New member and potential new investor in Austin, TX

New member and potential new investor in Austin, TX

Austin, TX · Member since 2016 · 5 posts · 2 votes

Hello All,

My wife and I are just starting to look into real estate investing as a means to add additional income sources in our "old age". I'm a fairly successful technology entrepreneur / executive and we've found ourselves empty nesters in our early / mid forties. We absolutely love Austin and we feel like the opportunities in real estate, if done carefully and correctly, could be pretty lucrative (not to mention fun).

We're contemplating downsizing our current home and using a large portion of the profits to start investing. So far we've primarily been toying with the idea of rental properties. We've even discussed purchasing and living in a property that we would then later turn into a rental while we work on figuring out our first steps.

I came across this site researching a "coaching" advertisement and it looked like a great and diverse community. We're really just starting our research and trying to suck in all the information we can but I hope to network and meet some people here that might help us on our way and possibly avoid some simple mistakes!

Thanks!

-Chris Murphy

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Investor · Austin, TX · Member since 2015 · 23 posts · 3 votes
10y

Welcome @Chris Murphy! You have come to the right place to educate yourself. You'll find a wealth of knowledge with investors that range from those that are brand new to the industry, to some of the most successful out there. 

Don't hesitate to ask questions; I think you'll find the community very welcoming. 

Best,

Brad

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  • Investor · Austin, TX · Member since 2015 · 23 posts · 3 votes
    10y

    Welcome @Chris Murphy! You have come to the right place to educate yourself. You'll find a wealth of knowledge with investors that range from those that are brand new to the industry, to some of the most successful out there. 

    Don't hesitate to ask questions; I think you'll find the community very welcoming. 

    Best,

    Brad

  • Austin, TX · Member since 2016 · 5 posts · 2 votes
    10y

    @Brad Denkhaus Thanks for the welcome. Looking forward to getting involved and figuring out a path to get things moving.

    -Chris Murphy

  • Austin, TX · Member since 2015 · 27 posts · 2 votes
    10y

    @Chris Murphy you are on the right track. A lot of people jump into Real Estate investing with little background research and end up losing money. I would encourage you to learn all the different ways that Real Estate can bring profits and decide which one is best for you. After that, I would consult a local agent that specializes in real estate investments to assist you finding and purchasing a property. If an agent specializes in real estate investing, they should thoroughly vet each property they present to you ensuring that it will show positive cash flow in the current and projected conditions. Best of luck. Reach out to me if you have any questions. 

  • Austin, TX · Member since 2016 · 5 posts · 2 votes
    10y

    Thanks for the warm welcome @Tucker Ramsey. I'm definitely looking into the various strategies for getting started and will absolutely seek professional help and advice on the first few deals once I get down to it. There's so much to take in but I'm trying to be pretty maticulous about how we start out. Looking forward to using the community here to hopefully get things right the first time.

    -Chris Murphy

  • Solo 401k Expert · Anaheim Hills, CA · Member since 2012 · 18k+ posts · 6k+ votes
    10y

    @Chris Murphy

    Welcome to the BP family! You came to the right place to learn all about real estate investing! Here are some recommendations for you:

    of real estate and more. Here are a few recommendations for you:

    Find and connect with other BP members that are in your area: http://www.biggerpockets.com/meet

    Set up keyword alerts to be notified of the topics that interest you: http://www.biggerpockets.com/alerts

    Read Beginner’s Guide: http://www.biggerpockets.com/real-estate-investing

    Check out BP Podcasts: http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/category/podcast/

    Wishing you the best!                  

  • Austin, TX · Member since 2016 · 5 posts · 2 votes
    10y

    Thanks @Dmitriy Fomichenko! I'll start reading and participating right away.

    -Chris Murphy  

  • David IvyPro Member
    Real Estate Broker · Austin, TX · Member since 2016 · 353 posts · 699 votes
    10y

    Hello @Chris Murphy! The BP community is one of the best places for new and experienced investors to network and learn. 

    I recommend you and your wife start attending some of the various investor meetups in the Austin area. Here are some great places to start:

    Also, request to join the Investor Underground - Austin group on Facebook. It's private, but all you have to do is ask to join.

    Overall, the Austin area is still a very hot seller's market. Single family housing inventory has been hovering around 2 months. Affordability of housing is a big problem for median income earners, with most of them being pushed to the suburbs and beyond to find quality affordable housing. Rents have lagged home values, quite significantly in some areas. It's difficult to find single family homes in Austin that generate cash flow, unless you're buying cash or putting down a significant down payment. There are opportunities to find immediate cash flow by buying unrentable or severely underperforming single family properties to rehab and hold. However, many of the buy and hold deals I'm seeing investors do this year look like pure speculation to me, where there the deal is nothing more than a bet on the continued upward trajectory of the Austin market. Whether a property can produce positive cash flow in the immediate or near term is a secondary consideration and not considered a deal-breaker. I don't operate that way and don't recommend it to others.

    There's much more I could say. I love talking Austin investing. Feel free to reach out!

  • Austin, TX · Member since 2016 · 5 posts · 2 votes
    10y

    Thanks @David Ivy for the information! I'm reading, compiling the suggestions I'm getting here on BP and generally starting to formulate more of a research plan than a real investment plan yet. I'm excited to get started but I'm pretty risk averse and wanting to learn as much as I can going in. I'll definitely reach out and ask questions of you and the folks here in the near future.

    -Chris Murphy

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