All Forum Posts by: Mike Castellow

@Mark Sewell I couldn't resist this morning. I hadn't stirred the pot lately and this one was just ripe for picking...

@Betseat Getachew 

@Aaron Gordy & @Cave Johnson are right that Austin is expensive compared to most of Houston and Dallas, but since you want to house hack I would focus first on what town I would want to live in. For me personally, I'd rather pay a little out of pocket to live in Austin than live for free in Dallas or Houston.  Lol

@Helen Zhang & @Dion McNeeley There are a number of things to consider and every town has different code requirements on when you need to pull a permit. It's a fairly simple process that many homeowners, contractors, and investors tend to ignore until it costs them far more in the end than it would have in the beginning. In addition to ensuring that the room is built to the proper load bearing capacity as @Mike Reynolds mentioned, you should also keep in mind that you need a second egress point, such as an egress window, for any habitable room especially if it is designed for sleeping purposes.

@Account Closed, you should purchase the fixtures or at a minimum choose which fixtures are purchased to help control costs and let the contractor purchase the rough materials because their discount will often still save you money but will always save you time. As you scale up in size and find the right contractors and suppliers then you can really start to optimize your business and find what combination works best for your individual situation.

I don't have a local architect that I've used, but I know most of them charge around 10% of the total project cost. You can find a much cheesier architect with or without a State of Texas license on some of the gig sites like upwork. I use the site for many things including previous architectural and structural engineering work. Be sure and read previous reviews and verify through the state that they have an active license.

@Jeremiah Vancans I don’t personally invest in Round Rock or Pflugerville, but I know numerous investors who do and that they are at a much lower price point than Austin with ample opportunities for cash flow. I would recommend San Antonio for cash flow and Austin for higher end properties. There are also a lot of opportunities between Austin and San Antonio due to the growth along the I-35 corridor.

@Jeremiah Vancans I live about halfway between Austin and San Antonio and Austin is a tough market to cash flow, but the appreciation can be as high as almost anywhere in the country. I would suggest finding a property that you can add value to by increasing square footage with the addition of an ADU or in a neighborhood that can support adding square footage to the main house. Is $400k what you want to invest or are you thinking that is a reasonable number based on the amount you can leverage?

@Joseph Walsh Welcome to BP and the best advice I can give you is to go to as many of the local meet ups as you can but keep in mind that some of them are just trying to sell their product and aren't there for your benefit. 

There are no shortage of neighborhoods or properties in San Antonio that have great potential for flipping. The only limitations are abilities of your team and your finances.

@Tyler Ortiz Central Texas covers a fairly broad area. What part of Central Texas would you like to invest in?