Moving from CA to TX , Pivoting career, First time investor
Accountant · San Francisco · Member since 2025 · 9 posts · 6 votes
Moving from CA to TX , Pivoting career, First time investor
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Andrew PostellPro Member
Lender · Fort Worth, TX · Member since 2016 · 8k+ posts · 6k+ votes@Mikai Stewart thanks for the post! I also moved here from another state (New York) for real estate purposes. I was only supposed to be here for 1 year...but now it's 12 years later! This is a good place to live (although, I do miss the water). Now, I can't tell if you are moving here to WORK FOR that private lender or not but I will say that investing here doesn't require you to live here. So, if you have OTHER personal needs that are being satisfied by moving here - then go for it.
Likewise, where you should ask your questions to might also depend on the question above. Meaning, if you are going to work for that company...they need to be answering your questions. If you just want general information on investing in multi-family properties there are several resources I can recommend.
First, let's post this same question in the multi-family forum. That way, other multi-family people can see it.
Next let's research Lifestyle's Unlimited. They are probably the most well known place for multi-family investors to go and use their money. Keep in mind, membership there is about $20k. And that's pretty normal in the multi-family space - for an organization to teach you about this element of investing: expect $20k for the fee.
For the free stuff, let's try some local real estate meetup groups. Meetup.com is a good resource for those but some of the groups will also post here on Bigger Pockets Marketplace too. Those groups are good for networking in person with other investors. For meeting virtually, facebook might have some good local groups for you. Some of those facebook groups have thousands and thousands of members. The priority is consistent recommendations from active investors. Oh, eventbrite too. But post locally for this. That’s the best bet.
9 Replies
- Specialist · Member since 2025 · 483 posts · 270 votes9mo
Mikai, love the courage to pivot and the accounting/PM background is a real edge. Two quick tips: pick a narrow DFW buy box for small multifamily so your underwriting reps translate to real offers, and start meeting PMs and lenders now—use their rent/expense reality to calibrate your models and build your team before you move.
What role do you want first—acquisitions or asset management—and which DFW submarket are you leaning toward so we can shape that buy box?
- Accountant · San Francisco · Member since 2025 · 9 posts · 6 votes9mo
Hi Elealeh, thanks so much for the reply and encouragement. I think asset management would be a better fit for me right now, but I feel I'd gain more practical knowledge through acquisitions (I would navigate them ethically, given my interest in the market). In all honesty, I'm having a tough time deciding.
When ready, I am aiming for distressed situations in Plano, McKinney, or Frisco, depending on where I relocate to.
- 9moAndrew PostellPro MemberLender · Fort Worth, TX · Member since 2016 · 8k+ posts · 6k+ votes
@Mikai Stewart thanks for the post! I also moved here from another state (New York) for real estate purposes. I was only supposed to be here for 1 year...but now it's 12 years later! This is a good place to live (although, I do miss the water). Now, I can't tell if you are moving here to WORK FOR that private lender or not but I will say that investing here doesn't require you to live here. So, if you have OTHER personal needs that are being satisfied by moving here - then go for it.
Likewise, where you should ask your questions to might also depend on the question above. Meaning, if you are going to work for that company...they need to be answering your questions. If you just want general information on investing in multi-family properties there are several resources I can recommend.
First, let's post this same question in the multi-family forum. That way, other multi-family people can see it.
Next let's research Lifestyle's Unlimited. They are probably the most well known place for multi-family investors to go and use their money. Keep in mind, membership there is about $20k. And that's pretty normal in the multi-family space - for an organization to teach you about this element of investing: expect $20k for the fee.
For the free stuff, let's try some local real estate meetup groups. Meetup.com is a good resource for those but some of the groups will also post here on Bigger Pockets Marketplace too. Those groups are good for networking in person with other investors. For meeting virtually, facebook might have some good local groups for you. Some of those facebook groups have thousands and thousands of members. The priority is consistent recommendations from active investors. Oh, eventbrite too. But post locally for this. That’s the best bet.
- Accountant · San Francisco · Member since 2025 · 9 posts · 6 votes9mo
@Andrew Postell thanks for the thoughtful response, Andrew! It's great to hear you also moved from out of state and found happiness in FW. Apologies for the lack of clarity. Essentially, I am aiming to get a 9-5 in the multifamily space and in the evenings researching/analyzing deals on my own and bouncing my findings off my mentor/lender, but not working for them directly. I am moving for some personal reasons, but primarily to learn more about the submarkets we want to invest in. I figure moving my backyard at this stage in my life isn't too difficult, so I'll take the leap.
