All Forum Posts by: Andrew Herrig

@Devin Haertling Relationships are everything in this business. Take care of your realtor. Take care of the seller's realtor. If you can't or don't want to pay the 6%, make the seller pay it or don't do the deal.

@Milind Shastri Best way to get them under contract is to overpay.

But seriously, there are relatively few 2-4 units properties in DFW, and it is very rare that you will find one that cash flows. I have a duplex in Richardson, but I bought it in 2013. If you bought it today, it would cost a least twice what I paid.

If you're set on finding a small multifamily, keep doing what you're doing. Be ready to jump on a deal the same day it hits the market. Or get a list of your target properties and start marketing to them so that when they are ready to sell they think of you first.

@Raymond Guillotte What is your goal with your first purchase? House hack? Straight investment?

@Jhansi B. I feel your pain. I'm in a similar situation trying to manage 8 rentals with a full time job and young kids at home. I also hate the idea of handing them over to a property manager, because I hate not being in control (I know, I'm working on it...)

At the end of the day, I will either have to outsource the property management or sell them off. I can't scale any further if nothing changes. I like the idea of passively investing in syndications, but again that makes the control freak in me nervous.

TLDR - The only way to continue to grow is to give up control, even though it will hurt in the short term.

@Jason Griffith As an anecdote, a friend of mine lives in Uptown. He moved into a brand new Class A apartment a couple years ago at $1500 per month rent. Construction was recently finished on another Class A apartment across the street from him. When he went to renew his lease they tried to tell him he was getting a deal by only raising his rent by $20, while at the same time they are offering new leases for the exact same floorplan at $1250.

So there is definitely some price compression at the high end of the market.

@Omar Cantu I think we're all beating a dead horse at this point, but I want to address a few specific statements from your original post.

You said it feels almost impossible to get started in real estate investing. It is not impossible. It is difficult. If it were easy everyone would own real estate and be millionaires. You have to be willing to sacrifice something to make RE investing work. As mentioned, the easiest would be to sell the truck. But if you don't want to do that, fine. Get a second job. Work for free for another investor to learn the ropes. Knock on every door in your target neighborhood until you find someone that will sell you their house with owner financing.

What is your goal? What action have you taken toward that goal? You mention not having the capital is what is currently stopping you. Lots of people have suggested ways to build capital, or even ways to buy real estate without needing capital.

This will sound harsh, but until you take it to heart you will not be successful in real estate. Real estate investing is simple and accessible to almost anyone. If you think it is impossible, you are not yet willing to make the sacrifices it takes to be successful.

AND THAT'S OK! Everyone has different priorities. Own them and live your life within that construct. If you find that incompatible with major life goals, you need to rearrange your priorities.

@Jason Griffith I would be interested to see that data by price point instead of for the market as a whole. My theory is that Class A apartments have been overbuilt with more supply continuing to come online, which is driving competition and thus price cuts. I have not heard of any softening in the Class B/C rental prices, but that is just my own experience.

On the sales side, anything listed at median price or below has multiple offers within 24 hours. I think (again anecdotally from my experience) the price cuts are coming on higher end properties where things seem to finally be starting to level off.

@Marc Henderson There are some good meetups (not seminars or pitch fests) in the Dallas area with regular investors sharing what they do. I go to one in Richardson organized by @Dana Chun. I'd encourage you to check it out or look around for other BP meetups in the area.

Welcome @Calvin Brown! There are lots of big MF players in the Dallas area to learn from.

@Bret Blackburn Congrats on the new rental! Takes a lot of patience and determination to find anything on the MLS in DFW these days. I've got a handful of rentals mostly in East Dallas, last one I bought off the MLS was in 2014.