All Forum Posts by: Courtney King

@Kusum Chanrai I'd love to help you explore the Dallas Market. LIke @Account Closed, please expand on your goals and I'm happy to help.

@Stephanie Medellin hit it on the head! While I agree that the "stable" government paid cash-flow is a positive there are a lot of drawbacks. My company's policy is to NOT accept any section 8 tenants unless they are already in the property when we acquire it. In our experience, they don't usually take care of the properties and can often times generate more work needed on the property if they are "hard" on the house. Obviously there are exceptions, but they are far and few between. 

If you decide to accept Section 8 your application screen has to be ON POINT! Also, if you acquire a property with section 8 you may want to do more frequent inspections (maybe quarterly? or at least 2 times in addition to the annual required inspection).

@Joshel BrownI don't know much about the service but you could also partner with other agents/brokers that are in the communities that you need access to. This may save you a little money and help you build a positive relationship with someone familiar with a particular market.

@Luke Stone In my experience, Dallas County Appraisal Districts (and surrounding counties) values are not at all accurate and are usually lower than the actual market value. I don't think the purchase price itself is automatically posted at the county level and I know for a fact their data doesn't quite follow the MLS data. Just to be safe you may want to estimate between 2.5-2.8% tax rate based on the purchase price (this would be very conservative). I haven't purchased any multifamily properties, however, on the single family homes that I have purchased over the years there I have not seen a huge jump in taxes beyond my 2.5% estimate. Yeah the homestead exemptions would fall off but it would be a normal increase and value and rate according to what the county approved. I hope this makes sense. I also think it's a good idea to check with a local attorney (sorry I don't have one that I trust enough to refer you to).

This sounds like a potentially awesome project! I don't have much knowledge of up but it would be a good idea to partner with a local developer that has some experience with projects like that. Proper Due diligence is a MUST!!

@Steven C. Suarez I am SO sorry to hear this. There are lots of great comments and ideas on this thread!

It's tough as we're in winter now and we're also at a price point where the pool of eligible buyers is smaller. If he can withstand holding it and being patient during until it sells that's great, however, I'm thinking it may be wise to lower the price to get this off his books. It may be worth breaking even if he can just get from under it. 

In the alternative, it may be worthwhile to market it as an executive rental; short term (until spring) or a year and a few months to put the vacancy at a time that would be easier to sell. I have a few furnished and unfurnished executive rentals that I manage and have worked with numerous relocation companies to help fill those vacancies. A few tenants that I have had were displaced due to house fires or other reasons at which point I was able to get my clients above-normal rental rates due to a short lease term. Generally these folks are homeowners that were displaced so we have gotten some good quality tenants and the Relo company pays us directly. 

Finally, I don't hear many investors say this but on flips, I try to stay at an ARV around or below the $300K mark as it's a lot easier to sell since the pool of qualified buyers is a lot larger at that price point.

If I can help, let me know! I wish you and your friend the best! I know it will work out.

@Michael Le Those are some great questions! You hit it on the head.

@Gaston Barua For sure you want to have some clear WRITTEN goals for your investment. Goals for cash flow as well as goals for future portfolio growth.

When setting goals I don't usually place all my focus on FMV but rather focus on the overall cash flow as well as total rehab costs, current occupancy rate, growth patterns in particular locations in DFW as well as general ROI. Bigger Pockets has some good deal analyzer tools.

As you probably have already learned it's a numbers game. DFW is very competitive right now so you may have to submit MANY offers before one is accepted; don't get discouraged, it's part of the game.

You also want to make sure you have a good team in place that is aggressive with placing offers (i.e., making offers as soon as the properties are listed), familiar with the market/locations to advise on area growth, rental rates, etc., and proper management and maintenance/rehab team in place that can help you once you're under contract and once you close.

Finally, PLEASE PLEASE remember to stick to your goals. Sometimes it's easy to feel pressure to make offers to that don't align with your plan or your goals just to get the deal. I've been seeing lots of investors overpay for properties. I sometimes feel this pressure to as I'm making offers on SFH's.

Reach out to me if I can help!

@Tamara Batsell I agree with @Daria B. with the 1%, however in some investment situations (wholesale and cash deals that often want more than 1%). Good luck with negotiations!

@Francesco Barbati It's best that you have one criteria for all and stick to that so that you don't get in trouble with any fair housing laws. I will private message you a link to the criteria we use. It may also be a good idea to check with a local management company in your market as they may also be able to provide information