All Forum Posts by: Joseph Weisenbloom

Get some premade ready to apply plaster at HD or Lowes and patch the holes real quick. Should take 30 mins tops.

@Theresa Harris Hey Thersa good idea about the rent vs deposit.

Bump. Anyone else running into this situation?

I rent bedrooms month to month. Recently with covid happening I have been getting a lot of people reaching out wanting to rent a room that are unemployed but are receiving benefits. Typically people are making $600 per week which is $2400 a month which is more than enough to afford one of my bedrooms. 

Are you guys renting to people that are on unemployment benefits? Im just worried what happens when these benefits dry up. People have been offering to pay 2-3 months of rent in advance. Thoughts?

@Poem Turner Thanks Poem! I will give them a try

Anyone got a go to electrician in Austin? I am collecting bids for a project. Thanks!

Here in Austin the market has completely shifted. There is a noticable downshift in the amount of prospects I have gotten for filling my units. People are not really moving right now, i think they are staying put until things breeze over. Another factor is that since Airbnb/vrbo properties are not operating they have been shifted en masse to long term rentals. So its a combo of lower demand and higher supply that is making it harder right now to find tenants.

Not surprised in the least that lockdowns are extended. I bet we see lockdowns until June or July. Sounds crazy but thats where the words at.

@Josh Fox Taylor and lampassas can be good places to invest but they are barely in the Austin metro. You will see lower prices there but won’t have a tenant base with the money and jobs that are available in Austin. Be very careful with places like Killeen and Fort hood. They an hour from Austin but a vastly different market than Austin. Low income, high vacancy and high crime.

I would agree that overall appraisals are more voodoo than science. That being said the knife cuts both ways. If you get a nightmare appraiser you are in for a long night and it could jeopardize the loan. If you have a preferred lender that you have worked with before and you know the appraiser they use than you can make some magic happen. Finding the right people is the real struggle.

If you want to get me really worked up lets talk underwriters. Those people drive me nuts!

Cashflowing in Austin is tough but can be done. Best strategy I have seen is buy fixer upper single families within proximity of downtown. Rehab everything with your own labor to keep costs down. Then rent out the bedrooms for $700+ per month. Really only way to make money in this town is to hustle. If you were hoping to find duplexes, triplexes and quadplexes you will be sorely disappointed in Austin. We have an outdated land code that outlaws construction of smaller multifamily and favors single family only.