Hello from a new investor in Dallas!
Hello Dallas forum members!
Having been a long-time reader but first-time poster, I'm writing to introduce myself: I'm Justin, and I live in the medical district area of Dallas near Uptown. I came across BiggerPockets as one of the first resources I encountered when I became interested in real estate investing, starting off with the BP podcast (I've marathoned ~60 episodes in two weeks) and the site itself.
I am new to real estate investing, and I'm excited (though also a fair bit intimidated) to get started. I thought I'd reach out to the community to get more involved and seek out local members of the BP community. I've done a fair bit of research over the past few weeks, reading books such as What Every Real Estate Investor Needs to Know About Cash Flow, The ABCs of Real Estate Investing, and Investing in Duplexes, Triplexes & Quads.
As I'm starting out, I'm interested in investing in single family residences and 2-4 unit multifamily for a long-term buy-and-hold strategy. I have an initial goal of attaining $3,000 per month ($36k annually) in income derived from real estate investments in order to supplement my full-time job.
To kickstart this post, I thought I'd ask some questions to the community that I've been pondering over the course of my real estate education:
- First, market timing: I have the sense that the Dallas market has been on the upswing for the past several years, accelerating even more rapidly since the announcement of several major companies (including Toyota) moving to Plano. I'm concerned I'm jumping in at a time when values are high and getting higher; at the same time, I don't want to wait too long to get started in real estate investing. Do you all have thoughts on whether (or to what extent) I should be concerned about buying which the market is hot?
- A quick question on entity structure and insurance: As I'm planning on investing in multiple properties over the long-term, I'm considering forming a series LLC in Texas, which has several benefits in terms of administrative cost reduction (relative to having an LLC per property). My question is whether (or at what point) should I consider having umbrella insurance? Are there any rules of thumb governing this decision?
- Areas to consider: For those who are familiar with the Dallas market, would you consider Plano/Allen/Frisco to be essentially tapped out? I've spoken with several local real estate folks who have said the demand is now stretching as far as McKinney and Denton. What areas might you recommend I start looking for deals?
- I've also cross-posted this introduction to the New Member Introduction forum, so please don't be surprised if you see this there as well. For us Dallas-area forum members, please say hi! I'm excited to meet others who share an interest and passion in real estate.
A big thanks to everyone who took the time to read this wall of text, and I look forward to hearing everyone's thoughts.