All Forum Posts by: Gary Parente

This plus the Tesla plant will alone create 6000 jobs, and likely 12k-15k new people moving to the area just as a result of the jobs directly, plus the associated services needed for those people (restaurants, gas stations, plumbers, dry cleaners, etc). Probably 25k people moving to the area as a result. That means probably 6k-7K houses. More people moving in = appreciation and rental demand!

@Ronak Shah probably a wash in the end, per David’s data. Evaluate each one for its current condition and make a decision. You won’t go wrong with either.

@Houman Omidifar I have a personal friend that knows I’m almost complete with the purchase and has already signed a lease on the property. Even without the personal friend option, I posted in the neighborhood Facebook page casually about having a property available in a few weeks and I had somebody contact me interested in renting it. Nothing official, but word of mouth advertising casually is totally fine.

@Xingshu Sun those graphs look awfully similar to each other, so I don’t see any significant difference between the two zip codes.

However, parts of 78681 are closer to Austin than 78613. It all depends on what section you are in. I have a home in 78681 that I bought in 2009 that has almost doubled in value (bought for $158k, just appraised at $280k). Either area should appreciate nicely and be pretty similar in terms of results.

@Shuang Wang I’ve got properties in both Cedar Park and Round Rock (78681). Both have incredible schools (Leander ISD and RRISD). 78681 is actually closer to Apple Campus, but both are only 15 minutes away. Rental market has been strong. I’m closing on my third property in Cedar Park next week and already have a tenant.

@Andrew Watson can you recommend a wholesaler? I’d love to buy homes for under $175k right now!!!

Meant to say doubled in value in 11 years.

Feature request- ability to edit a post!

I know a lot of people on BP say banking on appreciation is not smart, but my first property has doubled over n value and n 11 years, and I started with 5% down. That's a great return. I've done a kind of extended BRRRR method by refinancing it twice in that time to extract equity and buy other properties. It shows no signs of slowing down.

@Venkat Rajan great question. Are you saying you’re going $1200 in the hole every month? If so, cut your losses and sell. That’s a bad deal. I doubt you will see it appreciate at a rate much faster than that amount, and if it does, the speculation is probably not worth the risk.

Secondarily, due to COVID, I believe that the long-term demand for downtown housing is going to decline, not just in Austin, but everywhere. It won’t go away entirely, but I bet it will decrease since more companies are allowing WFH.

If you’re covering all your costs with the current tenant and can hold on for longer than just a couple years, it may turn out to be a good deal.

@Joe Scaparra great advice. Thanks!