All Forum Posts by: Joe Funari

@Phillip Burrow I would recommend that you attend local REI Club meetings. Great, and inexpensive,way to network with other experienced investors and to learn our craft. One I recommend is DFW REI Club. https://www.dfwreiclub.com/ They have in person (or virtual meetings). Another is West DFW REI Group. https://www.westdfwreigroup.co... These are the two REI clubs that are good here in Tarrant County. But there are others here int the Metorplex if your willing to drive. Hope this helps. 

@Angel Hernandez I would strongly recommend against buying a burned house for your first rehab. First reason is regardless of your exit strategy (how you make your money on the deal) you have to disclose "previous fires" on the sellers disclosure. Unless you completely demolish the home, as well as, remove the foundation. So you risk making less money on the transaction. Especially if your exit strategy is a flip. Second, I always encourage first time investors to start with a property that needs only cosmetic work to be rent or sell ready. Cosmetic updates such as new paint, flooring, appliances,etc. I always advocate to new investors you learn to walk before you run. So learn from countless other investor mistakes and stick with cosmetic first. Once you get a handful of rehabs under your belt then by all means go after fire damaged homes. By then you will understand the potential risks/pitfalls and how to avoid them. 

@Michael Connolly recommend you work with a local insurance broker that specializes in landlord policies, as well as, builder risk and loss of rents riders too. If you ask about these two riders you know your dealing with a legitimate broker. But not all brokers work in all states. @Mark Roland is who I  use and recommend to all my clients. He is licensed in TX, OK, and CO. Hope this hpels you in your search.

@Shea Spinelli I personally avoid them for rentals for the simple reason it doubles my landlord insurance policy having a pool. Plus, you have to handle all the maintenance. Heaven forbid you try and rely on the tenant to manage it. I  own a pool at my primary residence and I have learned over the years to maintain a pool takes a lot of money. So I always advocate to my clients to purchase rentals that don't have pools. I would recommend you sell that property and purchase another one that doesn't have a pool. 

@Zac Bowden when running rent comps here in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area you look at plus or minus 300 square feet to get "comprable" rentals. You don't look at age for rentals. But making sure that the comps you pull have similar finishes, updates, appliances, etc. But also make sure you are comparing the same number of bedrooms, bathrooms, and garage spaces too. A good rule of thumb is get 6 total comps and pull the average rents. You should be able to lease quickly based on these averages.

Also, Texas is a non disclosure state. So rent and sales data isn't public info. So third party sites, such as rentometer, you need to take with a grain of salt. Also, you need a good understanding of statistics to remove the outliers when looking at rent data on that site. Its amazing the pricing swings you get. Your best bet is to work with an investor friendly realtor that can pull comps. Or a property management company. They will be able to pull accurate rent or sold comps too.

@Michael Cox Out of state investing is not that complicated. As Michael Cross mentioned in his great reply is identifying the right core. I would take it a step further by starting with the real estate agent. You can search the NETWORK section of BP to find investor friendly realtors in the market your interested in. Make sure the one you select has experience with working with out of state investors. Majority of my business are out of state investors. I do video walk-throughs on properties for my clients. Also, my team of contractors I recommend to my clients as well. No sense in reinventing the wheel when it comes to contractors, lenders, and insurance agents. Those I recommend have done work on my flips and rentals, as well as, many of my clients. So I can count on their quality of work, and investor friendly pricing. I take the approach that my team becomes your team. I want you to succeed so that you buy more rentals. Its a simple, straight forward approach. 

@Uri E. Take a look at the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. One of the top relocation destinations for corporate offices, strong job market, low cost of living, and extremely high occupancy rates for long term rentals (92% to 97% depending on the city), and landlord friendly laws too. But I would focus on single family versus multifamily. Unless of course your paying cash and willing to get aggressive too. This market isn't know for having a lot of multifamily availability. What does go on the market receives a lot, and I mean a lot, of offers. But you need to be patient and submit a lot of offers. And it helps to have an investor friendly realtor that is patient too. I am very patient. 

@Palani (Pono) Wright It depends on the state your looking in. Not all insurance agents work in all states either. But here on BP you can request landlord insurance recommendations for specific market. But here in the Dallas/Ft. Worth market a good rule of thumb for new investors I recommend annual landlord insurance at $1200 per year. Again, this is a general rule when calculating a deal. But once you get a property under contract an good insurance carrier can get you a firm quote pretty quick. 

@Christopher G. Texas is a non-disclosure state. Which means sales data on real estate is not disclosed to the public. Thus, third party sites such as Zillow and Deal Machine IMO is not as reliable. But full disclosure I have never used deal machine. The reason is I am a realtor and have access to MLS and can get accurate comps. Thus, I recommend you find an investor friendly realtor to work with to help you pull accurate sold and rent comps. Good place to start is look in the Network section of BP to search investor friendly realtors in your area. Any good investor friendly realtor is also a fellow investor. Thus, they will glad to help you run comps if you bring them wholesale deals. Just thinking outside the box here. But I am always looking to network with wholesalers here in Dallas/Ft. Worth area for this reason. Hope this helps.

@Nathan Gesner Interesting read from WSJ. I agree with you though. Here in Texas, similar to Wyoming, laws generally favor the landlord and evictions are the kiss of death to a tenant. Which is why eviction rates for most PM's here is 1% on average. But there are laws in certain municipalities, city of Dallas comes to mind, where the city code inspectors have to inspect the property to ensure its habitable. If not, they won't issue the occupancy certificate. Which is needed in order for the tenant to place the utilities in their name. Thus, landlords are motivated to address any issues from the inspection in order to get the occupancy certificate. If your managing your property it usually is not an issue. IMO, its an additional revenue stream for these cities as landlords have to pay an annual "registration" fee of approximately $200 each year too.

Also, Texas is a right to work state. Thus, laws here don't favor labor unions. Which I feel all that tenant unions are. But it doesn't mean that unions don't exist here. But you typically see them in the auto plants and other skills trades we investors deal with. In my corporate America days I worked in a unionized shop with teamsters. But it was fairly laid back environment compared to what I experienced living in Detroit for a few years. There unions are very strong.