Hi everyone,

I am new to real estate investing and I currently live and work in Austin, TX as a software consultant. I've been looking to purchase my first BRRR property for the past few months with a goal to build a real estate portfolio that will allow me to retire at an early age. If you're familiar with the real estate market in Austin, then you'll know that the price to rent ratio makes cash flow very difficult here. Thus, I've been looking to purchase my first property in San Antonio and I would greatly appreciate any tips on what areas to consider or anything that would make my search easier.

Thanks in advance! I'm excited to join the community!

@Shaheen Badiyan Welcome to BP! I usually am giving advice in the marketing forums so if I can be of any service feel free to contact me.

Hi Shaheen, and welcome! I'm also an Austin-based investor, a little ahead of you with two houses, one of which is in San Antonio.

My big piece of advice is to start analyzing deals using a tool like DealCheck. Start by watching the MLS for houses that look interesting, and set up alerts so these come to your mailbox every day. When you find one you like, run the numbers in DealCheck. Only takes a few minutes per house; it's fun and you'll learn a lot. And once you've analyzed like 100 houses, you'll find that something you thought was a smokin' deal on Day 1 wasn't so great after all, and your eye will be much better in picking stuff that may actually work.

Next step, I think, is to drill down deeper on houses that you're truly interested in. Get an actual insurance quote; look up the actual taxes on the Bexar CAD site; get pre-qualified with a lender so you know your loan cost; talk to some property managers. Put some rigor into your reno estimates.

I'd hold off on looping in an agent until you've done all the above, as they're not making a ton selling under-market reno candidate houses, so you want to be respectful of their time by not asking for a lot before you're prepared to pull the trigger in earnest.

Good luck, and hope this helps!

@Shaheen Badiyan Welcome.  I'm also from Austin, former San Antonio resident, also looking for properties in San Antonio & the I-35 corridor.  SA has lots of pockets of interest, for different reasons and in different stages of improvement and growth.  I strongly recommend spending as much time as you can afford, physically present in the neighborhoods you're considering.  I'm looking in Denver Heights & Lavaca at the moment.  

@Shaheen Badiyan Welcome to BiggerPockets! Truly nice to meet you. Good luck going forwar in San Antonio!! 😁 Hope the best for you!!

@Scott White and @Travis Lucy thanks so much for the tips! It's really helpful. I've never heard of DealCheck but it looks very useful!

@Shaheen Badiyan welcome to BP! I work with New Western Acquisitions here in San Antonio, so I see about 60 houses each month. In my experience, these downtown areas (such as the ones @Travis Lucy mentioned - Denver Heights, Lavaca, Highland Park, etc.) are where the money is - so long as you are comfortable with rehabbing older homes that may need a good bit of work. Another thing to remember is that we are Military City, USA - the areas near the bases are great for rentals as well, i.e. Lackland Terrace in the southwest and the Universal City area near Randolph Air Force Base. Feel free to reach out if you have any more questions!

@William Clark thank you!

@Shaheen Badiyan

Welcome. I’m like Scott White, still at the beginning of the journey, but with a couple of properties under my belt. Reach out if I can be a resource.

Best,

Ben

Welcome!  I live and work in Austin as well, but have also chosen to invest elsewhere for better cash flow. 
I have found cash-flowing properties in Lubbock and eventually plan to buy properties along the I-35 corridor as well.  The City of Austin demographer, Ryan Robinson, has produced and publicly shares a lot of interesting data based on census information that outlines all the areas (and demographics) of projected population growth in Austin, esp South Austin all the way to San Antonio over the next 10 years. I'd recommend looking the info on the City of Austin website - its very informative. :) 

Following this thread: i just moved to San Antonio myself and am at the very beginning of my investing ventures; lots of good gouge from this thread! Does anyone attend any specific meet up / groups for investors?

@Gustavo Rodriguez Alamo REIA puts on good events, SAREIA is good, Victor Maas puts on quite a few events that are attended by lots of folks at all levels of experience. My broker at New Western has started hosting our REI on Tap events more regularly now (about once a month) and we always have a good turnout there as well. I recommend going to as many as possible while you're first starting out to figure out which setting/crowd you like the most. Some events are more educational (Victor will often spend a good amount of time standing at the front with a mic asking and answering questions) but provide less opportunity to network, while others like REI on Tap are more relaxed and open for everyone to move around and talk freely among each other. If you have any specific questions that you feel you need answered before you can confidently start investing, feel free to give me a shout and I'd be happy to answer them to the best of my ability!

Originally posted by @Gustavo Rodriguez :

Following this thread: i just moved to San Antonio myself and am at the very beginning of my investing ventures; lots of good gouge from this thread! Does anyone attend any specific meet up / groups for investors?

My favorite is hosted by Rick Pozos on the second Wednesday of every month at the Mama Margie's on I-10. It's very laid-back and has lots of time for networking with other investors.