All Forum Posts by: Joseph Henry

I typically use online listings to estimate what rent I could charge for a property. However, online listings seldomly reveal how old the listing is, whether the price has changed since its original posting, or when the listing closes. Some of this data is present in the MLS, but this only covers rentals that were handled by an agent (plus I have to go through my own agent to view this data and can't access the data on demand).

Are there public/paid databases that collect this information (either for free or for a fee)? Specifically, I'm interested in:
- Address
- Sqft
- Bed/bath count
- Listing rent
- Closing rent
- Time on the market
- Lot size
- Listing date
- Closing date

Again, I'm aware all of this information is on the MLS. But I'd like to run my own analyses on-demand and not have to go through an agent each time. Plus, I would like to include rentals that weren't listed by an agent. I didn't see other threads that addressed this question, but apologies if this has already been answered elsewhere.

Thanks in advance!

I am looking at a SFH in a market close to where I live. The listing agent told me that "some of the piers in the foundation don't have footings". The house is about 1400 square feet and ~100 years old.

I understand the basics of how a pier foundation works and can guess at the consequences of this, but I'm unsure if this is closer to the "needs work" or "complete deal-breaker" category. I would get all of this inspected by a professional if I go under contract, but I would prefer to avoid the option/inspector fees if this is an obviously bad design from the get-go.

I realize this isn't a ton of information, but I can't really learn more until I make an offer. Can anyone with construction/rehab experience give their two cents?

Rebuttal from Jamie Lane, embedded in this article (the actual Tweet is inaccessible right now because Twitter is down): https://www.newsweek.com/airbn...

Some interesting blog posts from Nick Gerli at Reventure Consulting:
https://www.reventure.app/blog...
https://www.reventure.app/blog...

TLDR: STRs are struggling and STR listings vastly outnumber properties for sale (especially in central TX). Many landlords of failed STRs will decide to sell, which could crash housing prices and rental rates.

How accurate do CenTex investors think this prediction is?

Hello! I am a novice investor living in the Austin area. My goal is to purchase my first rental property this year, although likely not in Austin. I've done the bulk of my real estate research with a friend, who has a similar timeline. Although we've learned a ton from books, online forums, podcasts, and YouTube videos, nothing can compete against a face-to-face conversation with an experienced investor. We've been lucky enough to have a few investors chat with us over coffee, and we've gained more from these conversations than hours of individual research.

Are there any Austin (or Central Texas) investors here who would be willing to share their stories in exchange for a coffee/lunch/beer on us?

For folks that are investing in Bryan/College Station, what is a typical rent for 2, 3, and 4 bedroom SFH? And has anyone had luck renting by the room?

Quote from @Aaron Gordy:

@Joseph Henry The days of just randomly picking out a property on the mls and picking a winner are in the past. There are deals to be had but one has to be creative and very selective. An investment deal isn't necessarily a duplex or a house either. There are other types of product to choose from that might make more sense if the yields from day 1 isn't interesting to you. 

Can you give some examples of creative deals or other products I might choose from? I don't necessarily need to see yields day 1, but I also can't hold onto a property that is actively losing money for years in hopes of winning on the resale.

@Joe Scaparra What was your down payment if you don't mind me asking? Or was it an all-cash deal?

New investor here, have never owned real estate before. I live in Austin, TX. Has anyone invested here in the past four months? I've been looking for deals for over a month now and cannot find anything. I did not think Austin would be a fantastic investor's market in 2023 and primarily chose it because I live here and know the area well (i.e., to learn). However, multifamilies are regularly selling for 150-200x more than the highest monthly rents in the neighborhood, even multifamilies in absolutely horrendous condition. I visited a duplex that literally had rats living in one side, and the seller wanted almost $500K (in a neighborhood that seldomly rents more than $2500 for a similarly sized unit). Single-families aren't looking much better; I imagine I could still find an affordable property that appreciates well over the next 10 years, but I'd like to build up my portfolio faster than one property per decade. 

I've concluded that Austin in 2023 is not the time and place to get into real estate investing. I plan on moving to middle TN in a year or so, which looks more promising. But I would love to be proven wrong and have an investment property under my belt before I head back. Has anyone found any deals here (or in the surrounding areas) recently?