All Forum Posts by: David Schmiediche

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) other investment.

Purchase price: $285,000
Cash invested: $33,500

In May 2024, I purchased a duplex in College Station as a house hack. Rents were below market at $750 and $820, while similar units rented for $1,000. I submitted a full-price offer of $295,000 within 48 hours of seeing the listing, and the seller accepted. I raised one tenant’s rent to $1,180, invested $5,000 in renovations while living in the other unit, and found a roommate paying $750. Photos are from before renovations.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Opportunity to purchase a property and live rent free while doing it.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

Active MLS Listing

How did you finance this deal?

Conventional Financing

How did you add value to the deal?

Cosmetic renovations, removed popcorn ceilings, replaced cabinets, replaced counter tops with butcher block, new fixtures, and fully interior painting

What was the outcome?

Current residence allowing me to live rent free.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Doing renovations yourself while living in the place is a huge pain. It would have been better for me to hire this out instead of doing the work myself. Value of time vs the value of money

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) other investment.

Purchase price: $285,000
Cash invested: $33,500

In May 2024, I purchased this duplex as a house hack opportunity located in the heart of College Station. At the time, rents were below market at $750 and $820, while comparable units were renting for around $1,000. Acting quickly, I viewed the property within 24 hours of its listing and submitted a full-price offer of $295,000 within 48 hours. The seller received multiple offers and agreed to accept mine—on the condition that I waive the appraisal contingency.

The biggest concern was the lack of strong comparable sales in the area. The best comp had sold nine months earlier for $285,000 but was in much worse condition. Another similar property was under contract at $290,000 after receiving multiple offers, but it also needed significant work. While the duplex was clearly worth $295,000, there was uncertainty about whether the appraiser would recognize its condition and justify the price. Ultimately, the assigned appraiser was known for being extremely conservative, and the final valuation came in at $285,000, requiring an extra $10,000 out of pocket to close.

After closing, I raised one tenant’s rent from $750 to $1,180, and they chose to stay. While living in the other unit, I invested $5,000 in renovations and later found a roommate paying $750. With these changes, the property now generates $1,930 in rental income while continuing to appreciate in value. Pictures listed are before renovations had taken place.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Opportunity to purchase a property and live rent free while doing it.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

Active MLS Listing

How did you finance this deal?

Conventional Financing

How did you add value to the deal?

Cosmetic renovations, removed popcorn ceilings, replaced cabinets, replaced counter tops with butcher block, new fixtures, and fully interior painting

What was the outcome?

Current residence allowing me to live rent free.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Doing renovations yourself while living in the place is a huge pain. It would have been better for me to hire this out instead of doing the work myself. Value of time vs the value of money

Congratulations Cody! Looks like you are well on your way to becoming a real estate investor! Starting out, I was in the same spot, I had done a ton of research and knew quite a bit going into my first deal. What a lot of people end up doing, and sadly I'm prone to this as well, is they spend way more time learning then they need to in order to get their first deal done. There is an importance of knowing what you are getting into, and from your post, it seems like you know enough to get your first deal. I would encourage you to figure out exactly what is needed to get your first deal and set a goal of when you wish to purchase it by. What needs to happen before you can purchase a property? Do you need help finding the deal? Do you need to know how much the bank will lend you? Do you need to get the money for the down payment? You've figured out a lot through learning, now start figuring out the rest through doing. There always comes a point when the rest of the learning has to come through doing.

Hey Diana!

You're asking the right questions. Initially, I'm thinking you are correct that increasing the occupancy won't affect the nightly rate that much. With that being said, STR is very much market specific. I would recommend seeing what other STR's similar to yours are market as for number of guests. If they have an occupancy of 9, is the nightly rate high enough that it would make sense?

Like mentioned at the beginning, with out knowing your specific market, I'm leaning towards saying leave the occupancy at 7 and keep the neighborhood happy. Having the neighborhood push back on Airbnb's could entirely change your investing strategy. You don't want to risk killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.

@Bryant Xavier helped me fix one of my properties after a mold remediation company left the entire kitchen stripped to the studs. He did great work and was always there to answers questions when needed. I would definitely recommend Bryant and will be using him in the future.

Welcome to Bigger Pockets! Congratulations on starting your business. We have a lack of whole sellers in BCS, so if you can find away to get a consistent flow of off market properties, there is money to be made in it. I'll send you a DM, let's get lunch sometime.

I would shop around prices and go with Option #1 for the cheaper price. I just replaced an AC for a similar property in College Station and had a quote for $8750.09 after inspections were done on the property. I blacked out the price and sent it to two other companies for them to give me a quote (not knowing how much I had already been quoted.) A company came back saying they could do it for $7,850. I had never used this company before, so I went to the original company that priced $8750.09 and asked them to price match. They agreed and did amazing work, like they always do. This saved me $900.09 and allowed me to get the system I wanted. Perhaps you could do the same and get the best of both worlds. Here are some companies to look into.

Advantage Heating and Cooling

BCS Air Solutions

Barkers Cooling

Malek Service Company

As for your question "What metric do you use to determine which investments are good or bad?" It depends on the investor. All my investors have a different criteria. Once you analyze and view multiple properties in an area, you start to see what is typical and what you are looking for. Personally, I look for multifamily in a good area that will cashflow after renovating each unit. Talking with a realtor will help in narrowing down your personal criteria.

@Gregory Schwartz is definitely right with doing new construction in College Station. Using their in house lenders can help substantially with loan terms. 

When talking about if they are good investments, it goes back towards risk tolerance like Greg mentioned. I have a lot of investors who like new build homes because they are built to code, they will fix everything on the inspection report, which typically means it will be a very headache free investment for many years to come. If looking in Bryan or College Station, look into the following neighborhoods. Pleasant Hill, Southern Pointe, Midtown Reserve, or Southern Plantation. These neighborhoods have been intriguing to some of my new construction investors. The reason I don't purchase new construction is that there is no room for value add, and from a pure cashflow perspective, it's harder to make the numbers work.

That's why I started looking more towards multifamily. I just bought a duplexes in College Station for $282,500 that rents out $1,150 per side. After putting in some light renovation in the property ($14,000 total) we are aiming to get $1,400 per unit. On the 1% rule this puts us at 0.94%. That's dangerously close to the 1% rule, and a lot closer you would get to it than if you purchased a new construction. The issue with doing this method is it takes more money up front for the renovations, you are buying older properties which may have more needed capital expenditures, and it takes more time and energy.

Hey Chuk!

It's great to see your enthusiasm and dedication to learning the ropes of real estate. Your willingness to work for free to gain hands-on experience speaks volumes about your commitment and work ethic. When I first started, I remember how valuable it was to get involved in projects, learn from experienced investors, and build a network within the local community.

In the College Station area, there are plenty of opportunities to get your hands dirty and really learn the business from the ground up. I would recommend reaching out to builders in Brazos county and the surrounding counties and offer to work under them free of charge. Your hunger to learn and grow is exactly what will set you apart in this industry.

If you ever need any advice or a point in the right direction, feel free to reach out. Best of luck with your journey—I have no doubt that your hard work will pay off!

Best regards,

David Schmiediche