees are all over the place. I will say a renewal of 1/2 month is very high. I charge $250 for renewals and that includes market analysis, lease paperwork, etc. I also would be wary of really low tenant acquisition fees. If you want the highest rent you have to promote your place to as many people as possible. That means putting it in the MLS. That means 30% of one month's rent is typically going to another broker that brings the tenant. Many times these companies that don't charge much are just putting it on their website hoping to represent the tenant as well as the landlord. Allows them to charge lower costs but also does not really help the owner trying the get the best candidate at the best price.

Here is the info on Zoning here

https://www.austintexas.gov/si...

If you have a specific address you want to know the zoning for just PM me.

Hi Raphael,

Investing in Austin has a lot to do with its appreciation. It is hard for many on the site to invest that way because they have not been in markets like Austin that has had 40 years of pretty much straight appreciation. The economy here is setup differently then most places. We have a huge government job base being the capital of one of the largest states in the nation. We also have a huge university job base here. So when times get tough, the Austin market does not dip like others. Even in the housing crisis our prices fell just 1.9%. So Austin is more about appreciation and ROI then maximizing cash flow. If you can get it you will make way more money than those maximizing cash flow. But to your questions...

-SFH vs duplex? Really depends on what you are trying to do. Want to house hack but not really wanting people in the same house, then duplex. Want the most appreciation, probably SFH but the multi-family properties available in Austin are down like 70% from about 2 years ago. So that kind of scarcity has boosted their prices too. More cash flow but more problems as well with duplexes. I own both here and happy with both.

-ADU potential for a SFH (7500 sq ft plot)?  I have yet to really get into this simply because the building costs have skyrocketed making it just not worth the expense.  Maybe when that comes back down that will change so it is nice to have a lot that is big enough to have one.

-Buildable land in general- again, building costs have skyrocketed so it really is hard to find land cheap enough to where it because beneficial to buy and build from an investment point of view.  Of course if we have another year like last year which I believe we will, then building could be ideal.

-Other zoning issues? Depends wat you are looking to do. STR's are very hard to do in Austin. Zoning will change here soon as it has been on the table for a few years now and they are trying to open areas up to allow more multi-family.

-Newer build vs “needs work”?-Neighborhood/schools?  You pretty much make twice what you spend in equity.  That being said, you may not want to deal with it all.  There is a value to having not have to do anything.

-Proximity to rail?  Important but not critical.  Texans are not really rail people but it will be more and more appealing as the population continues to grow.

TLDR: I realize that long-term appreciation will be a huge factor in my housing finances (once I eventually sell this thing). What should I be looking for to maximize this?  Jobs, jobs, and jobs.  Follow the job growth.  Tesla, Apple, Facebook, UT Medical Research Center, Oracle, Amazon, Google, Samsung, Micron, and 1000 more.  Where are they going and how many are they hiring and at what salary.  Other things are like commute times, projects like Leander's Lagoon project, shops and restaurant areas like the Domain or Apples future campus.  

Hope that helps! 

@Michael A.  If you buy the land there are many builders who will build a place for you.  if you are looking for a development where new builds are being sold, then yes, it has become very hard to purchase as an investor.  There are a few builders still selling to investors but in areas like Liberty Hill, San Marcos, and one or two others.  

Bastrop and Taylor will continue to see nice appreciation with tens of billions of dollars going into those cities through huge business deals.  Bastrop is building a huge entertainment production studio and Taylor just landed about a $40 billion deal when it is all done for a Samsung plant.  Want to follow appreciation, follow the jobs.  Hutto will also appreciate nicely as well as Leander, Pflugerville and Round Rock.  Kyle down south should see some decent appreciation.  Austin of course will be at the forefront but if you are still looking for something under say $375K these other areas might be where you want to look.  

@Michael A. there are homes for sale in Cedar Park you can still get under $400K.  That won't be the case in 6 months probably but right now you can snag one in the mid to upper $300's.  Cedar Park has a number of big time projects going in that will boost those prices past $400K and closer to $500K in the next year or so.

For all those landlords who are having trouble collecting rent you will want to look into the rent relief program for your state.  Billions of dollars have been given to states to help landlords get rent from those tenants who are struggling during this Covid era.  Texas Rent Relief Program will pay a number of months rent and utilities.  

@Hemal Patel in my opinion Leander is the better bet but Pflugerville is not bad.  Some things you may not know is that Leander has a metro rail stop where Pflugerville does not, so you can hop on there and go all the way to Downtown Austin.  Leander is building a billion dollar lagoon area where there will be restaurants and shops.  It also sits just about 15 minutes from the new Apple campus that is still being built.  Leander does have better schools than Pflugerville as well.  Pflugerville is closer to central Austin and it is starting to quickly see pretty good appreciation as well.