The article also fails to mention that overall transaction costs can actually be higher in countries where commissions are lower because the agent plays a different role, and due to needing to pay a lawyer for paperwork that agents complete here as part of their job (called a solicitor in Britain) plus VAT taxes and other closing costs need to factored in on top of the sales commissions, which we don't have here, overall costs can actually be higher even if commissions are lower. 

Great job James, cheers!

Long term, the Austin market will do just fine with strong population and job growth.

My own personal experience is that a huge stressor has been lifted since I've stopped spending hours looking for and analyzing deals and my index funds/stocks are doing well (just hope it doesn't decline in value when retire from my W2 job). 

I like the idea of diversification of my investments and I love the strategy BAM has articulated: the focus on properties with below market rents in growing areas with jobs and good schools. 

You have to be an active manager and many current owners are not wanting a second job and are selling.

I left my job earlier this month with the intent of retiring -- not so sure how that's working out as now I'm interviewing as I feel like I'm not being productive (this is an entirely different beast).  

Also, focus on 2 years of job/income stability.Class D Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, all cashflow with little, maybe even negative, relative rent & value appreciationVacancy Est: 20%+ should be used to cover nonpayment, evictions & damages.Tenant Pool: majority will have FICO scores under 560 (almost 30% probability of default), little to no good tradelines, lots of collections & chargeoffs, recent evictions.

Thus, I have worked 2 jobs (1  is self employment) for 7 years to fund purchasing a few single family homes locally. 20k is not enough to purchase IMO, that should be your savings AFTER your purchase.

The city is rapidly growing in terms of population and job market with so many major companies choosing to move and develop here like Intel, Google, Amazon, etc.