All Forum Posts by: James W.

@Nadine Hylton DFW, like Houston is huge. Since I grew up there, it helped that I had a network of people I could trust to do things, including property management. Over time I found a buyers agent that is very good in MF property pricing/investing who I still work with.  I've specialized in duplexes, as you can get normal FNM loans for up to 4 doors, with 30 fixed rates that are very attractive.

What kind of price range are you looking at?

Howdy,

I grew up in Fort Worth, and have been investing mainly in the DFW area over the past 15 years--I've got 24 doors ranging from Granbury to Fort Worth to Justin to Dallas. Don't own any property in Houston any more, though if oil stays low for a while I'll have a look again.

The person who posted on taxes could, perhaps, have done better diligence prior to buying. It is true that taxes as a percentage of home (or plex) prices are fairly high, between 2-3%, so you just build that in to your purchase/operating model. It's not rocket science--most of the areas will cash flow, though I am skeptical about Austin, at least based on what I've been offered there the past several years. I'd love to hear about good cash flow deals in austin otherwise :-).

@Olga Levin I'd be interested in hearing more about your specification. I've been dis-satisfied with the software on the market to date as well, and curious to get more details. PM is fine if that's better.

Hi,

Depending on the states you are in, you could try Cobalt-Steele for an aggregated policy covering all 5 houses.

Regards,

Hi,

Pulling the money out won't trigger the tax bill. I just went through this on an 8 unit one I've got north of fort worth and they will look at "Debt Service Coverage Ratio"--most banks want you to have some cash in the bank (in case of emergencies) plus a DSCR of 1.25 or better, and often they want to see you still have some money invested in the property (from fixes, make readies or whatever)

1.25 is NOI/loan repayment. So if you net 12,500/year after fees and maintenance, you could borrow any amount up to a 10K/year total repayment. See https://www.commercialloandirect.com/debt-service-... for more info.

good luck!

I'Ve worked with cobalt steele's Anthony Lee on insurance for the entire portfoilio (24 doors). https://cobaltsteele.com/ I've had some claims, and they have helped me work through it with the end agency.

Howdy Folks,

I own a portfolio in DFW (I've exited all my Houston properties)--happy to share experiences. Separately, I own 6 acres or so of raw land down in Johnson County, near Burleson. Anyone have a good (or bad) experience with a realtor who does land in that neck of the woods? I'm debating selling, but don't have a feel for market pricing...

Hi,

Have you sat down and talked with the property management company about this? In Texas, at least, if they are your employee (I suspect contractor will count, but I'm not a lawyer) you can have them show, collect rents etc on your behalf. If they are not, though, they cannot.

In my experience, if they know you might be shopping around, you can find out whether they are at the "oh, go for it" stage or "oh, we might be willing to play ball". 

Other things you can do:

Offer to pay direct costs for new tenants (ads, other broker fee).

Offer to pay expenses directly (so they don't have carry).

I'm interested in this one too--my Property manager made 2x what I did on my portfolio last year...

I've been on the LP side of a few deals, and generally avoid them because while things may start out well, a few years down the road things change....

The only LP deal I've entered after I got some degree of sophistication was a commercial deal something like this:

1-It was a good deal, rehab of an existing building with a planned tenant.

2-I put my money in, and it accrued 6 or 8% interest.

3-The first series of payments were 100% return of capital and of interest, with a 95/5 split (95 to us LPs)

4-all payments after that were 70/30 (70 to LPs)

5-If building is sold after all capital and interest is returned, 70% of net proceeds go to LPs.

The thing I really liked about it was that my exposure was at 0 after 2-3 years in. Made it much easier to reinvest with these folks, and interests were well aligned.