All Forum Posts by: Jacob Forbis

Wow, that's fantastic! Congratulations!

I'm here in San Antonio, which is a hot market in and of itself, but nothing compared to Austin.

Austin is a great city and I love it, but the traffic kills me!

@Jon Klaus - just stumbled on this post. Just curious how the deal turned out? Was it as profitable as you had hoped?

@Mike H. That is great insight, thanks so much!

I have one rental property right now...and I did not even think about schools going forward. It is definitely going to be my top priority for future rentals.

Its funny though, even though my rental isn't in a great neighborhood, the reason my current tenants want to stay in the house is because of the schools. The tenant has a high school aged son who wants to graduate from the same school as his mom. Even though it isn't a high-rated school, it still has value to them.

I can imagine that the really good schools would create even more loyalty.

Thanks @Mike D.

and @Mike H.

How do you determine which schools are best? Locals and word of mouth? Trulia, redfin and other real estate sites with school ratings?

Welcome to the forums, @Chase Thompson I am in the San Antonio area as well.

@Jameson Wildwood Thanks for this post - its very inspiring. I too am considering a similar situation.

My fiancé has a 10k car loan, and I have a 28k car loan. I have one rental property and would like to pick up more. I know that in theory my cash flow from the rental properties should cover the car payments - but the thing that I kept thinking about is what if I lost my job? What if I lost my job and my rentals went vacant?

I know it may not seem likely for all that to happen, but I want to have less obligations for peace of mind.

Once I get those loan payments paid off, I am less at risk, and the target income from rental properties will go down because I will have less monthly expenses. It may not be the fastest way to get there, but there is definitely something to be said about the peace of mind.

Good luck in continuing to pay down your debt!

Thanks for the reply @J Koehne How do you determine if an area will become an A area? Job growth?

I am still a new investor, and I am trying to develop my business plan. I want to specify what local areas I want to invest in. I've come up with a few requirements, but I thought I would poll this group and see what everyone else thinks. Here are a few of mine in order of priority:

Price-to-rent Ratio - 1% + ($1,000 rent for a $100,000 house or better)

Crime/Safety - no violent crime

Schools - high rated schools

Appreciation Rates - San Antonio is a relatively low appreciation area, but I am trying to find the best I can.

What are some of yours?

@Paul James I am also in the san antonio area. What parts of town do you find properties that get you 1% or more? Do you find these deals on the mls, or are these off market deals?