All Forum Posts by: John T.

Does anyone know any friendly customers service reps or other employees at SAWS who can help with my situation.

I closed on a duplex late yesterday. Seller shut off water today (Friday), and I just found out from tenant tonight there is no water. After hours. Monday is labor day and apparently I can't get water turned on until Tuesday! My tenant will go without water for four days! FML

There must be some friendly employee out there who can set up the new account and get water turned back on. I called emergency and they said they can't turn it on since there is no account on the home.

Anyother ideas? Please help

Cashflow, always for me. That said, I have not yet sold a rental property so I have not experienced the high of getting a fat check at closing. But that feeling in the last three days of the month when next months rent starts rolling in ... Does not get old.

Thanks @Kristina Modares. Just curious, which service did you use for background checks?

@Keith Kaufman and @Antoine Martel, as Keith alluded to, I'm not using a property manager because this is a family operation with boots on the ground and financing. We are learning this together, and it's worked out really great so far with other property (we inherited tenants so this is our first time having to get our own). 

Hi all,

I have a 3/2 SFH and will soon be looking for my first tenant. I am remote and will have family look after the house (not a property management company).

In terms of paying someone to find a tenant, it seems I have two options:

1) A real estate agent (the one who helped me buy the place)

2) A tenant locator service (apartmentsnow)

What's the best way to go about this?  Up here in NYC, I just put it on Craigslist and within hours have dozens of people emailing me (which is great!). Not the case down in SA. 

Thanks for your help!

John

@Seth Teel -- thank you!  This home is west of Lackland Terrace, near Mary Burns Elementary.  Hope that side can command a bit more!

@Thomas S.

@Thomas S. -- that is a true statement.  In this case, returns pass my test if I can hit $1250+, given the purchase price.

I just went under contract on a house just north of Lackland but feeling buyers remorse ... nervous about the rental market in this area. 

Could I reasonably get $1.3k for a 3/2, 1400sqft, generally nice house? If you need any more details, happy to share. I just don't want to publish the address here.

Thanks @Jason Hirko and @Ian R.! This is good to hear.  I'm going to expand my search in this direction.  This will open up a ton of new stuff that I've been ignoring.  

Also I had not really paid much attention west of 1604, so thanks for pointing out those two areas Ian.

I'm based in NYC with some family in San Antonio. I recently closed on a SFH near Leon Valley and on my visit met up with a couple real estate agents who are gearing me toward Northwest. It looks like a wonderful place to live or have high quality tenants. But buy-and-hold opportunity seems limited; low cap rates and deals closing above asking. I'm drawn to southwest near Lackland.

What's been your experience in this area?

Ok, now that you mention the work turnkey I guess that's what I'm really comparing -- TK vs BRR.  I didn't want to say TK because that usually implies buying from one of these TK companies.  

Your strategy makes perfect sense given your real estate agent background and local market.  My local market is NYC, which forces me to look out of state (Texas mainly for family reasons). 

Your point on large downpayments is spot on. I'll keep reading up on TK vs BRR since I'm sure this topic has been discussed extensively on forums already. Thanks for redirecting my brain there...

For buy-and-holders out there -- you've likely decided to focus either on:

• finding awesome deals, rehabbing and renting
   -- vs --
• finding properties that are pretty much move-in ready or (my favorite) already occupied with good tenants.

How did you make this decision?  What factors played a role for you?  Especially if you're a remote investor.

Numbers-wise, I know I can get better returns with BRR (buy/rehab/rent).  But in terms of peace of mind as a busy out of state person, I lean more toward the move-in ready investments.  I want some arguments to help me either feel better about my choice, or seriously reconsider my strategy.