All Forum Posts by: Jacob Pereira

Thank you for posting this, Neil. An even more relevant statistic is that the Austin MSA went from 1,716,289 to 2,227,083 during the same period (per the Austin Chamber of Comerce). The Austin/Roundrock/Georgetown MSA is now th 29th largest MSA in the country.

@Prasad Katta, my first apartment ever was in Ashburn. I imagine that area has changed drastically since I was there in the early 2000's. I'm interested why you're looking for properties in the Austin suburbs instead of the DC suburbs. Is it simply price and growth, or are there other factors that make this area more attractive to you?

Edit - I just realized you were an out of state investor. In your situation, try to find a place that's within an hour of your current property manager's office, unless you find a truly amazing deal.

@Vikram Jayaram, I'm surprised to see you think there is no more appreciation in North Austin. There's nothing wrong with the areas you mentioned, but personally I'm still seeing a lot of room for both cashflow and appreciation up North. My personal advice would be to cast a wide net around where you live (say maybe an hour drive from your home or so, or more if you're pretty hands-off), and then picking the properties that give you the highest return based on your strategy and circumstance.

Purely appreciation? 45. 24 still has too much empty land to force appreciation in the same way. If you're purely looking at cashflow, though, 24 might be the best area code in Austin at the moment. Of course these are generalizations, and both zip codes have great ways to make money. As always with these kinds of questions, it's complicated.

Yes, I would a agree that Austin is the most expensive metro in Texas; proper data can be misleading, but it never lies. A max budget, after any loans, implies either almost no savings or almost no income, so I'd be surprised. You might be right, though; I'd just never considered it.

@Kristen Hernandez, I haven't read every single comment here, but in the ten or so I read, I didn't see one person mention this major downside; as an agent you can no longer pay a "finder's fee"to someone for a lead, unless they also have a license (at least in Texas; check your local rules). That's the big thing that kept me from getting mine for so long.

@Natalia Orosco, in my market, it's typical for experienced agents, but not so much for newer agents. The biggest benefit is to a seller, rather than to a buyer, because the agreement gives the agent the confidence to spend their own money on your property. On the buyer side, the agent might be a bit more willing to drive across town to video conference you in to a listing or something, but frankly it doesn't make that much of a difference.

As a personal example, on the properties I list for clients I generally put $500-1000 of my own money into it through cleaning, landscaping, marketing, or other things the property needs to secure top dollar. I certainly wouldn't do that without exclusivity.

@Kenneth McKeown, with 200k you could buy 99% of the properties in Austin, provided you still qualified for the loan. Even if the OP chooses to put 20% down (which I wouldn't recommend) that would still come to a million dollars, which goes pretty far in this market.

@Alex G., I am equally skeptical about this claim. If it's true, I'd love to meet him, along with anyone else who wants to give me free money with no risk.