All Forum Posts by: David Ivy

@Taylor J.

I've been very happy with ProSource up on Rutland Dr. in North Austin. You need to have an account with them. If one of your contractors has an account there, that also works. If you'd like the name of my guy at ProSource, just send me a PM.

@Andrew Allen

Welcome to BP! I'd be very interested to hear your perspective as both an Army vet. and Austin area investor on Killeen/Ft. Hood, military tenants, and "military towns" in general. I'm in Austin, but I added a fourplex in Killeen to my portfolio early last year. I felt like I understood the economy and rental market there well enough to know that I wouldn't lose my shirt. The numbers on the property were also fantastic. However, I'm still very much learning the intricacies of renting and managing a property in a military town.

I'm happy to buy you lunch sometime soon! Feel free to give me a call or email.

@Jacob Pereira

I absolutely do not advise clients as to which areas have good schools and low crime rates. That's illegal. When clients ask questions about quality of schools, local demographics, and neighborhood safety, I refer them to reliable third-party public information sources rather than give my own judgment or opinion. For schools, I point them to school district websites or places like greatschools.org. For crime, I suggest checking out the local law enforcement websites or places like spotcrime.com.

Check out some articles here, here, and here.

I know this might seem counterintuitive, since almost everyone uses this kind of information when deciding on what property to purchase, but as far as I know and have been trained, this is the recommended best practice for any real estate professional in light of the Fair Housing Act and the prohibition against "steering."

This is basically the heart of my question. I don't know enough about the Fair Housing Act to know if this is right. I guess my concern is that, even if it's a public non-specific source, it's still provided by a licensed real estate professional. Maybe this is just my broker's legal department being overly cautious, but that's what's been drilled into my head. This is a pretty interesting issue.

I'd definitely be interested in participating in the Austin project if it just focuses on things like cap rate and 1% rule. 

@Account Closed

Thanks for the reply! The Fair Housing Act, as I understand it, applies even if the real estate professional is providing the household income or crime information without any intention to steer a prospective buyer toward or away from any particular area. We simply cannot legally provide the information. We can only suggest other resources with that information, right?

Best of luck with the project. I'll definitely be interested to see the Austin report!

@Account Closed

It looks like an interesting project. However, I balked when I noticed that the "Neighborhood Grades" are at least partly based upon household income (e.g., "wealthiest people" and "middle class") and crime (e.g., "high" and "warzone"). A major upshot of the Fair Housing Act is to prevent real estate professionals from steering buyers toward or away from certain areas or neighborhoods on the basis of such factors. If I understand the law and my training correctly, I cannot discuss or directly provide any information on economic class, such as white collar, blue collar, or high unemployment, with prospective buyers, even if those buyers are investors or otherwise specifically ask for that information. This also applies to local crime statistics, even if my data comes from another source. All I can do, in light of the Fair Housing Act, is point clients to some public resources to aid them in researching it themselves.

Am I wrong here? Or does this not apply to my participation in a project like this? Thanks!

@Eric Barnett

I moved property into my series LLC several years ago with (what I recall to be) minimal cost. However, I've only moved property owned free and clear. I'm happy to refer you to my series LLC attorney in Austin. Just send me a PM.

I use a local commercial insurance broker to insure property held in my series LLC. However, my brother in law is with Liberty Mutual and recently told me that they'll now write standard landlord or homeowner policies on residential property held in an LLC. I haven't looked into that personally, though. If you want to chat with him, or with my commercial insurance guy, let me know.

@Christopher Thompson

The overall Austin market is in an extreme seller's market with around 2.5 months of inventory. However, the story can be different depending on home price. Take a look at this (source):

Here it is broken down by Zip Code (source):

The Austin overall market began tilting toward an extreme seller's market in 2012 and has been holding there ever since (source):

As far as areas to consider, it's hard to say without knowing your price range. There are lots of great areas and neighborhoods at a number of price points, as others have already mentioned on the thread. I would recommend not discounting suburbs, especially Cedar Park, if you're in the market for single family.

Feel free to reach out with anything you need!

@Caroling Lee

Thanks for thinking of me! I'm happy to discuss what you're looking for and see if we're a good fit. I'll send you a PM.

I'm a full-time Realtor in Austin with a heavy investor client focus, though I also work with traditional clients (about a 60/40 split). So, I have a good grip on the market from both perspectives. I've also been actively investing in the Austin area for the past five years.

I'm happy to see if we're a good fit. I'll send you a PM.