Why Assurely moved its HQ to Austin from NYC

Question

David Carpentier had several reasons why he decided to move in May the headquarters of insurance-technology startup World Trade Labs Inc., which does business as Assurely, to Austin from New York City.

He had visited Austin several times, and noted that the Texas capital is a city where “the innovators are coming to and innovating, where the builders are building.”

He observed the local commercial real estate expansion already underway or being considered by Big Tech heavyweights, such as California-headquartered companies Apple Inc., Google LLC and Tesla Inc.

He recognized the richness of Austin’s “human capital” that could be the source of Assurely’s expanding workforce. Other cities were in the mix: Atlanta, Boston, Denver, Los Angeles. But Austin trumped them all. What he witnessed during his ventures to the Texas capital, combined with the state’s business-friendly environment, was too much to pick any other place for Assurely’s new roots.

https://www.bizjournals.com/au...

Jordan Moorhead · Answer

Great info @Jacob Pereira! We just got a fourplex off Slaughter in the low $500's. Personally I don't want anything "turnkey". In fact I hate that. Turnkey to me is no opportunity to add value. With turnkey you miss out on some of the big levers of wealth building that real estate provides through forced appreciation. Most of the money I've made is through forced appreciation. The cashflow pales in comparison.

Jacob Pereira · Answer

I couldn't agree more, @Jordan Moorhead. If you're looking for turnkey, you're usually better off putting your money directly into the stock market. I exclusively buy properties that need work.

By the way, we never ended up getting that coffee. Some time this coming week?

Jacob Pereira · Answer

@Lien Vuong, My colleagues @Jordan Moorhead and @Neil Narayan touched on it already, but I'll add a bit of detail to their comments. According to the Austin MLS, in the last 365 days the median closing price for a 3-4 unit building was $542,000, and the average was $602,124. That came out to $157.64 and $175.81 respectively. Keep in mind that most of those buildings are far from "turnkey," although of course that depends on what exactly you mean by that phrase.

Lien Vuong · Answer

Since you guys are experienced agent in that market, can you please share what would be a cost of a turn key 3-4 family property in Austin property and what their rental yield would be? Curious on how that matches up to Boston.

Jordan Moorhead · Answer

@Lien Vuong 3-4 units are hard to find and the median price is around $500,000. As @Neil Narayan mentioned median price for SFH is in the mid $300's in the Austin area and rents for a 2 bed stretch from $12-1500 on average for areas in the median price

Bryan Noth · Answer

High praise indeed given the other potential candidate cities mentioned

Lien Vuong · Answer

Thanks for the insight!

Neil Narayan · Answer

Median price is around $355k (of course price varies by location and features) and rents are area dependent but roughly $1 SF

Why Assurely moved its HQ to Austin from NYC

Why Assurely moved its HQ to Austin from NYC

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