All Forum Posts by: John Barr

@Jim Robertson Its no problem Jim. If you have any other questions feel free to send me a message and best of luck!

Hey Jim,

Since I got into real estate about two years ago we have really seen a shift in where we have been working with a lot of our rentals. I would say from my experience the best areas of San Antonio that you are going to see your highest returns are going to be in your northeast and northwest sides of San Antonio. They are your more typical middle-class working neighborhoods where you can still pick up properties for the 120-170 range and gets rents in the 1200-1700 ranges.

In the last year or so we have seen values in the Northwest really increase due to the fact that they have really opened the accessibility of the neighborhoods with all of the recent renovations to the 1604 loop west of I-10. The values have increased but the rents are still lagging behind some but I see them picking up in the coming years.

I would say that I for the Northeast I would stay west of I-35 and east of 281, North of 410 to 1604. If you do go further west of I-35 I wouldn't venture too far inside 1604 as the areas really start to get spotty.

For the Northwest it pretty much a mirror image stay west of I-10 and northeast of 151, staying outside of the 410 loop out to 1604. If you venture to far south of 151 I would stay closer to 1604.

Hope that helps.

@Michael Mullins What type of Loan are you assuming? As of recently you will no longer be able to receive title insurance on VA or FHA insured loans. That's not saying you can't assume them but your level of risk increases as these types of loan require to have title insurance. I have done several of these types of transactions and have kept one of them as a rental myself. It is a great strategy to use especially if you can not qualify for financing yourself.

I have used two different attorneys for these transactions Alan Ceshker with Texas Title out of Austin and Scott Horn out of Dallas. Also with Texas Title.

you need to have an experienced attorney draft up these docs correctly and that the proper disclosures are made in order to protect yourself.

if you send me a PM I can get you their contact information.

@Tony Castronovo Might I ask what it is that you are doing extra to the properties? 

Is haveing a COC return of around those numbers pretty typical in Katy in the market we are in?

I can say I definitely agree with the vast majority of the posts so far. The Alamo REIA is by far the best big REIA out there right now where you can find the most education without receiving a big pitch of some sort. They also have three smaller events throughout the month for their members (only $100/yr I believe) one for Fix and Flip, another for But and Hold, and one for women in Real estate. They also have some home depot visits and property tours that every now and then as well.

That is also the only REIA in town that is recognized by the National Real Estate Investors Association.

I do enjoy the smaller ones as well as those one do make it a lot easier to network as there isnt always a suggested format to the meeting.

Hope to see you around at some of the events around town

@Account Closed Mentioned. Flipping houses is shockingly a lot harder than what is portrayed on HGTV and carries a high level of risk and requires a decent amount of expertise.

The problems that I find with the duplex, triplex, and quadplexes is that its going to typically be an investor that owns that property. They tend to know that it is a VERY STRONG sellers market so they are not willing to let them go at a price that makes decent sense.

From a rental stand point look for properties that are going to yield you a 20%-25% cash on cash return. I have no problem finding properties that meet those returns. 

Best of luck! Feel free to reach out if you have questions.

@Kyle Zochert Welcome to the BP community and the San Antonio market!

I definitely understand what you are saying about the Austin, TX market just getting a little to over priced to where rentals just don't provide the returns for the amount of cash that must be put down. I am currently finding the best rent properties on the NE side like you had mentioned. That area I am still staying pretty consistently with maintaining about a 20%-25% cash on cash return with cash out of pocket being about 18K-22K. 

As far as the old neighborhoods closer to downtown there just isn't as much proven comps and rents like there are in some of the newer areas like the NE and the NW. The biggest problem that we are seeing with this is that there are so many new appraisers in the market that they are starting to become pretty inconsistent with the values they are pulling.

If you ever need assistance feel free to reach out. Best of luck with your endevours.

@Freddy Yang

I work out of the south Texas area. like @Shital Thakkar mentioned Texas has a ton of pros as for as real estate investing goes. It really depends on what you are looking for if you are looking for low entry cost with higher cash on cash I would not suggest moving to Austin. While they have had great appreciation over the last few years their prices of the home have significantly increased at a rate much higher than what rents have. This is causing the price to get in to be much higher pushing returns down. Plus EVERYONE knows Austin is red hot so competition is extremely high.

The other three cities have much stronger rental markets (in my opinion) I find no problem staying in the 25% cash on cash return in my main market of San Antonio. The best deals I find are typically in the 100-150K ARV range with cash out of pocket of 18K-22K. Meaning you can diversify your portfolio with more houses just because your dollar goes further as opposed to other markets such as Austin. I know that Dallas/FT Worth, as well as, Houston both have pockets where these types of returns can be maintained. It really depends on what type of city you would like to live in and what type of investment strategy you have.

@Shari Peterson

I close all my properties with reliant title. There are not in San Antonio but every property that I close is with mobile notaries which I find both buyers and seller prefer. There team up in Austin is amazing. I have double closed several properties with them without a hiccup or anyone else but the title company knowing what I made.

I have never used Alamo title but I have met and had several conversations with @Seth Teel and would trust his recommendation.

Send me a PM if you are interested in their contact information.

Glad to see you on bigger pockets @Bridget Sharpe

I am real estate investor located in the San Antonio market. Buy and holds are really the only strategy that I focus on here in the greater SA area because there is much more potential to find deals than focusing on flips.

I have wholesaled and helped many investors pick up rental properties here in the San Antonio market.

Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions about the market here or if you are wanting to explore opportunities.