All Forum Posts by: Poem Turner

@Belinda Arredondo I agree with what @Tsipora Smith said above. Mortgage brokers are usually a better way to shop than banks or credit unions. CU's rates can be appealing, but they are fairly slow and can be challenging to work with. In the competitive market we have in TX now, sellers are getting multiple offers, and ease of communication with the lender is one of the things they consider when choosing an offer. Financing through a CU can be a red flag to some listing agents.

Good luck in your search!

Hi @Joseph Villasenor. I live in Georgetown. Beautiful area, you'll love it here :-)

The topography here doesn't lend itself to basements, walk-up or otherwise. And storm shelters and neither common or necessary.  What we do value is hardy landscaping, good outdoor living areas (covered seating, outdoor kitchens, firepits, etc), pools, and lots of natural light in the house :-)

Costs are going to vary tremendously depending on size of your lot and house you intend to build. If you want full custom, yes, hire an architect. If you want semi-custom, there are excellent builders like Grand Endeavor, David Weekley or Currey Builders who will work with you and handle everything.

Hi @Erin Wilks. I don't have any suggestions for FL lenders, but I have a few foreign national clients and getting an American Express card on the strength of their international bank credit has gone a long way towards making the process easier for them working with US lenders. Hope that helps!

@Prash Manohar I wouldn't say I'm bullish, but I do own properties out there bought prior to the Tesla announcement (now the numbers don't work for me personally) because how could a house worth $165k NOT go up in value. And with a tax rate below 2% in the Austin area? A rare find indeed! As you said, I purchased based on the projected manufacturing infill between 35 and 130. Are the schools there pretty poor? Yes. Do I think they'll improve as more folks move to the area? Also yes. And more residents will drive retail/commercial development, etc. I'm not overly bullish on the area because it's 'black soil'. There are pockets that can be built on without expecting issues, but most of them have been built already. I have reservations about new residential construction out there. Most of the houses calling for $2k/mo are larger, newer or remodeled. The issue comes when the smaller, 1990s houses with popcorn ceilings, laminate counters and full carpet see that and think they can as well. 

Does it have potential? Absolutely. Especially depending on your approach and if you're ok with appreciation and not cash flow (older houses will have maintenance and newer houses have hefty HOAs and MUDs). 

In a hyper-competitive market, it's an excellent tool to use. BUT! And I always have these discussions with my clients; you do have to know what you're looking at/for or be willing to walk away from the earnest money as @Gabe T. pointed out. I have one group of investors I work with who almost always waive inspections, but they have their own crews and their costs on whatever repairs are necessary are far below others. 

I ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS recommend clients follow up with an inspection even if they waived the contingency. Two recent examples:

1. House was BOM and advertised with a new roof. Seller offered previous inspection report prior to roof installation. Client opted not to have another inspection done. When their insurance came out to see the house, the roof had only been patched, not fully replaced.

2. House was 3 years old. Inspection revealed the furnace had detached from the roof during the unusual winter weather we had earlier this year. 

Have you considered the local Section 8 or Housing Voucher Program? Guaranteed rent payments, annual (or more often) inspections by the agency, constant pool of motivated tenants. If you can befriend or get to know the local administrators, they'll cherry pick tenants for you. 

@Jacob Pereira I tend to agree with your assessment. We've seen the hype about the gigafactory and how many jobs it would bring and then watched investors overpay (IMHO) and drive up prices in the Del Valle area only to find those rents don't fit the budget of the employees moving here; oops! This is something I discussed with my clients at length in the past year or so. Convenience or not, Tesla executives won't be living in the Del Valle area for many more years, akin to the Oracle scenario you mentioned. Good news for Austin overall, but Austin's Colony is a long way from being the next Westlake Hills.

Join us for an "open forum" style meeting. Let's discuss the current market situation, crowdsource answers to your questions, analyze deals you're considering, share recent lessons learned, we can even talk about the recent tax appraisals if you've dared to look at yours yet.

I'll share a quick update and then we'll open it up to anything topical you want to discuss. Feel free to drop questions or topics below or send me an email.

Look forward to seeing you there!

Poem

RSVP here or find us on MeetUp.

This is probably what is commonly known as "Section 8" or the "Housing Choice Voucher". And yes, the government pays the bulk of the rent while the tenant pays a (usually very minor) portion. And yes, the local government program that operates the program pays no matter what. There are certain criteria to get a house to qualify but in general they amount to "don't be a slum lord"; windows that open, electrical outlets that operate, appliances that operate (dishwashers are optional depending on your state/region), etc. I have houses in this program and work with clients who do as well; technically a client convinced me to go this route in the first place. The rent is usually much higher than it would be in the private market because they are comparing based on size, not age and finishes.

Trial by Flamethrower: A Real Estate Investor Newbie's Nightmare

Tim Wang is a budding real estate investor whose first property was the worst experience of his life. Through all the stress and failures he learned several valuable lessons not only about real estate but about life. By sharing his story, he hopes to impart the lessons he learned onto you and teach others how to handle failure.

Join us at 6:45 for a social time beforehand. Adult beverages optional.

There will be plenty of time after Tim's talk to visit with him and ask him questions.

RSVP here or find us on MeetUp