All Forum Posts by: Jacob Forbis

Hey @Ben Connors glad you got something out of this thread. There are a lot of smart people on biggerpockets and I'm glad to learn as much as I can from them.

As far as my progress - still haven't made any moves yet. My fiance and I actually decided that we want to move to San Marcos temporarily, so I am probably going to try a long term flip there. Either that, or find a duplex and rent out one half and live in the other.

Thanks everyone for the input. I appreciate it.

The only problem now is that my fiance and I have been looking at all the listed duplexes in the area and we haven't seen any that we would want to live in. I don't like to think we are too pretentious, but at the same time I want her to feel safe. We are trying to live affordably while we are there - but we do have some standards. 

Part of me is swaying back to the long term flip idea...just because there are some nicer single family houses in our price range. 

Anyone that has done the duplex live in one side strategy have problems with the quality of the building/area they live in?

Hey @Shane Wilson thanks for the input! I hadn't even considered a lease option. I am not very familiar with them.

In my opinion, a duplex wouldn't be too risky. My wife won't be working, so having a tenant pay the majority of the mortgage for the first year of our marriage will be a huge help with the finances.

Also, I think because of the fairly large college (36,000 students) I shouldn't have problems keeping it rented. San Marcos is a 30-40 minute drive from where I am now, and I wouldn't really call it long distance. Heck, it takes me about 30 minutes to get to my rental in San Antonio from where I live now.

Also, I am meeting with some local investors over the next couple of weeks to get some input on good locations - as well as have been driving around several times the past couple of weeks.

I do agree there is some risk in that if I need to sell I could be in a bind. But thats the risk you take with any real estate purchase, and I am ok with it.

I don't know, what do you think? Should I be more cautious?

@Russell Ponce I think you are right. I don't doubt that you can definitely lose deals by not answering every phone call - but I wouldn't think you would lose them all.

@Dusty Warner If you just call them directly back, I believe it will be your number. However, you can login to google voice and click to call someone. Google will call you first, and then connect your call.

This is an interesting thread. What if you're trying to wholesale while working a full time job that won't let you answer multiple personal calls throughout the day? I had heard that voicemail would be a way to handle that.

How can you train an answering service to answer your calls if you don't have the experience yet to know how to train them?

@Timothy Edwards Just checking to see how this went? I am looking to move here in a few months following a similar strategy and would like to here if it was a successful deal.

What part of town did you buy in?

Thanks, @Maverick V. 

I've heard of the 203k, and might try that option when moving back to San Antonio.

I think I am going to eliminate the flip option for now though. The whole reason we are moving to San Marcos is to have a convenient place to live while she is in school. If it is being remodeled and we can't live there, it kind of defeats the purpose. I wasn't planning on doing the work myself. 

Thanks @Daniel Kaminske and @Dusty Warner 

Yeah, I do not have capital to buy a fix and flip all cash, so I am definitely leaning towards the duplex option. I think it makes sense for a short term solution, and helps me build my portfolio at the same time. 

And dusty - FHA Is exactly what I was thinking. I want to keep out of pocket expense low, at least while my fiancé isn't working and is in school.

I'm wanting to move about 30 minutes north to New Braunfels or San Marcos from San Antonio so my soon to be wife can be closer to school. However we will want to move back to San Antonio once she graduates in May of next year.

My dilemma is what I should do for the year we are close to her school.

The thoughts that came to my mind were:

Long term flip: Find a place, fix it up and live in it for a year and then sell it when we are ready to move back. I imagine we would be there less than two years so we wouldn't get a tax break for this strategy.

Duplex or multifamily: Buy a duplex or triplex, rent out the other side, and then when we move, keep it and rent out our side.

Or third: Just buy a good rental and live in it for a year and rent it out once we move.

What would you do?

Also, any San Marcos or New Braunfels locals here that might have some insight into good areas?