All Forum Posts by: Israa A.

Thank you all for your detailed replies! I appreciate your input and experience. I will update you all once my decision is made :) 

Hey BP community!

I’m in transition and I’m considering moving to San Antonio TX or Baltimore MD to start my real estate investing part-time. Both markets have their pros and cons and I’m hoping to get some advice from local investors to help me decide the best market for me.

For context, my goal is to buy-and-hold small multifamily units and want to cashflow a minimum of $250/door. I would like to start with house hacking my first property and BRRRR 1-2 properties/year until I reach financial independence from pure cashflow, maybe in 10 years. Since I plan to hold my properties forever, I need to have a very long-term forecast. I have 60k saved, good credit and have a decent salary as an engineer.

San Antonio Pros: Population growth, unemployment below national average, landlord friendly laws.

San Antonio Cons: Flooding, very competitive, I imagine the window for cash flowing properties is closing, high property taxes, water security issues in the next decade or two.

Baltimore pros: Deals are easier to find, I’m more familiar with the area and have friends there, slightly lower price point than San Antonio.

Baltimore cons: Population decline, unemployment higher than the national average, tenant friendly laws, very long eviction process, older homes, safety concerns in some neighborhood.

Please feel free to correct me on my assumptions and add any pros and cons I might have missed. I’m also open to hearing suggestions about other markets. What would you do if you were me?

Thank you, that’s an excellent point! It then comes down to reaching out enough buyers until I find the a property that works for me. Plus with how uncertain market is and will be in the upcoming months, this might motivate sellers more. I look forward to your virtual meeting in October! 

Sorry for the late reply! Thanks for giving me an outlook on current market and good advice about having all my ducks in a row. I haven’t connected with off market deal providers yet. As soon as I move to the area I’ll connect with local investors and get to know the different neighborhoods. Happy investing! 

I agree, it's extremely hard to find deals on the MLS. Thank you for the advice about making offers with the numbers that work for me and ignoring the list price. Something I imagine would be a challenge in a hot market like San Antonio but ultimately, it's a numbers game.

I do plan on driving for dollars when I move there to look for distressed properties as a first step. Maybe try to find out which properties are late on their taxes, network with successful wholesalers who leave enough meat on the bone and possibly send marketing letters. 

Maybe the answer to my post is, it depends on how hard you're willing to work to find deals. I would still love to hear from local investors about their success with ROI and cash flow just to get a clearer idea about the market.

Good point Johnny, the ROI on a highly leveraged property would be excellent. My long term goal is to BRRRR enough buy-and-holds to replace my W2 income by time and a half. Meaning, once I move out and refinance to a 80%-75% LTV, I would need to still cash flow. Luckily, San Antonio has been seeing a healthy rent increase in the last 5 years and if that trend continues that could turn and ok deal into a good deal with a little patience. I'm wondering what ROIs and cash flow other San Antonio investors are seeing.

What have you heard about the areas being tricky? I'll definitely keep you in the loop. Thank you and best of luck to you too!