All Forum Posts by: Joseph Cacciapaglia

This has been a common strategy for the last several years, and while rates were low, lenders had no incentive to call the loans. I've had a couple clients in the past few months tell me their loans were called for making this type of transfer though. This is the first time I've seen this since prior to the GFC. If your lender is telling you that they may accelerate the loan, I would take them seriously.  You may want to ask if they can propose a way to avoid it.

There are a lot of new build and flips east of New Braunfels Ave at this point, but many of the neighborhoods still have a lot of dilapidated houses. I've bought and sold properties for myself and clients in that area, and believe there are still opportunities. It's definitely more hit or miss that further west.

However, I have a few multifamily land listings there that have been sitting for a little while that would have sold quickly earlier this year. It seems like developers may be slowing a bit. That part of San Antonio still seems to work better for STRs than traditional rentals at the moment though. Prices for the nice rehabs and new builds aren't supported by current rental rates, IMHO.

There is never a perfect time to start investing. As long as you're investing from a position of financial strength, it's best to get started as soon as possible. You'll learn a ton on your first deal, and that education will compound with future deals. We're finally starting to see a little softness here in San Antonio, and as a buyer, it's finally possible to get a discount here and there. I believe that over the next few months, we'll see some of the best deals of this cycle. I don't expect a large price decline across the market as a whole, but I am already seeing some opportunities where sellers are getting scared and jumping at a low offer.

We're managing a couple of these in San Antonio, and expect to see more. They're operating very much like STRs, but with minimum stays of 31 days or more. They are furnished, and the owner/manager is typically doing all the property upkeep and keeping the utilities in their name. At the moment furnishedfinder.com seems like the best place to find tenants, but some are coming from Airbnb and VRBO as well.

As far as I know, the only way to get on the MLS is through a Realtor or property manager. The reason the MLS works, is because it brings agents that have tenants that they're working with. In many markets, it's relatively cheap to do a "lease only" listing with a property manager.

1/1's have been our slowest movers here in San Antonio lately, but they are still renting reasonably well. We use Rhino security deposit insurance, instead of charging a deposit, and tenants seem to prefer that. That may help, but you're already charging a pretty low deposit. If you're getting plenty of showings, but not applications, your price probably doesn't match the value of your unit. It's also possible your marketing is attracting a lot of tire kickers though. Where are you listing the units for rent? Most of our units rent through the MLS, and I find it's a good place to attract serious inquiries.

One thing to look out for: We tend to get a lot of "multifamily properties" that aren't legal multifamily properties. They get listed on the MLS, and new investors and/or out of state investors often get duped into buying them. Do not take listing info at face value and always check the zoning and that the additional units were added legally. There are plenty of other issues to look out for here, but this is one of the most common ones I've seen new investors run into here.

In general, our properties do very well near the airport, but homes right under the flight path tend to get a lot of complaints about the noise. If it's close, I try to spend a long time at the property to get a good sense of the noise level there. Some of the deals that look the best on paper in that area are just too noisy for most guests. Realtor.com also gives a noise level estimate in their neighborhood section.

Definitely check the One Stop Map, as mentioned above. This is how we check on the STR permits, and also flood plane data. There is a flood plane near there.

We often make offers contingent on receiving the STR permit prior to closing. This is tough to negotiate in today's market, but we still get it from time to time.

This is a product that gets talked about a ton, but doesn't seem to happen very much in real life. I've worked exclusively with investors for years, and haven't had a single client do one. Hopefully someone chimes in that actually does them here. 

This is my attorney for stuff like that here in San Antonio: http://www.lawofficeofmichaelv...