All Forum Posts by: Will R.

If you have record of the attempted deposit refund, you should be ok. Texas is generally landlord friendly. If you did nothing wrong, let HUD investigate.

Crazies are a matter of statistics. You will get one eventually. If you are not sure if you broke the law, contact an attorney. Whatever you do, remember that you have more to lose than your tenant and your tenant knows it. Try not to get emotional. If you cannot do that, you should be using a property manager. 

People are the worst part of landlording. 

I would get an estimate for the total repair or replacement from a good installer. Then I would quickly start a conversation with the tenant. Let them know you are within your rights to charge this amount but you would prefer not to. Go into the conversation with a number in mind that you will be happy with. Do not accept less. You are in the position of power here and they did you wrong (not the reverse). 

1% rule duplexes. 

@Gary F.

If you want a good reason to make a move, try value add. Buy a place that needs some love. In a high rent area, you should be able to create your own appreciation immediately. I do not think I would ever incur the transaction costs of switching residence unless there were immediate upside on the new place. 7-10% disappears in agent fees, loan fees, moving expenses, surveys, insurance, etc. 

I personally like that price is not tied to value. I can pay one price and change the use or product slightly and create a lot of value.  It is very hard to reposition my particular stock against someone else's. I guess with gold you could make jewelry...

@Jon Klaus

 What kind of discount do you think you got? I'm sure saved at least the $4k worth of letters but how much more? I know this is going to be a guess but I often wonder if it would be worth the effort in a market like Austin. 

I agree with @Fred Heller. Your taxes and sales price are a much bigger concern than insurance. On a long hold I think you are safe in any big city in Texas. Given that, you should probably concentrate on the area you know. If you use PM it will be easier to work with a single PM. 

I'll second that @Scott Sutherland has the most experience and knowledge in Austin. 

There is certainly no way to cover your costs with a standard lease in Travis Heights. So, it is good that you are being creative. Depending on how much effort you want to put in, you can also make money on the mid term rentals of a month or two. They take much less effort. 

I think this depends on the kind of investor you want to be. Practice makes perfect. So, I would say start with your long term plan. If you want to be totally hands off, try to start that way with a PM. If you do not want to be constrained to one city, start by buying in another area. If you start by doing this you will quickly learn the pitfalls and how to deal with them. 

I personally buy local because I am fairly hands on. However, it all depends on what your strategy is. 

Investing in Austin means that you have to be creative and make your own deals. You can cashflow if you do the rehab. I focus on central Austin which is exponentially harder to cash flow in. I have a lot of unorthodoxed deal types of opportunities I monitor to see if I can put a deal together.