All Forum Posts by: Bart H.

Dont forget that Texas has very strong laws on returning security deposits. you have 30 days to refund the remaining security deposit and provide an itemized list of everything that was not returned.

Failure to provide both the itemized list and the check in that 30 day time frame could open you up to treble damages.

 Generally I think the Richardson schools are thought of as being fairly decent.  Definitely stable middle class neighborhoods.

The Mayor as an individual just sued the pension board this week.

There is a pretty significant run going on the pension fund according to the Dallas Morning news.  Remember the feds raided the former pension advisers offices.

 David, thanks for the input, I think its great advice  I am sure we will look more to multi family properties in the future.  As I have mentioned in a couple of posts, I think we need to get a few more properties under our belt so that we have enough cash flow/equity and to feel comfortable taking on larger projects like multi family rentals.

@Michael Lee  Thank you for the words of wisdom, best of luck to you with your health.

As far as single family rentals, vs Apartments, (knock on wood), we have picked properties for the most part where young professionals coming to Dallas want to live, and we try to maintain our rentals in top condition so that we can be selective with who we rent to and that we can over the long haul minimize vacancies.  Over time the more properties we get the more consistent we should be with regard to vacancies.

We have leaned so far towards SFH's for three reasons. First, since we have generally been house hacking, we are picking properties that we can and want to live in. Secondly, in the Dallas market, I get the sense that there are a lot of apartments being built, and that there seems to be a shortage of SFH's.

Lastly our philosophy has been to take measured steps into each new real estate project. We dont ever want to be in the position where any one project needs to go exactly as planned to remain solvent.  

For example, on our flip.  We got a loan, but cash flowed the rehab.  Now we might not make any money by the time it is sold, heck we might lose our shirt on the property.  But we know for a fact that the property is worth $150-200K more than we owe on it.  We at our choosing could sell it tomorrow if absolutely necessary.  Likewise, our payments are low enough that we could rent it out tomorrow to cover our mortgage.  In other words we didnt risk our overall financial solvency on the success or failure of this project.  

In the future I am sure we will look into multi family properties.  But we need a better base with our real estate investments to have both the capital to make such an investment and the cash flow to support us if the project didnt work perfectly as planned.

I think you will find that a 1% number is very difficult in N. Dallas, unless you are getting something off market, or willing to do major rehab.

As you may know real estate in Dallas and the surrounding burbs has been red hot. 

HI Brian, here in Dallas.  Any questions I could answer?

That neighborhood can sustain a number in that range if everything is done well. I do think carpet is a big issue issue for a higher end Dallas home, and I think some of the other finishes may hurt the final sales price.  

I think the Dallas market seems to be slowing down a little.  My wife and I have a flip on the market at the moment, and at least in the neighborhood we are in (Elmwood), the showings across the board are very slow.

I think your buddy might be best served to lower the price a bit, get out of them and live to fight another day.

Good Luck!!!

Hello all.

Thanks for letting me be a small part of this great Bigger pockets community.

My wife (who is also a new BP member) and I have been investing in Dallas real estate since June of 2013.

So far we have gone slowly mainly by house hacking in Dallas neighborhoods that typically appeal to young professionals.

Since June of '13 we have done 4 deals:

1)Bought (Jun'13 and then later sold Jun'15) a duplex that we lived in. 

 2)Bought (Aug'14) a 3/3 single family house that we lived in and now have as a rental.

3)Bought (Nov'15) a FSBO 4/3 SFH (zoned MF) house. We currently live in this house and hopefully will turn it into a rental.

4)In Jul'15 we bought our first first rehab project and now have it listed on MLS.

So far our deals have mostly come off of MLS, and the strong Dallas market has been a big help. My sense is the market may be slowing slightly and we will need to be a lot more discriminating when looking for future deals.

Going forward, I think we will focus more on buying wholesale properties, to flip and/or perhaps do the 'Brrr' method', ie buy, rehab, rent repeat, where it makes sense.

Short term goal I would like us to do at least 2 flips, and add another rental in 2017.  Medium term we would like to have enough success to quit my day job and go into real estate investing full time.  Long term we would like to have a real estate portfolio in retirement that would support $7K-$10K/month in free cash flow.

Our risk philosophy is that we want to do deals when they provide a reasonable upside in both cash flow and capital appreciation. We try to take measured steps with moderate leverage, and we like investments where there are multiple shots on goal. Ie multiple ways to make money (or get out of projects). And we are willing to give up a little in ROI in exchange for better tenants/properties etc.

From Bigger Pockets, I would like to continue learning (I listen to the podcasts) from the wealth of information contained in the community, and hopefully we can contribute by offering our perspective as new investors/flippers.

Thanks for reading.

-Bart