All Forum Posts by: Aaron Gordy

Please give credible sources...good grief.

Sam Zell worked as an attorney for one day, I believe. He went out on his own and made billions doing real estate hitting home runs, so to speak. If you don't have time then hit some easy singles by by buying solid long term single family residentials. 

@Daniel Tisdale Just playing devils advocate here. What if the city of Austin figures out a way to control the STR business? This is a big risk. Keep in mind that many of the bigger hotel players had a major position in controlling that business from airbnb types as it directly hits their pocketbooks. This is a big risk, imo.

In regards to building, do you have any experience building in the city of Austin? The city is notorious for dragging its feet and getting permits approved. Once approved they are notorious for causing construction delays with the inspection process. 

Since you are considering a hard money loan be very very cautious and do your math not once but 7 times for good luck, to be certain. If you have experience then  you don't even need to go with hml. There are local banks wanting that business that have much better terms than those folks. I am getting terms from local banks that are half of the hml. 

I have used hml many times in past projects and will never use them again. I have seen some hml try to charge 5 pts origination....dude that outrageous no matter how you gauge it. But apparently some folks fall for it since they are still in business the last time I checked. Egregious!  The main lesson learned is that hml can kill your deal and sometimes, if you haven't done your due diligence, you will find that you did all that work to fatten the hml folks instead of your pockets. Fyi. 

Measure twice, cut once. 
 

Protest your property taxes. Its really easy to do. Folks act like they can't or shouldn't or whatever. Its super easy. The investors that I know in Austin do it. If you don't then that is on you. Shop around on your insurance too. You would be surprised what an insurance agent will do to keep your business.  

Get your financing in order. Financing mobile home parks are difficult. There are many more growth sectors than energy. Texas is big. We have many economic drivers besides energy.  

@Neil Lubell What year was it that you bought a duplex for 228,235$ in Austin via the mls?  just did a quick search for duplexes that have sold in Austin for the last 2 years and I didn't see it. I am a curious type of fellow so I searched. That seems like an amazing deal. 

@Joel Ho Yeah one can beat the Travis county appraisal district. Its their appraisal process that dooms them. I am not sure if you follow Texas legislation but a major piece of legislation has just passed regarding property taxes which applies to investment properties too. https://www.texastribune.org/2023/07/24/texas-abbott-propert...

It probably helps that Dade Phelan, the Texas Speaker of the House of Representatives owns legacy commercial real estate  and also does development in Beaumont Texas. 

Its not the first time that the city has lost in court for over reaching. I suspect that they will find other ways to intrude into this space at the surface level. They aren't enforcing any of it so its just political posturing, imo.  

I will second my pal @Campbell Key, Zeeshan is amazing!!

Another thing to consider is the value of the land. If its seller financing then you won't have the bank double checking the values of the collateral. I would suggest getting an appraisal as part of the deal and make sure that the survey is spot on. It seems that after 10% down, you will be facing 12 % annual interest on the balance. Surely, you can get cheaper financing on the land than 12%. Check around to be sure so that you have a firm financing strategy after 24 months.  Also check with the lender on the construction side/land loan. Sounds like an interesting deal but definitely cross your t's and dot your i's. Another question is why isn't the developer developing the land himself/herself? Are there issues? Is he/she strapped and need to get out from under this obligation? 

@Krishnae Balachandran What is your experience and expertise prior to taking the real estate coursework? That is the most important thing. Most brokers including myself will not take on an inexperienced agent unless there is some sorta value by bringing that person on. Consider the broker's standpoint. If the broker has to spend a great deal of time schooling the agent then it will take away from his/her own normal day to day business. But in the event that you bring something to the table then most brokers will consider it. For example, if your background is in construction managing large scale projects then you have my attention.