All Forum Posts by: Sarah Davis

@Ryan Kelly this code change was adopted on October 27, but doesn't go into effect until Nov 2023. You can see the minutes from council here: 

Environmental Code Updates | AustinTexas.gov

@Matthew Rolf is asking the right questions though. Just because it hasn't flooded before doesn't mean it can't. A couple things though...

1) Houston is updating their floodmaps right now, with the revised rainfall risk (Atlas 14 that @Eliott Elias mentioned) it is expected to increase the number of homes in the FEMA mapped floodplain.

2) The 500-year is misleading, it means that in any given year there's a 0.2% chance that it will flood, but this is all based off of past data, it does not consider climate change. (For the 100-year floodplain it would be a 1% chance in any given year or 30% chance throughout the life of a 30-year mortgage.)

HOWEVER, if it hasn't flooded before, and it's in Houston I would say it would not be unreasonable to re-sell in the future. It is a risk, and every risk can be mitigated with $$$. 

One thing I would urge you to do is have flood insurance, even though it's not required.

@Aaron Gordy Multifamily is only 60%, so not a substantial difference. I'm a water resource engineer for my W2, so I tend to balk at increasing impervious cover blindly... However, there is definitely a need for more housing in Austin and an overhaul of the LDC. 

@Jordan Moorhead I don't think the website is updated but this is the email I received from the City below


"The City of Austin's Watershed Protection Department has been working on environmental code updates to Austin’s Land Development Code over the summer and fall. The code updates introduce critically important initiatives that will help Austin maintain its high standards of water quality resource protection, including increased use of Green Stormwater Infrastructure and expanded protections for wetlands on Lady Bird Lake.

The Planning Commission conducted a public hearing on October 11. The Austin City Council conducted a public hearing and adopted the new code on October 27. An amendment related to water quality controls will go into effect on November 1, 2023, unless Watershed Protection brings forward other recommendations before then."

Hi Vid, no the licenses are not transferable between owners. The sale would trigger the property out of this exception. 

Austin, Texas has re-vamped their Land Development Code to ease up on requirements for the redevelopment of single-family lots to multifamily units (up to 11). See the change here under the "Missing Middle" section: 

Environmental Code Updates: Details | AustinTexas.gov

www.cnbc.com/amp/2021/08/17/fe...

@Todd Goedeke that's a little difficult at the moment to quantify since I live on the other side, but if I split everything down the middle. I've got about $8k into that side (including purchase and getting it rent ready) and it cash flows $300 after piti, utilities, maintenance, vacancy, and CAPEX. So ROI of 45%. I self-manage so would be lower with PM included.

Hi @Joe S., Yes I did. I actually furnished it with most of my own furnishings since my partner and I began sharing the other side and we had duplicates. I think I ended up spending an additional $1k on various maintenance/hardware/bed/misc to finish it out. I did not do a lot of the ~decorating~ that you sometimes see in Airbnbs. Just kept it simple.

I don't see this discussed here a lot, so I figured I'd share my experience. 

Using an FHA loan, I recently acquired a duplex (2/1, 850 sqft on each side) in 78745 in south Austin to house hack. The FHA prevents me from doing short-term rental (less than 30 days) which was my original plan for the other unit. Instead, I pivoted to medium-term (30-90 days) furnished rentals. I signed my first tenant within a week of posting for $2350/month for 3 months (utilities included). I had several inquires and found them using Furnished Finder. If I had done true long-term unfurnished rental, the rent would have likely been ~$1400/month and true STR would probably have been around $3500-$4000 (bummer I can't do it, but it is what it is).

Doing this medium-term rental took this property from not cash-flowing to cash-flowing by a lot.

I think this strategy is great for Austin as they crackdown on STR in residential areas.

There is a higher turnover, but from what I've experienced so far, you get much higher quality tenants as they're usually traveling nurses or, in my case, someone moving to Austin for a tech job, and needs a place to stay while they purchase a home.

Anyone else in Austin have experiences with this?