All Forum Posts by: Kenneth McKeown

@Jonathon Martineau I use to live in San Antonio and moved to Dallas. I actually prefer the DFW market much more than the SA market when I was there - but that was about 3 years ago. The entry price for DFW is going to be higher than SA that's for sure but I believe the market is stronger here and is a much larger metroplex which makes it difficult to truly compare. All of my investments (duplex, quad, single families, and my new build) are all over Dallas and FW. It's been a great market to build my portfolio. 

@Steve Sellers HOA should matter more to YOU than it should matter to your renters. I have a personal preference of not owning any homes with an HOA - or if I ever do, I will be super particular. But you're right - all HOA's are going to be paid to the landlord and now guess what? You as a landlord are back to paying rent. That's the entire premise I hate. There are plenty of opportunities for newer communities with no HOA's - you just have to look. Now the issue you're going to find is low tax rate - that's just not possible really in Texas lol.

@Rajesh Kumar do you own a house? At the end of the day people will always need a roof over their head. You can pay off your mortgage or your can help someone else pay theirs. 

@Elliott Wolf any lender will do a VOE - or verification of employment... you'd end up running into a whole new different area of pain if you were not honest on your loan application. 

@Jacob Pereira pretty sure the OP is saying $200k is her budget with a loan. Also a quick search on Redfin shows that there are 2,000+ homes in the city of Austin. Only 126 remain after the max budget is set to $200k. It's pretty safe to say Austin is the most expensive metroplex in Texas - and just about anyone would agree with that.

@Alice Huang using the BRRRR method will be easier in markets that the entry price for homes are lower. Obtaining % equity in lower priced homes are easier (typically, ex. making a $100k home worth $140k is easier than a $300k home worth $420k).

$200k I believe will be hard to make work in Austin.. but I'm not knowledgeable on their market. It's possible in DFW and Houston (in certain areas) may be slightly cheaper. San Antonio is the cheapest of the 4 large city/metroplexes in Texas. 

I personally would stick with one of those four - but everyone has their own opinion.

@Alfie Park you have a TON of options having a house that's paid off completely. 

1. You could refinance out completely (take a loan out). This would allow you available cash to re-invest. 

2. You could sell the house completely and downsize as you mentioned - this would free up plenty of cash. You would be making a down payment on the new house (anywhere from 3/5% up to full cash offer) - but you'd still be able to free up cash.

3. You could keep current house and take out a HELOC.

Plenty of options for you with your home being paid off. The question truly remains is what do you plan to do with the money? What do you plan to invest it in? Obviously clear answer is real estate but just how do you want to invest it in real estate? Plenty of options to consider. 

@Account Closed numbers can still work from occupying a property. A VA loan 0% down will far outweigh a 3.5% FHA and a 3-5% conventional offer. Your rate will be better than those two mentioned and you'll have no PMI with little to no invested. Also - VA loans, or just owner occupied loans in general, are a quick way for someone to immediately start building equity. If buying a house truly cost 20-25% down - home ownership % would be dismal.

@Trevor Aydelott I'm not sure how a BRRRR would ever work in the Bay Area... but hey, I don't work out of that market. The issue with DFW is the competition in which homes are being bought for. Especially in desirable areas. It's also much easier to obtain when you have a low price - as % equity is able to be gained much easier on lower priced homes. Ex. It's very difficult to make a $500k home worth 1M... but you could make a $50k home worth $100k.

@Jaime Pinedo if you were to be able to do a BRRRR, you could, it will just likely be not through and through. Meaning you'd still have SOME $$ in the property. Not to say it's impossible to be all in $0 but it'll take you a long minute to find one.

@Account Closed if you can't cash flow with a VA loan you won't ever be able to cash flow.