All Forum Posts by: John Barr

Wow! that truly is an inspiring story! I believe that America would be a much different place if more parents would teach their kids about financial IQ. I will be nominating you for parents of the year award @Drew Eldridge

Keep up the awesome job!

@Raluca G.

Welcome to the SA market!

San Antonio is a GREAT rental market! We have a very strong working class which supports the rental market. We have also witnessed a pretty steady increase in rental prices as well as values over the last couple of years.

San Antonio is also an easy city to predict what the market is doing as it historically always follows the other three major markets.

Biggest thing to watch for is we have pockets that are spread out all over the city. Since we have such a great infrastructure system our better cash following rental markets are more out in the suburbs.

If you are looking for a good 10,000-foot view of the city I do a market update for the only national reia sponsored reia in the city. Shoot me a PM and I can send you a link to the youtube video.

If you are looking for a property manager I would check out Larsen property management. They are one of the largest in town and they manage my rentals and do a great job. Brad Larsen is the owner and he is also active on BP.

Best of luck and if you have any questions please feel free to reach out.

@James Marszalek @Kenneth McKeown Welcome the SA market!

San Antonio is a different city as we have a very good highway and infrastructure system which allow people to commute through the city pretty easily. What this has caused is a very wide spread real estate market with pockets spread out everywhere.

There is a shelf in the city at about 250K which you will see a big jump in the months of inventory. Below the 250K is where the vast majority of our strong working class can purchase.

I do a market update every month for one of the local REIA's here and I would be more than happy to share it with you as it perfectly breaks down the city for that 10,000 view you are looking for. I break the city down by zip code and price range for month of inventory so its pretty easy to see where the houses are moving.

If you are new to the area or have someone that is new to the area make sure that you really verify with multiple sources about values and repairs while you are trying to develop relationships here. There are a couple big wholesale companies in the market that are notorious for overinflating and undercutting repairs and are pretty good at "fluffing" the numbers.

Feel free to shoot me a PM if you would like a link to the youtube video or if you have any questions.

Happy Investing!!!

Hello BP Community!

Have a quick question for you.

Has anyone ever had any experience with Homeunion.com?

They seem like they have a pretty good system set up for purchasing SFR properties across the country.

@Matthew Fritz

I agree with all points that you make here in this post. They key is to do your research on the reputation of the turnkey provider. You need to make sure that you do get GREAT property management. Because like you said  that alone can make or break the investment.

I was just in three properties today that we are looking to make offers on and the seller lives in California and the properties are in Texas. She said that all of the properties have been recently painted and new flooring installed. The only problem is that the Property manager neglected to tell her that the foundations were in need of repair in all three of the properties. The seller basically wasted the money for the flooring and paint because we are going to have to redo them if we purcahse the houses. 

@Kenneth McKeown

You have received a lot of good opnions on this thread.

Just keep doing your research and learning. One of the biggest mistakes that a person can make and we see it a lot is that new people getting this business and are very eager to buy. This causes them to bend the rules on the basic fundamentals on REI. Be patient, read, listen, and learn because if you overpay for a property it can very easily turn into a nightmare.

Best of luck!

@Jeff B.

You have a ton of good opinions in response to your question.

As far as my opinion goes for what I see in my market is appreciation is always nice but it can be very volatile in the wrong market (Arizona, Florida in 2008). It is also unrealized until you either refinance the property or sell it so the property can be a real drain on capital if not purchased or managed properly. 

One of my biggest markets for properties is burned out landlords that did not purchase or manage their rental properties correctly and what appreciation the did get was quickly lost dues to deferred maintenance.

I always look at a rental property as I want it to be a self-sustaining investment. Meaning from what cash flow the property produces will cover all expenses of the property. That way if you have a life changing event the property can maintain itself. I also see that rents do not drop nearly as much as what values of homes do.

If you can not find the returns you are looking for I would say start doing your research in other markets and companies that can offer you more of a turnkey or an asset management service.

There are several markets here in the US that provide great returns and with both cash flow and appreciation. Some of the good ones would be Tampa Florida, Atlanta Georgia, and pretty much any city in Texas

@Miles Stanley

I think you need to do some more searching around for a different property management company as well. If I am looking at that right you are figuring a 11% fee for property management?

I am currently getting great management for about 8.3%

What are you figuring into that CapEx rate? I do agree with setting aside a decent amount of cash for repairs, maintenance, and upgrades but 15% seems to be a little excessive.

If you are looking for good deal for listed properties they are out there but you are really just going to have to submit a TON of offers to find them.

Welcome to @Parker Daniel

Like @Rick Pozos mentioned there is a load of information on this platform and it's a great place to ask questions and ask for second opinions.

I also agree with what Rick says in getting out to some of the smaller meetings and start networking with other people. The best Big REIA that you afe going to find right now is going to be the Alamo. There are several other in SA that you can attend but they all are ran by a Guru that is selling education. The Alamo does cost money but it isn't much on a yearly basis and you also get dinner with every meeting and a ton of discounts through the vendors/sponsors.

Hope to meet you out and about in the community!

Everyone has their own path @Joseph Canini .

I left the corporate world in early 2015 with no plan either was that first year rough? Oh yeah! Did I learn a lot about who I was? Another oh yeah! 

This industry is not for the weak but for those that push through and have the abilities there is a place.

Best suggestions that I have read on this thread.

1. Find a good REIA. I prefer the Alamo RIEA that best. More content and education and less sales pitches for a Guru Program. Plus the benefits that you get by becoming a member of nation REIA is second to none in SA

2. Becoming an agent when you have no prior experience is a great way learn the ins and out of the industry while supplementing some income. I would just suggest that you find out what it is that you are wanting to do within the industry and find a brokerage that matches those values.

3. (my own recommendation) I would be cautious with the paid programs right now. While the education that they lay out is great, organized, and have networks to back them up (some) the market is very hot right now and I would consider it a bit foolish to spend that kind of capital on a program that was designed in the last down cycle. You spend that kind of capital on Marketing and you will figure it out.

Best of luck and feel free to reach out if you need anything