All Forum Posts by: Rory Butler

 You're right. Just seems like if I'm going to sell in Seattle I might as well take it down to Texas with me. 

 I couldn't agree more about the misery of Seattle and the ridiculousness of the real estate market. Somebody asked why I wouldn't keep my properties in Seattle. I bought low and now I want to sell high. Reinvesting those proceeds in TX will buy me much more freedom than I have here in Seattle.

Thanks Kris. I need to look more into multi family. What you said makes sense. I'm just leary that a larger more complex property might overwhelm me if something big goes wrong. That might just be fear of the unknown though.

Not what I said at all. Infact it's nearly backwards. What I said was that higher end properties (newer/bigger) allow you to draw from a pool of more disireable tennents. Also in the scenario I posed, SA would the place more likely to draw disireable tennents rather than Austin.  So that was backwards.

Wow, that's interesting. I was beginning to write Austin off. I figured that, for my money, in order to purchase desirable properties near downtown Austin I would have to purchase one fewer than I could in SA or NB (perhaps 2 houses vs 3).  Single family residences are my comfort zone. While fewer properties could mean less total tax and insurance (although dt Austin has much higher tax than North SA or NB), it still seems like the higher rent advantage of Austin wouldn't be enough to outflow 3 properties vs 2. Not mention vacant periods for a single property would mean a 50% disturbance vs 33%. Even if I could do the same number of properties it seems that I could undoubtedly purchase higher end (newer) properties in SA or NB which could translate into lower maintenance and more desirable tenants...no?

I guess the question is, would you invest in San Marcos over SA, NB, or Austin?  I'd really like to see one come out the winner with respect to our goal of achieving the highest reliable cash flow for a $600-700k investment. It sure would be nice to be able to pick just one from a coordination standpoint. 

Thanks Sharon. My thinking is very much like yours. I'd rather buy newer than keep putting lipstick on a pig. Also psychologically, people can keep things scratch free for the longest time, but once there's one scratch, there'll be more in no time. The value for the dollar seems better in NB (taxes and home prices). One concern I would have is sudden redeployments, but it sounds like it's not to tough for you to get tenets replaced. 

I don't know much about AirBnB but it seems like it would be a bit more unpredictable and we're looking for steady monthly income.

As for "low rent" I didn't mean second rate or anything like that, I was just trying to keep my words short. That's just the knock you here on San Antonio vs  Austin (also remember I'm from Seattle). Given my strong preference for newer properties and potentially lower maintenance cost, it sounds like the 'get more house, but less rent' option (NB or SA vs Austin) would be the way to go.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned San Marcos. With the University, and proximity to Austin, I thought that might be a sweet spot. 

Thank you all for your generous willingness to share. Please keep it coming. It's great when you can get advice from people who aren't trying to sell you things. That's not easy, particularly since we're still in Seattle. 

Thanks for your reply! Never thought Canyon Lake could vai against New Braunfels or San Antonio, but having properties close to home would be convenient. Seems the rental pool for prospective renters would be vastly smaller?

We're moving to Texas! We have a couple of properties in high-priced Seattle that we are cashing out to reinvest in Texas. We'll be home shopping for ourselves in Canyon Lake, and will be looking to invest about $600-700k additional cash in rental properties. Our goal is to maximize long term cash flow. We're trying to team up with a local realtor/management company to make the whole process work.  We've spoken with a few and there are 1 or 2 that we like, and can see working with long term. The problem is that each one only covers a certain area, whether it be high priced Austin, low rent San Antonio, or in between (San Marcos, New Braunfels). So if we pick a company we'll also be picking a location. This isn't really something we want to do piecemeal either because of 1031 concerns. Considering our budget and goals, which of these areas do you think offers the best balance of investment factors such as taxes, home prices, demographics, and economy? Where would you invest $600-700k in order to NET the highest monthly return? This forum is the best place that I could think of to get unbiased and expert opinions. Thanks so much!