All Forum Posts by: Seth Teel

Call 210-816-3922 with any questions or if interested!

@Ryan Harthan  This may be a good one for you to chime in on.  

@Hector Lozano I am willing to bet I can guess who you had a conversation with.  Did he also tell you where his leads come from?  I don't mean the tax delinquents list, etc.  There are missing pieces to the puzzle; they're called legwork and consistency. Someone is doing the legwork to get those leads and they are being consistent about doing it, even if with a well put together CRM, you need to put in the work consistently.  

Direct mail works the same way.  Be consistent, put in the legwork following up with the leads, continuing your drip campaign, and keep putting in more market dollars every month, and I am sure you will find this to be a lucrative strategy.   

@Cate Mee - On the residential side the cost of new construction up significantly.  Lumber is up 30%+, flatwork/cement are up over 20% and this was before Hurricane Harvey.  For a commercial project add the cost of steel (which is up as well), the cost of a fire suppression system, then factoring the Hurricane Harvey bump; development costs are already up and will continue to rise significantly.  Additionally, with the City adopting the IBC 2015 and inspectors becoming increasingly difficult to work with, we've labor costs go up and soft cost on the design & engineering side go up as well.   

We recently had a single family infill project bid by several contractors and were blown away at the prices.  We are likely going to GC the project ourselves, just to make the numbers work.  Best of luck to you, but until we see a market correction, the weather calming down, and the price of commodities drop development costs are going to be high. I am having a hard time resigning to this myself.

@Aaron Lay and your niche is born.

@Adam London  there is a San Antonio AirBnB Facebook Group.  Reach out on FB and I will add you. It's a great resource.

Welcome back. Which title company do you work for?

@Dannielle Hoffman

The Habitat ReStore has pretty decent quality cabinets at a great price.  Plywood boxes, solid wood fronts, with soft close.  

As for the other folks you need, I'd be happy to some contacts with you, unfortunately BP rules won't allow me to post phone numbers here, so send me a PM and hook you up with some decent vendors. 

@Miles Stanley

First, here's a link to a San Antonio Crime Map.  You can actually dial it in by address:  http://news4sanantonio.com/news/crime-map

The areas you are asking about are not  war zones, and are not generally "high crime" areas.  Is there more crime than a suburban neighborhood on the Northside, yes.  But what do you expect?  

On the Eastside of I-37 you have the Pecan Valley, Fairlawn, & Highland Hills neighborhoods. Pecan Valley/Fairlawn tops out just over $180K in the last 6 months, with solid comps in $160K range. Rents comps on the MLS are showing a max of $1000/month for a rental in this area, but I suspect this is inaccurate. In this area most of the landlords will rent their homes off a sign, craiglist, or facebook. I am willing to be you could get up to $1400/month on a nice sized well-renovated 3/2 in Pecan Valley/Fairlawn.

The values are not quite is high in Highland Hills, but it's a solid working class neighborhood with does still approach that $160K mark in home sales (last 180 days). Again, rent comps on MLS are showing up to $1000/month, and again I suspect this a little lower than what you can actually get.

On the Westside of I-37 you have the Hotwells neighborhood. Not quite as glamorous as it's neighbors to the East, but still a solid area. Your market tops out at $147K for the last 180 days, but that was an outlier. A more realistic ARV for this are is below $130K. Rents range fro $700 - $1000/month depending on number of beds/baths and whether or not its SFD, Duplex, or Apartment building.

I have had several clients invest in these neighborhoods and be successful.  Most were held the properties as rental or sold them via owner finance.  I have had a couple clients flip properties in Pecan Valley/ Fairlawn.  Since you say you're looking for buy & hold rentals, I think this can be a lucrative area for you.  That being said, tenant screening is paramount to eliminating many of the potential headaches.  There is also the "Ladyfriend Test;"  Would you send your wife or ladyfriend to pick up rent check at a property in this area at night?  If the answer is no, then move on.  Of course, if you have a property manager this could be a moot point.  

Good luck!

@Mike Krieg  I think this is a good speculative area.  I have sold a couple rentals and owner-finance type deals to clients in this area.  I would be weary of overpaying, the area doesn't warrant it yet, but I do believe it is on the rise.  No matter what your strategy, I'd pick a house with good bones, good curb appeal, and buy it "right priced." Do this and even if this pocket doesn't explode like some of the areas around it, you'll still have a solid investment.