All Forum Posts by: Sherri Herzig

welcome to BP and to Austin.  I work with a mortgage broker that I really like and Prosperity Bank has been our preferred local lender so far.  They may be a good choice for you to build a relationship with. 

Thanks everyone.

We are definitely interested in meetups/networking in 2016 and I appreciate your recommendations.

As to buy and hold in Austin - our focus is on building equity rather than generating cash or current income. In central Austin, rents are strong enough to cover 15 year mortgage payments plus tax and insurance. Based on 20% down, and extremely conservative appreciation forecasts, initial returns start around 30% and increase every year.

Depending on the market conditions, we would refinance each property after 3-5 years and use proceeds to purchase additional properties - creating a multiplier effect on returns.

We plan to move slowly into rehabs in 2016, but would convert to rental rather than flip to avoid ordinary income tax.

My husband and I live in Austin and we purchased our first rental property in 2014.  Since then, we have purchased 3 more rental properties.  We 'didn't know what we didn't know' when we purchased our first property, but fortunately it's worked out so far.

 A lot of our time is now focused on educating ourselves. I found BP quite by accident while I was researching something.  In the last few months, we've learned a lot from the site and have read quite a few of the recommended books. 

My career has been in management consulting in the oil and gas industry.  My husband has been in B2B sales and sales management for most of his career, and now owns a landscape company which our oldest son will eventually take over. 

Our goal is to move full-time into real estate over the next year or so. In addition to our own deals, we will be co-investing with a small group of folks that I've worked with for many years and have partnered with on other investments.

Had I known years ago what I know now, I would have invested in real estate much earlier.

Sherri