All Forum Posts by: Matt C.

I’ve lived in Wylie since 04 and love it. I will say it’s starting to turn into a little Plano though. When I first moved here it had the small town country feel but now it’s gotten really developed. Still a lot of new construction but houses are being built on smaller and smaller lots. We also have the highest property taxes in Collin County. Trade off is we have great schools that are always ranked in the top of the State. 

If I was in your situation then I’d for sure consider Mellisa or Anna. Those are two up and coming areas that still have a small town feel. If you want to be a little closer to Allen Love Joy or Fairview are also good choices that still retain a little bit of the small town feel. Allen is also a great city. McKinney is a good choice but going a little outside of that to say Mellisa is going to yield you more house for your money. I’m sure Frisco is a nice place to live but if you didn’t know better you’d think it’s the center of the metroplex now. 

Really it’s hard to go wrong with any of the cities around Allen. Collin County is a really good place to live. 

Hi @Greg P. I've lived in Wylie since 04 if you have any questions about the area hit me up. I will say it is getting pretty tough to find good rentals in the area. Property values are really high and lots of competition. 

@Allen Tong I’ve been speaking to city planning and zoning. I’ve gone up the food chain a bit and still receiving the same answer. It’s a two part problem for me first part is the land is zoned SF 6 and the second part is the area is designated for low density in the cities master plan. They won’t even let me request re-zoning. I’m trying to convey the point the tax value on each lot will be more than double if they allow me to build multi family instead of SF but falling on deaf ears so far. I can still get 5 SF houses on the land but would rather have 4 four-plex. 

Well if you want recession proof don't invest in anything! Just kidding I get where you are coming from. I'd argue that what you are looking for is even riskier. Mainly because it is going to be extremely difficult if not impossible to find something $150-200k in our immediate area that will cash flow. Just do a search on the MLS in Wylie. I saw one property matching your criteria that's $179k it's 1250 square feet. I highly doubt it will rent for $1,800 a month so it's not even meeting the 1% rule which like others said is cutting it close in our area. Your play here is gambling on appreciation hoping you make your money that way which is just that gambling.

I’d rather go farther out and find something cash flowing from day one. Sure it will not appreciate as much but I see that as icing on the cake not something to even put in the equation.

Well the city shot be down on building multi-family and say that re-zoning will not be approved because of city plans to keep the area low density. I'm not giving up immediately but also looking at numbers on building SF as well.  

@Don Van Nguyen hello from a fellow Wylie resident! I am a newbie as well and concentrating more on fix and flips at the moment but also currently working on new builds on some land I own for rentals. I agree completely with @Andrew Herrig you may want to look a little further out. I spent months competing (on very marginal deals to begin with) in our immediate area. The market is just super hot and there are at least 10 investors all trying to buy the same thing driving pricing to where it doesn't make sense. . Farmersville, Blue Ridge, and Ana may be good areas to look at. These are up and coming areas as the metroplex expands and I would expect growth in the cities. I think there is also a move to get out of the busier parts of the metroplex as more people are working from home. There is also a lot going on in this area as far as road expansion which will allow commuters easier access. 

Also are you looking at value add or turn key properties? Obviously you open up the options some with value add but the rehab part makes them a lot more involved. I really do not want to rain on your parade but finding a turn key $200k property that will cash flow in the more desirable areas is going to be tough. The issue becomes most people in our area that can afford $2,000-2,500 in rent are buying houses instead of renting. 

Good luck! 

@Steven Byrnes thanks for the response! Geez I wish it was in Wylie! This is actually in Balch Springs pretty close to 635 and I20 split. The street it kind of odd but is turning for the better in the last couple of years. Relatively new apartment building was built just up the road and a few new builds are being done right now. I'm waiting on the city to get back to me but I am curious if it is actually re-zoning since it should be residential already. Honestly I know very little about zoning this is for sure a learning experience. I think the big deal will be if the city will allow me to build multi family and if that is considered re-zoning. I intend to build and hold. 

Hi Everyone,

Would love to hear feedback on a project I am considering. A little bit of a unique situation my parents bought a track of land in a suburb of Dallas in the 90s. It is roughly 3 acres with around 588' of road frontage running north and south so a long rectangular property. My mother still lives on the property and has a house on the south acre. She is gifting me the north acre which would be around 255' of road frontage. I am checking now with the city to see if they will allow me to build multifamily on this acre. I would love to build a couple 4-plex town home style properties on this. My main question is the pitfalls of building new. Land is free besides taxes so it would just be the construction cost. I'm also wondering if this is a good route or if it would be better to do a few duplex instead. I'm under the impression more doors under one roof is better but that may be wrong as I am new to multi family. I'm sure a lot of this is market specific but would love to hear from others that have built new multi family. 

@Brian Garrett I need to look at Marketplace. I've only used it for selling properties but I can see the opportunities there to market when people are already shopping. I could see it being less intrusive than ads in feeds since they are already looking at a bunch of ads. 

@Brian Garrett that's great advice and something I am looking at. It is kind of the benefit to re-marketing I check out others websites then start getting their ads to see what they are up to. There is a couple groups that are doing a real good job in my area I want to emulate to an extent.