All Forum Posts by: Chris Schorre

Hi everyone, I will be transferring a property from an LLC (I own) into my personal name. Yes, the opposite of what most investors do. There is no note on the property, so no issues with "due on sale" clause. I called the Travis County recording office and they said there is no form or template provided by the County. A quick search online turns up dozens of simple quit claim deed templates. So, my question is whether any Texas investors out there have done this themselves, used a service such as LegalZoom or hired an attorney. Many thanks in advance for the insights.

 Jeremy thanks for the insights.

Hi everyone, I have a project coming up that involves construction of a 1,400 sf addition in Central Austin. Nothing fancy, no special requirements. I am wondering if anyone has a sense for what percentage markup a GC would charge for a project such as this. 15%? 20%? I have worked with a GC before but that billing process was a bit opaque (big surprise). Trying to avoid that this time...

@Jason Grote, @Marian Smith, and @Ryan Kelly - fyi I spoke with Austin Development Services and Tyler Johnson (Plans Examiner) confirmed that an ADU can indeed be built in the front yard if all other setbacks are met.

@Jason Grote thanks for the reply. I have not yet called development services but will do so next week. We do have deed restrictions limiting us to two dwellings. Obviously the City does not enforce deed restrictions but a neighbor could. 

Hi everyone, I own a 12,000 lot in Austin (zoned MF-4) that currently has a single family house on it. The house is situated far enough from the street that adding an ADU in the front yard makes the most sense, both for ease of construction and because we intend to eventually tear down the main house and rebuild behind the ADU. We have plenty of room in front even with the 25 foot front setbacks. I have scoured the Austin LDC regs but cannot find anything that says ADUs cannot be constructed in the front yard. Does anyone have information on this? Many thanks.

You really can't go wrong with MTRs in central Austin. Traveling nurses typically have 3+ month commitments and are often respectful stewards of property. But the MTR market is also great for people who are doing big remodeling projects and need to vacate for several months, or people coming into Austin on short term assignments. 

@Raphael Schwartz I've been investing in Austin since 2008 and as others have mentioned, it's difficult and expensive to build ADUs in Austin. However, City Council - in a desperate bid to do anything to address affordable housing - has indicated that they want to make it easier to place ADUs in back yard without some of the use restrictions that exist now. I mention this because this means that single family properties that don't necessarily have driveway access to the back yard, but have a back yard large enough to support a small ADU, might be a worthwhile long term play as it would significantly boost rental income on the property. Again, there are all sorts of restrictions about impervious cover, setbacks etc and building costs remain high, so you just need to run the numbers on whether that makes sense to buy a property then invest another $300K in an ADU. Plan on at least $250/sf to build an ADU...if you can find a someone to build it... Other than that, Joe is right that you can't go wrong with most pockets East Austin and South Austin.

@Kevin Y. did you have a specific question about zoning? Understanding the Austin zoning code is like trying to decipher hieroglyphics without the benefit of the Rosetta Stone. 

Well this has turned into a full fledged CA vs TX pissing match. CA and TX are both great states with different attributes. No need to keep a scorecard.