Thanks for the advice on the post visibility! I'll cross-post to the MF forum. I appreciate your resource recommendations as well. I will look into them.
- Real Estate Broker · Coppell, TX · Member since 2011 · 5k+ posts · 4k+ votes9mo
@Mikai Stewart Welcome to Texas and to DFW. We seem to be MF central. If I remember correctly more aparments were built here in DFW in 2023 and 2024 than anyplace else in the country. If that is not a true statement, we should be pretty close to that. All that activity for the most part winds down this year. Now we just need to fill them all up, and take all the spillover to what was here already and then get some rent increaes.
Plenty of big players here...and small ones too.
MF investor meetup groups are pretty active here and there are plenty of people like Brad Sumrok doing trainings for a very effective price if you want to drink education from a fire hydrant.
MF covers a whole lot of different things....some things to watch out for here are old buildings with central boilers for hot water, central AC coolers, flat roofs, AC units on the top of 3 story buildings or higher, corroded sewer pipes. All those can kill your cash flow quickly with LONG recovery times. KNOW your submarkets well. What can look like great deals can actually be very tough deals depending on what tenants it atracts. Some areas cater to mostly illegal immigrants...like the who complex, so get a good ICE raid and you could lose 1/2 your tenants overnight with no one to replace them. All kinds of fun stuff like that here...but maybe everywhere too.
Good luck and best wishes.- Accountant · San Francisco · Member since 2025 · 9 posts · 6 votes9mo
Quote from @Bruce Lynn:
@Mikai Stewart Welcome to Texas and to DFW. We seem to be MF central. If I remember correctly more aparments were built here in DFW in 2023 and 2024 than anyplace else in the country. If that is not a true statement, we should be pretty close to that. All that activity for the most part winds down this year. Now we just need to fill them all up, and take all the spillover to what was here already and then get some rent increaes.
Plenty of big players here...and small ones too.
MF investor meetup groups are pretty active here and there are plenty of people like Brad Sumrok doing trainings for a very effective price if you want to drink education from a fire hydrant.
MF covers a whole lot of different things....some things to watch out for here are old buildings with central boilers for hot water, central AC coolers, flat roofs, AC units on the top of 3 story buildings or higher, corroded sewer pipes. All those can kill your cash flow quickly with LONG recovery times. KNOW your submarkets well. What can look like great deals can actually be very tough deals depending on what tenants it atracts. Some areas cater to mostly illegal immigrants...like the who complex, so get a good ICE raid and you could lose 1/2 your tenants overnight with no one to replace them. All kinds of fun stuff like that here...but maybe everywhere too.
Good luck and best wishes.Thanks Bruce!! These kinds of local insights are exactly what I was hoping for with this post. Really appreciate you taking the time to respond. I have similar sentiments about DFW and MF.
That's a great note to make about knowing your tenants. You're right it can be easy to get lost in the spreadsheets, but I'll be mindful of the bigger picture when evaluating a good deal. Appreciate the practical knowledge.
- Real Estate Broker · DFW · Member since 2015 · 350 posts · 270 votes9mo
Welcome! I actually pivoted into real estate full time 5 years ago from Accounting/CPA land. Now i own a real estate company, have sold over 135m, own a rental portfolio, and do private money lending, and have hit financial independence. Its a great market to be in! Shoot me a DM if you'd like to connect
- 9moDiego AlvaradoBusiness MemberReal Estate Agent · Flower Mound, TX · Member since 2016 · 297 posts · 139 votes
Welcome to the group, Mikai! Making the leap from the Bay Area to DFW is a massive step, but honestly, if you are pivoting to multifamily, you really couldn't have picked a better landing spot. The growth in the MF space down here has been incredible to watch over the last few years.
Since you’re currently in the education phase, I’d highly recommend hitting the local meetups as soon as you get boots on the ground (or even virtually beforehand). DFW has a very active community with plenty of solid groups that are the best places to start building relationships for those acquisition or asset management roles. Your commercial accounting background will be a huge asset when talking to operators. I’d love to connect and trade notes whenever you have questions about the area. Best of luck with the move!
Alvarado Realty Group520 Reviews - 8moBasit SiddiqiBusiness MemberAccountant · New York, NY · Member since 2015 · 8k+ posts · 3k+ votes
Do you want to move from the Bay Area to Dallas / Fort Worth?
Do you want to change careers from Accounting to real estate / asset management?
How is the lender involved in this - Will he be your business partner?
What role will you do as they all seem vastly different - Multifamily Operations, Acquisitions or asset management?
Why can't you do some of it wihle you are in the Bay Area to test it out(whether you like it or not) before jumping in 100%
Basit Siddiqi CPA4.979 Reviews
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