All Forum Posts by: Scott Pigman

 Any 'burbs in particular that you like (or don't)?

@Raymond B.

FYI, The @ thing only works on some platforms/configurations. For example, it doesn't work on my galaxy tablet.

Welcome, Adrian!

There's a weekly meetup 11:30 AM Thursday's at Big Daddy's (183 @ Burnet) that's pretty good. The only cost is your lunch tab. 

This Thursday night is the monthly RENC meeting. I think that's normally $20 but if you register they'll email you coupon to get into at least the first meeting for free. I've only attended 1/2 of one of those so I can't recommend it one way or the other. This month's topic is self directed IRAs.

There are a lot more but those will get you started.

All the best,

Scott

@Jason D. 

If you sell your condo and buy a single family home instead of a duplex, what's your plan then? Live in the house for a year or two and then rent it out after you can buy another house to live in? Or just sit tight in the condo for awhile longer? How long do you have to stay there before you no longer have to pay the city back for leaving? Is it really worth it to buy now in this market and forfeit that money to the city?

Rents are solid, but house prices are at near historic highs and the taxes are huge, so finding something that cash flows is a challenge. I'm seeing that most of the investors are flipping.

You're right about there not being many multi-units in Austin; from what I've seen they're all in the central area. I haven't seen any listed in North Austin, Round Rock, Cedar Park, etc. As I'm sure you know, it's pretty much all suburban housing developments up here (I'm renting in Avery Ranch myself). On top of that, most of them are "weird" -- and not in a fun, quirky "keep Austin weird" way, more like an annoying, "how would I deal with this mess?" way. 

Personally I'm wary of buying something too far away from the center where there's liable to be a lot of development nearby in the next few years. Speaking of which, you might want to ask yourself how long it'll be before all the developers in town overbuild and the market slumps while demand catches up. 

No, I did mean Jerry :-) I was thinking that with him back in Cali and a Cuomo again in NY, and a Clinton running for president (possibly against a Bush) it feels like we're living in a rerun. Or at least a Hollywood reboot.

@Anjana Vakil

The Baltimore area is the most likely choice for me, but I lived there for 10 years, have a property and a property manager there already and have to go back there periodically for work anyways. I'd stay away from the $5,000 row homes though myself.

My next choice would be Southeast Michigan -- i.e. the outlying areas of the Detroit suburbs. Again, I used to live in the area and I'd love to have reason to spend the summers in Ann Arbor when the temperature is Austin is over 100 -- and the Lake Michigan coastline is beautiful place to get away to for the weekend. Check out Sleeping Bear dunes sometime.

Another thought -- @Bryan Hancock (who I can't properly @-mention because we're not bp colleagues) is involved with a crowd funding operation here in Austin that might be worth a look. I don't know much more about it than that but I'm going to check it out.

I've been attending Austin REI meetups for the past month and running numbers on properties and my conclusion is that no one's buying for rental cash flow in Austin right now. All the people I see doing deals are flipping or building or they're buying rentals out of town.

My concern with going into the outlying areas to buy and hold is that you're liable to be buying next to a thousand acres of ranch land that'll be turned into a new development sometime soon.

Personally I'm reevaluating my own strategy -- either I'll try something different here or I'll look for income property in another market. But I love the Austin area and have no regrets for moving here.

I live in Avery Ranch which is technically Austin but it's more of an suburban outpost between Round Rock and Cedar Park. There are some great biking trails nearby, paved and single track. Round Rock has a master plan to expand its trail network from Hutto to Lake Travis. Most of the roads have a bike lane;  you see people riding on them all the time. Also, Williamson county also has a nice habit of building underpasses for the trails when they cross major roads.

Oh, and I have three bicycle shops within a mile of my house.

I just moved to Austin a couple of months ago and have been trying to figure out how to get started as an investor. After crunching sample numbers and paying attention to what others at REI meetups are doing I'd come to the conclusion that buy-and-hold investing for cashflow just wasn't an option in Austin. This news looks another nail in that coffin.

I guess that doesn't bode well for the Nashua mall, does it?

(The mall is right on the border with sales-taxed Massachusetts, for those of you unfamiliar with the area)

At first I thought you meant that Shaheen was back as governor again. I had to go check Google to see what's been up since I lived there. Hey, If Jerry Brown can come back...