All Forum Posts by: Michael Guzik

@Kahlil Clark Welcome to BP my man! San Antonio is an AMAZING market for rentals and property management right now. I don't think many people are doing "internships" but I'm sure because of the crazy hot market, and COVID that plenty of property management companies are hiring right now! I would do a google search and call around to see who's hiring!

When you come to San Antonio, I would be happy to connect and get some coffee or lunch sometime.

@John Thedford I am usually a VERY conservative person when it comes to numbers so this market is definitely crazy to me. I always run my numbers on WCS (worst case scenario), but in today's market you leave SO MUCH on the table with that mentality. 

@Keleisha Carter I have honestly never heard of half of these places people are recommending, so it's very intriguing to see the different STR market's.

I list/sell a ton of new construction in downtown San Antonio and A TON of the buyer's ask about Airbnb or tell me that is their plan. Now that COVID is fairly "over" here in Texas things have opened up and are fairly normal again so Airbnb / STR / VRBO are a viable option and the people doing it are making a killing around here.

I would definitely look into San Antonio around the downtown area. Specifically "Mahncke Park" which is right next to Broadway / Alamo Heights and Ft Sam Houston a huge an active military base. There are always military doctors, nurses and tourists wanting STR's in the area because of work, Fiesta, conventions, and the Spurs games!

@Jayden Hamilton Great question man. I would say if you feel that is your strength to focus on that side of things and find a partner or company to focus on your "weakness". That's what I did with my broker! We were the deal finders/marketing/numbers guys and we partnered with a local builder who needed help with sales and marketing. 

I've been fortunate that I grew up in a household where my Dad and Grandpa were both General Contractor's. However if I didn't have their help or guidance, nor my partner's I would ask in FB groups in my local area. Find the right group to join and see who is active and being recommended by people actually doing what you want to do!

@Raymond L. Welcome to BP! Good job on becoming an investor accidentally, the best teacher is usually always experience, and it sounds like you had a great first experience! 

I personally think there isn't really a "right" answer to this. Being single with no kids I would build out the basement and do that option. I value my financial freedom far more than comfort and would rather pay the house off faster and/or be cashflowing compared to be living in the master bedroom. 

With that being said; there is absolutely nothing wrong with just living in the home and renting out the other two bedrooms. Paying $350 monthly for a new home is amazing, and is a win in my book. You worked hard so no issue with enjoying the fruits of your labor.

I would just see what the benefit of building out the basement is financially vs living in the main home. For giggles let's say you decide to do a 650sqft basement. 650sqft x $100 = $65,000. Can you rent that upstairs bedroom you are "giving up" for at least $650? That is essentially the 1% rule for that specific square footage which is a great place to be. Now you are living rent free in a new construction home! Or what about airbnb? Could you Airbnb or rent that basement out to a young couple that wants privacy and can maybe pay $750 for a "private" basement apartment?

There are a ton of options. Ultimately it boils down to your goals and comfort level. If it were me I would do the basement as long as the numbers work out, however I'm not you!

@Lina Bibikov I am involved in that! I would say that is currently about 50% of our business at the moment. Most of our "Spec's" are urban infill development in downtown San Antonio and we have a few luxury Spec's that are definitely not "affordable" housing! We just landed a huge contract to be the builder for a national spec home company so we will be ramping up that side of things here very soon going from 15-20 a year to 150+. 

I can agree 200% with you finding land is ALWAYS the hardest part from what I have been involved in and seen. Even when I started wholesaling and flipping homes, finding the land or "deal" was the hard part. Not saying what comes after is a piece of cake but it isn't as difficult. 

We are currently searching for land and boy can I tell you I feel like the FBI with what I'm having to do to find land and contact these owners lol!

@Tolu Bankole How familiar are you with the area? I would always say for a good rule of thumb you need to know the area, or trust someone who knows the area. I agree with @Stephen J Davis usually new construction doesn't have as great of numbers as pre-existing homes do. Best thing is to do like @Michael Robbins said and get the facts on the area. What are homes selling for? What is the "average rent"? What are new construction homes renting for per square foot compared to pre-existing homes? Always look at the data, it never lies! (usually)

@Shiloh Lewis Great markets to look into man! So are you planning to move to the market in order to use the FHA loan? San Antonio is a great market and I'm helping quite a few investors look for rentals or BRRRR deals here. One thing I will say is that usually homes under 200k are in B- and C+ areas. The sweet spot here is between 200-230k and getting a 4 bedroom above 1800sqft. If you can bump up your loan just that little bit it MAKES A HUGE DIFFERENCE in my opinion. Milwaukee may be more affordable because it is getting harder and harder to get a 1% deal here in SA I can tell you that, however property values have been steadily increasing so it is a great hybrid of cash flow and appreciation. However most people only care about cash flow and San Antonio is not a 1% or 2% deal city anymore. The deals are there but you have to search hard for them, get a bit lucky, and then have money READY TO GO right away to beat the competition.

@Firen Forrest Good question! San Antonio is a booming market and there is so much opportunity for BRRR, Buy and Hold, or just simply flipping properties. However I think you will find it very difficult to find anything for under 100k. Here in SA that is in C- to D areas... lots of risk and those areas are cashflow heavy not necessarily great places to flip and have property appreciate. I can tell you it is very hard to find anything for under 80k that doesn't need at least 40k in work around here. The market is booming and any deal that is around those numbers is off market cash deal or hard money only and you have to move fast. I would say a place like Lubbock, or College Station that has a bit more risk since it isn't as solidified and diverse in economy like San Antonio, Houston, Austin or Dallas would be the best route. Those college towns are great for 1% deals, they just aren't as "safe" of a deal as something in San Antonio since the economy is centered around fewer things that are the foundation of that city.

Great post and great question! @Jonathan Ramos. I love what @Shannon Robnett said first and he explained it in more depth and detail than I ever could. Here in San Antonio there are a few reasons development has slowed down or not been able to meet demand. The first reason is pushback from people who are living in the area/neighborhoods/conservation associations. I can give a practical example we bought 1/3 of an acre and were planning to build 8 urban homes. The neighborhood threw a HUGE tantrum and because of that we were only able to build 3-4. We were "lucky" to be able to build multiple homes instead of the community we wanted. So instead of building eight 400k homes now we are building 3-4 600-800k homes. So much for "affordable housing" LOL! The pushback for new development in the inner city is still present and has created a speed bump for sure but is nothing that can't be overcome.

The second reason I can think of and in my opinion the biggest reason why developments have slowed down, is that banks/construction lenders were scared sh*tless to lend on new construction during COVID. We were cruising along pre-COVID to build a 20 unit townhome community in downtown San Antonio. The lender was going to lend on the whole project at first... but COVID happened and now they will only lend one building at a time and we have to sell at least 50% of the building before we can start the next one. Thank God we were able to perservere and still afford to continue the development but many smaller developers/builders really suffered because of this. We managed to get private money from investors in our network to speed things up and we are almost back on track. However that was a HUGE setback and a pain in the a$$.

This is all just applicable to the small world I work in for urban infill development downtown but that's what I have seen and experienced so far. Still lots of room for opportunity and we are building custom projects all over the city and lots/land are selling like hot cakes in those areas! It is so hard to find good land anywhere for my clients and the families that was us to build for them. I think it all ties back to what Shannon said earlier though!