All Forum Posts by: Robert Eyers

Some good feedback from the others here. Couple things to add.

"all things being equal, a single story is better" I agree with that, but usually having 2 USUALLY means you get more square footage. Some tenants prefer not having stairs, others prefer more sq ft. I don't think it really matters much.

Most new builds aren't accepting investor clients. I am aware of at least one community in Elgin that still is, but they are releasing homes fairly slowly... about 6 per week. Message me if you would be interested as I may have some pointers in how to be sure that one of them goes to you.

Biggest thing I have to remind people in our market is to let go of the dream of cash flow! A $400k home will rent between $2k and $2.5k... basically break even with the mortgage. You lose cash flow, but you still get...

- Paydown of the mortgage

- Guaranteed appreciation (almost... barring catastrophy)

- Increased rent next year while the mortgage remains the same

- Tax benefits through depreciation claim

Hey Mike,

Thanks for the colleague request. Happy to help in any way I can.

Killeen/Temple is very appealing to people chasing cash flow. It is going to be far easier to cash flow there than anywhere else in the greater Austin area. However, my opinion is that your Leander property will be a more stable investment which (when combining appreciation and rent increases) will perform better in the long run.

Besides this, you need to consider the mortgage terms. I'm assuming that you bought at a better rate than you could get in today's market, certainly better than tomorrow's (rate hikes inbound). That's before even taking into account that the mortgage in Killeen would be for a rental and the mortgage you currently have is most likely primary. 

Either way, I look forward to hearing how it goes!

Thanks for the shoutout Neil,

Sean, got your note, looking forward to chatting!

Thanks @Neil Narayan, appreciate the shout-out!

Vadi, I just sent you a note

Eric with Hardy Boys is my go to! 

Thanks for the shout-out Neil! 

Austin, just sent you a message, I'd love to connect. 

It could be neighborhood specific, but when I run CMA's I usually see about 3 week vacancy in Leander and 10 day vacancy in RR.

YMMV of course... sometimes a $100 discount can get you 3 applications in a day you never know. 

Hey there Dhaval,

I own a property management business servicing greater Austin. Despite me normally recommending against brand-new properties as investment properties... I have a large number of investors whose style is to only purchase new builds. About 4 months ago I noticed that new builds purchased as investment properties were only occurring in Pflugerville... then in January I noticed we were starting to get calls about new build investment properties in Manor. This is consistent with @Ryan Kelly's comments, I don't think you will be able to find something brand new in Austin unless the plan is to owner-occupy. You can still find new builds outside the city, but they are nearly impossible to cash flow in year 1 unless you are high equity, which drives down your COC.

Leander is very attractive right now based on how far your money goes, but the market is much slower for rentals. Despite how hot the acquisition market is... the rentals are getting much less attention than places like RR. If you price it right though, that can be overcome.

RR is great for rentals right now, but its going to be hard to find something below $260... If it's listed below $260 be prepared for bidding wars or major renovations. 
@Ryan Kelly

@Ryan Kelly knows what's going on. Get to know it before taking the dive. If you crunch the numbers and think "this is too good to be true"... it is. Lots of D Class pretending to be C class. A moderate amount of crime. Lots of bad applicants. We manage properties from San Marcos to Killeen and everywhere in between... the Killeen units are exhausting to manage compared to every other property out there. 

Mine is through BBVA, they did an excellent job and there were no origination fees.