All Forum Posts by: Jon Shoop

I work at a property management company in DFW and we're seeing the same thing here in both the Dallas and Fort Worth markets. Homes are going quick on the rental market as well as the sale market. Finding a duplex or multiplex here in Texas is hard enough, DFW it's like "get in line!" if you want to have a shot. Lots of fun times ahead in North Texas!

Indeed! 

We use Appfolio for our Software and it is a really great system. Pretty easy to use, lots of support, and it does just about anything you'd want in a management software. Plus they have an office in DFW located pretty close by to us in Keller and they're in Richardson which isn't too far considering how spread out Dallas and Fort Worth can get!

From my research into the different types of SFH's, it seems that Condos typically have the most restrictive and enforced HOA policies.

The drawbacks for condos in Dallas and Fort Worth from what I've heard is that condos are spaced next to and above/below one another. So there is a lot higher likelihood of neighbors being upset by speaker volumes, loud walk, barking dogs, water leaks, etc. and reporting it to the board. Along with parking issues is another issue too. I lived in Uptown Dallas for several years between an apartment, a townhome, and a condo. The townhome was the most lowkey and we never heard from the HOA. And at the time I was living with two other single guys in the State-Allen District of Uptown Dallas - to put things in a bit more perspective of what we could have experienced or gotten in trouble for.

The condo was another thing. There were certain limitations to what you could/could not have on our balconies and it seemed like they were enforced arbitrarily. Not to mention the parking limitations as well.

To me, it seems that a stand alone single family home is a lot more miss than hits when it comes to HOA issues. Ok, so you have to keep your lawn and shrubbery in order and you can't leave your trash out. That's really the majority of the issues I've personally experienced and read about on forums when it comes to the standalones and the duplexes in HOA's.

Whenever I bring on a new door to our portfolio, I make certain that the HOA docs are one of the first set of documents I request from a homeowner. There's nothing worse than a tenant unknowingly stepping on a bylaw and getting the owner fined because of something so simple as, "must bring in trash by 4pm on trash days".

Hope  this helped!

 Hey Jamie! Those are some pretty hot areas with a lot of work destinations around them, I'd say you're on a good track! 

What I've suggested to another BP member and what I think is good to look at for that price range are going to be the outlying suburbs of DFW. These are homes that are going to be lower in the price range but with the growth of the Metroplex, they're really going to appreciate in value over the next decade. McKinney, Prosper, Terrell, Burleson, Justin, and Argyle are all huge growth areas. Plus you'll be looking at newer builds so they aren't going to be as maintenance intensive as some of the older areas around Dallas or Fort Worth for investment properties. 

- Jon

@Marissa G. I think you've gotten some solid advice here! A couple things I think about to justify allowing tenants to have dogs is:

• - Our commercial insurance policy does not allow what they deem as "dangerous" breeds. So that limits a lot of the larger dogs that people own. 
• - Allowing dogs greatly increases the number of people who are applicable for your home - so your home will get rented faster. 
• - Allowing dogs will be a revenue generator - you can charge a per pet fee as well as a refundable or non-refundable pet deposit. We charge a non-refundable pet deposit because... dogs are inextricably going to cause more wear and tear on a home and possibly (most likely) leave behind some hidden damage that may not come about until after the tenants have completed their lease term. Even the most well trained dogs can have accidents or spill food or water on your flooring. 
• - Even if you don't collect a refundable or non-refundable pet deposit (which you should always collect!), your tenants deposit will be able to go towards any repairs or cleaning that they and their dog is responsible for. So they're still on the hook for any and all damages.
• -  Tenants may still bring their dog into the home even if your lease explicitly states "no pets". So let's face it, it's better to mitigate that risk, make some extra revenue, and have a higher deposit amount available for damages. 
  

Hope this all helps!

Jamie, 

Lucia is 100% right. It's hard to find great deals here. Even so, DFW has a 7-8% higher renter vs. owner ratio than the national average. So it's a wonderful market for investment properties. Even more so with many companies looking to move here, the outer suburbs of Dallas, Fort Worth, and Arlington are exploding!

I'm also interested to know what areas specifically you are interested in and price range of your investment.

Hope that helped!

Hi @Brady Salcido,

Where are you coming in from? 

Some hot areas in DFW that we are experiencing for investors in that price range are:

Fort Worth side -

South Fort Worth, Justin, Benbrook, Burleson, Argyle, and Haslet

Dallas side of DFW -

Terrell, Forney, McKinney, and Mesquite.

Let me know if you have any other questions! I'd love to help you out. 

What is something that makes the top of the list for you of the worst thing that a contractor has done to a home improvement or home flip that you've experienced? 

When I bought my first home, it was for personal use. I found a great realtor who knew the DFW and Dallas area really well. She was absolutely fantastic. I wanted to stay on the Dallas side of DFW since I had buddies over there and had been living in Uptown. Fort Worth was attractive but I chose to stick around Uptown. So she and I toured all around East Dallas and Uptown Dallas checking out homes for sale that were in my price range. Many of these homes were needing a lot of work, some were needing a bit of work, and finally I got to a home that had just been remodeled and upgraded. It checked most, if not all the boxes. 

It was a flip house located between 75 and White Rock Lake, just north of the M Streets. I didn't have M Streets money! But it's a great location. It was being sold by a realtor who was getting paid $1,000 to facilitate the showings and deal by a company out of Arizona. 

Being a bachelor and my first home, I wasn't really looking too deep or was too nitpicky with it. I regret that decision. The general contractor the AZ company used was to put it bluntly, negligent. In the inspection report that we had done there were some fixes in the attic that needed to be made before it could be closed on. An open vent, a new attic access ladder, and a couple other minor things. 

What the inspection report missed and what I glossed over that still bugs me is the negligence that went into putting in the new windows. Apparently this GM and his crew didn't put down painters blankets or sheets to catch the old window's glass when it was broken out in order to install the new double pane windows. So there was countless amounts of glass shards strewn about the back and side yards in the grass, the dirt, and the hedges that have since been removed. 

That dang glass. All they had to do was lay down a large tarp to catch it all! Just such an easy thing to do yet so important to do. And ultimately so negligent on the contractor to not have done this. Absolutely grinds my gears. 

So BiggerPockets, what are some of your biggest gripes that you have regarding bad contractors? 

 Agreed there is no guarantee, but there are also GREAT PM's out there as well who know time = money and do their due diligence.