If you are competing against new inventory then you will have to take that into account when you are selling but the appreciation has been very strong in Austin especially since there is ~135 people moving here a day and growth is not slowing down for our economy.

I started out going for the major big units commercial but after talking it over with agents and lenders I decided to start slow with duplexes tri-pleixes up to 4 units One reason this will be my 2nd deal and interests rates are really low you might want to keep it that way for the next 30 years but on commercial you generally have to do some different things by the 10th year usually a balloon or refi and it's harder to sell a large building and in the future you might just need a little cash so couple of small buildings I think would be easier but thats just my thoughts on it that's how I came to terms with it good luck tell your wife yes it's all scary but at least she has you in her corner everyone here is telling me I was crazy to invest with tenants but I did great let's hope I prove them wrong again investing out of state good luck

If at any point the property owner pays off the overdue property taxes before the lien expires (period may vary by state), the county is the party that earns the interest.Properties that are owner-occupied (as indicated by a homestead exemption showing up on the annual tax bills) or have a mortgage are most likely to be bid on because they have a higher likelihood of being paid off either by the homeowner or the mortgagee (the lender); the homeowner probably doesn't want to lose his/her place of residence and the lender probably doesn't want to lose its investment.If no one has bid on a lien, there are likely issue(s) with the property that, in the eyes of bidders with investor mindsets, render the property valueless, for example:the property has no direct access (landlocked or waterlocked),the property is too small to be built on as-of-right per the municipality's zoning codes,the property is contaminated (a Phase I environmental report would scour records on the property to see if contamination is likely, and if so, a Phase II environmental report would be done and soil, etc. samples would be taken to confirm the contamination),the market fundamentals indicate little probability for profit given the level of risk, such as high vacancy rates, low rents, or slow sale/rental velocity,the property is in a "poor" location due to many of the types of things that turn off people looking for a home in which to live, such as high crime; poor or nonexistent infrastructure, such a streets, water & sewer, etc.; too rural/too urban; neighboring uses detrimental to the property's value, e.g. railroad, warehousing/industrial district, jail/prison, cemetery, etc.I hope that helps!

This would be my first home purchase with a plan for a slow renovation of the space.  

The overall market slowed, a few builder neighborhoods by smaller builders got abandoned for a bit (leaving the residents with no garbage pickup or street lights in some cases unfortunately with no builder funding for HOA). 

Hey Matt,My own view is that suburban B neighborhoods will see the most selling pressure and possibly a slow motion train wreck over the next decade as boomers die.

Its a bad habit that I'm slowing getting out of. 

You can convert back to a family if the student market gets slow.

It seems like this is going to slow me down quite a bit, which is pretty depressing, but people have it way worse than me so I have to be thankful that only lost my truck

I have done it slow and methodical with calculated risks.