All Forum Posts by: Blake C.

Dont prorate it for this month. The 30 days notice is so you can market the property and find a tenant. They didn't even give 30 days. Most apartments require 30 days and that doesn't begin until the 1st of the month. They are asking for something thats not acceptable.

@Scott R. Im tracking with you mostly.... I think what Im hinting at here is how an influx in nice, new, high-end property will trickle down to the mid to lower end areas knowing that we likely won't see a large influx of population growth baring a surprise event. I know that the areas I listed don't directly connect in location or customer base with the development, but I guess my though process is that it will effect the close areas, which affects the next step down, which affects the next step, and so on until you hit all areas in town. May be its not that interconnected. The evidence to me is that you do have the 50 year old 800-1000 square foot home regularly selling for $75-85+ a foot. Is that evidence that we don't have enough new entry level homes in the 80-120k price range in town for sale? Is that because investors have gone crazy buying the SFH and turning it into a rentals?

I have focused a lot in the midrange market because I like that I can get a very solid tenant and still cashflow $150+ a month. I know the cash is better in lower areas, but I haven't been amped about dealing with the hassles commonly associated. However, as I gave gained experience, I am becoming more comfortable with taking a dive in the lower ends.

As a buy and hold guy, I'm always trying to forecast where we will be in 5-10 years. If you know where we are headed, you can be better positioned to capitalize on the moment. I know we can't predict the future as there is always unexpected events, but we can seek to understand what the actions of today will have on the future.

Lastly, what are you looking to do in your investing in the near term? I'm always looking to make connections around town and it would be great to know what your aiming for if there is ever a way for a win-win. 

@Scott How do you feel the new development will change the mid-to lower end areas... Avondale, Southlawn, ect? I know there seems to be lots of apartments going in there. It just seems to much addition for the little population growth we experience here. I hope that if it truly is too big, they will slow down the rollout of the phases.

In my eyes, we have more middle class families in Amarillo living in homes that are on average much older than in other areas I've lived, DFW, Austin, & San Antonio. Here is seems many people live in a house thats 30+ years old (Wooflin, Bivins, Southdown, Lawndale, Oakdale, Avondale, Westlawn, Olsen, Paramount, Ridgecrest, Georgia Sores, name a few and seems to be were greater than 50% of this demographic lives.  I don't feel like I experienced near that large of percentage elsewhere because the population was growing fast enough that it required a large introduction of new homes onto the market. 

@Zane O. Here in two cents from the Amarillo area: Amarillo is a unique place and people that don't live here don't understand that. In the same way that Boston and New York seem like the same place to many Texans, most outsiders think we are all the same place too. Texas is a large state with numerous different local economic drivers. Whats happening at BSA & NW Hospitals, AISD, cattle, cotton, wheat & corn, and most of all PANTEX, trumps anything else in Amarillo. Those places host many of our high income earners. Especially in the demographic your house caters too, Pantex, agriculture, and the hospitals have a lot to do with that market. If you hold, my biggest area of concern is the new development at Hillside & Soncy. Im not sure how fast they will get that done and if it will provide too much competition for your house. To me, this new development looks like its bigger than we can support and could create oversupply.

I love the idea of you living in a flip and aiming for 2 years to get the tax benefit. Being that our economy is the tortoise and not the hair, I would expect the tax savings to be better than the other benefits as long as we don't create too much supply in this time. The fact that you have a relative in the industry, I would have been keep an alert eye out for you on the price of high end homes as the development takes place. You can always aim to hold for 2 years and list it sooner. 

The reason why some are saying you don't have to factor in the holding costs into your profits is that it sounds like this will be your primary residence. If so, you have to live somewhere. Assuming if you didn't own this, you would pay something similar, you can somewhat exclude the holding cost from your profit projections. However, if you next primary residence will be much smaller, you will have significant savings on property tax and insurance in a smaller/cheaper place.

 Overall, the numbers look decent to me. I haven't lived in Amarillo forever, but I have minimal fear of what the oil price is doing for our local area. My concerns rest with Pantex (which seems very stable at the moment) and the new Town Square development. 

@Account Closed The guys above have given good advice... keep expenses low and get serious later. 

Two steps I did from the start... 

1. Establish a good voice number and gmail account for the business. (Free). 

2. Get a DBA in the name of the business... only if you are going to use a name. You can use your own name for free. You establish a DBA with the county and it cost just a few bucks.

3. Haven't done this, but I still think about getting business cards. Its going out of date, but every now and then I want one. This costs about $10 online.

4. Get to work on things that generate revenue. Once you establish business activity, you can get more professional things going. You would be surprised at at you can accomplish with a iphone, a few apps, and a computer for free. 

Im bumping this post because I think it has a lot of merit. I realize that it depends on how many properties you own, whats your investment model, and what you access to funds such as lines of credit are... either way, I would love to hear more about how yall evaluate where to out the dry powder & recycle it to do it again all while not getting to lean to cover the unexpected.

Thanks to all for the feedback. After hearing you, I think the fact that its a puppy, I can't do it. I'll talk this through with him. He is my first applicant, and if there is no pets, a no brainer. With a puppy, I can't do it, because I know its going to cause issues. We will have to see what his response is. 

I don't want TWO dogs, but I'll think I will give it to this weekend to see what happens. If not, ill go with this route. Its still a qualified tenant, but I really would rather not have pets. Is this a legal approach... postponing on a tenant to see if you get someone better? My thought it I have only given it about 10 days. 

The remodel isn't even complete yet... but I'd love to get someone in as soon as we finish at the end of this month. This is a slow time, but the rental market is strong here. Not as strong as a year ago, but still pretty solid. 

Im going to try to wait it out until this weekend to see if I can get someone different without pets, but Tenant B is really looking for an answer. As for the outdoor dogs, I agree they will end up inside at many points, especially when its could. As for the noise issue, ALL the neighbors have dogs. Right next door they have "only" 6 chihuahuas and a cat. Everytime you take something two the trash in the alley it sounds like a stroll through the dog pound. If their hasnt been a noise violation already, I doubt a few more dogs will make a different. 

Outdoor dogs can still chew on doors, trim, and come inside and do whatever they want. 

I guess Tenant C is give it another week and look for someone better with no pets.