All Forum Posts by: Joe Funari

@Debra Grumbach I know of two community banks that will provide conventional financing here in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area regardless of dollar amount. I had secured under contract a home for $54K. ARV was $120K and one of these banks no only lent me the monies but allows me to finance on the same note $20K in repairs. It was a buy-and-hold. These banks work with us investors. Send me a PM and I will connect you with them both.

@John D. Yes, several corporations have moved their corporate offices to the DFW area. Low cost of living. No state income taxes, and unemployment below national average. I am sure there are other reasons too. But those are the main ones.

@John D. There are several public, and non-public data sources I can share with you here in Texas. One great public source is the Texas Real Estate Commision (TREC) works with Texas A&M to pull all the home sales data from every MLS in the state. Tracks it by city, by month, by year. Phenomenal data if you know where to look. Also a great tool I have used to protest property taxes on my rentals each year. There are some other resources we realtors have access to that will make even an engineer go giddy with all the data analysis these reports do for a specific property. Per census data 2500 people are moving to the Dallas/Ft.Worth area each week. Rent occupancies are running at 5% vacancies. In short we can't keep up with demand for quality rentals. This is a good area to invest for many years to come. I would be happy to share more with you. Just send me a PM and lets connect. But DFW area should be one of the areas you invest.

@Justin Vaughan There is a lot of competition for 4 plexs here in the Metroplex. Have you considered house hacking a smaller multi-family? Also, what type of financing are you using?

@Keivan Darius Decide if you want to do traditional rentals or seasonal rentals. You can always do both. Especially with the great beaches there. But @Jonathan Greene Blog was perfect. I lived in "Nor Carolina" for many years. You can't go wrong with investing in the Raleigh area too. 

@Miles Stanley It covers everything you mentioned except for having to replace an entire roof. If you were replacing a roof it would be most likely a result of a hail storm. If that is the case I would file a claim with my insurance provider to have it replaced. Thus, your only paying your deductible. Which is still less expensive than having pay an investor friendly roofer to replace the entire roof.

@Aaron Bernbach I recommend an investor that is a realtor too, that his broker is an investor and owns a PM that specializes in working with investors from SFR to multi-family. I can help, I work in the DFW area and rent occupancy in the area are around 5%. Not much inventory for rentals. Send me a PM and lets connect. I can share more about the DFW area. I agree with @Ritch Bonisa boots on the ground so to speak helps out of state investors immensely.

@James L. I have a great CPA that specializes in Real Estate Investing. Even is an expert on Cost Allocation Studies on rentals to help reduce your taxes. He set up my company here in Texas for a nominal fee. Has been great to work with.

@James L. regarding maintenance on my rentals here in the DFW area i put aside $2K per property per year for maintenance. It was good advice from my mentor that owns a lot more rentals than me. It is a simple cash flow method that has worked well for me over the years. Not all my properties spend that much each year. But good way to have that in reserve for any unexpected expenses. Such as having to replace a roof because of a hail storm. If there are other expenses please let me know. Also, regarding setting up an LLC out of state and working in Texas you would need to submit a foreign corp. application fee of $750. That way you can still work in both states. Here is a link to the state of Texas FAQ, etc.:

https://www.sos.state.tx.us/corp/foreignfaqs.shtml

But if you are planning to buy real estate in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area send me a PM and we can connect and I can share more info with you. I am always willing to help out of state investors. They are my best clients.

@Carrie A. If you have a separate property management company managing your rental I would say no. Save the money and put it in your "maintenance" budget for your rentals. Also, consider if you are buying a property thru MLS it is standard practice to have the seller pay "x" amount towards a home warranty. Have your agent negotiate that number off the sale price. That will help you cash flow a lot more especially if your financing your rentals.