All Forum Posts by: Zachary D.

Thank you all for your comments. I feel like I've narrowed my target areas quite a bit!

@Jason Forgey Thank you, Jason. Do you know any neighborhoods known for their safety or walkability?

@Vernon Watts

Thank you Vernon. I actually came to that conclusion about MF last night in that area.

@Lucia Rushton No, not yet, but I will now. Thank you! :)

@Lucia Rushton 

Thank you for offering to help. I'm afraid all I can say is that I need to be living north of Dallas near the tech jobs and that I'm looking for a safe area where we don't have to be afraid to talk a walk. Once I get a few suggestions, it will be easier to narrow my property search. 

After being laid off, I discovered that I would need to be in the Plano/Irving area of north Dallas, Texas enable to be closer to technology jobs. But, I have zero sense of which areas are safe and walkable.

I would like to target a good area that my family will be safe in that is also below 250k.

Garland, Texas looks okay on the surface, but I’m hoping to get some strong suggestions from the community.

Being 20-30 minutes from the area would be acceptable.

I will be looking for opportunities to 203k loan my growing family into a clean home to be rented out in the future.

Any ideas?

Thank you in and advance!

Zach

I am 36 and married with a 9 month-old-baby in north Texas. I am an independent contractor making 86k a year before taxes and I owe 192k on the home I bought last September. I do not know how long my position will continue to have funding, and may have a corporate position in the same company in the near future. I have some worries about my staying power. 

PLAN 1:
- Buy a different home or duplex every couple of years to build a portfolio of properties for cash flow and equity. 
- Do not invest in stocks or bonds. Use all funds for living expenses and real-estate investment. 
- This plan is easy for me to stomach. 

Benefit: Achieve goal of exploring different cities. Gain a lot of equity. Less volatile than stock market. Equity increase curve likely better than 401k.
Detractor: Early withdrawal penalties, market could drop at a time when I need the money to live on. No real-estate equity. Would like have to continue working full time.

PLAN 2: 
- Follow the 'Fi' community and invest everything into a total stock market index fund through my 401k with the intent of taking equal separate draws to retire somewhat early. 
- Do not invest in real-estate, unless using equity of own home to purchase additional ones

Benefit: Easier to cash out that real-estate. Simple. Easy for me to stomach. Would be able to retire sooner rather than later. 
Detractor: Early withdrawal penalties, market could drop at a time when I need the money to live on. No real-estate equity. 

Thank you for any ideas or insights you may have!

My final updates is that the city said they would need to do drilling and add meter hardware because of the position of the main line in the culdesac, probably amounting to, say, 8k. In this case, I would have chosen the wireless route or possibly or RUBS. 

In the end, I declined to buy the duplex after seeing the inspection.

For those interested, https://submetersolutions.com/ has a package of wired or wireless hardware and service.

(interior at hot water heater)$55 + 57 for the meter(S) and 900 for the 3g data logger, which is 20-30 per months for 3g service. 150 setup fee for customer billing management and a kick back from the tenant of 5-10 for convenience fees. Plumber's fee to install separate. 

I'm putting down $1200 or so to install one unit at 30 per month to operate.

I'll add more updates as I learn more. (The city has not called back at this time).

@Sam Grooms Yes, this is what my research has shown so far. But, I wanted to avoid any question of unfair water usage and put the payment task solely on the tenant. RUBS is definitely the fallback. Thank you!