All Forum Posts by: Mike Castellow

@James Freeman I'm not very familiar with Round Rock and their zoning, but I don't see a SF-S listed so it might be under some other type of zoning restrictions, or you might need to talk to the HOA and review your deed restrictions. I did find a SF-2, and it doesn't even allow garage apartments to be a separate dwelling unit. You would have to petition for a change or play further outside the rules and regulations than I care to tread.

@James Freeman I'm not sure what neighborhood you live in, but a lot of the neighborhoods around the Austin area encourage them as a way to try to maintain some type of affordable housing. If it wasn't for ADU's or multifamily units, eventually every lot would have the largest SFH possible which means fewer units and higher prices. I don't have a builder that I would recommend, and I personally became frustrated enough with contractors that I started my own residential remodeling company. I recommend that you start at the Austin Zoning Map Address Search and then look up the zoning code for the city and your specific neighborhood. There are several people that perform consulting services to walk you through the process and while I'm not a zoning expert, I'd be glad to answer any questions you might have or at least point you in the right direction.

@James Freeman Since you need a 4 bedroom, I would recommend that you look into the possibility of building an ADU, Accessory Dwelling Unit, to help supplement your current income. The simplest way that I've personally noted to routinely make money in Austin is to maximize the square footage on your lot and an ADU should help you with this.

@Reggie Wright Like any place, values in San Marcos are extremely dependent on the neighborhood and there is a considerable price difference between the east and west side of 35. I don't know every micro-market in the area, but I do have a pretty good feel for values in some of the neighborhoods that I've previously focused on. I'd be happy to answer any questions that you might have. I might not know the answer off the top of my head, but I bet that we can find out.

@Ryan Blackstone Unfortunately, any place that I'm considering moving to and investing in is going to be tough with the way the market is right now. I'm still planning on coming up in late August / early September, because there is a lot of research that I need to do in person before I make a final choice.

@Lawrence Rutkowski If you really think the deal is worth it, you could always offer to place the tenants in a decent hotel and maybe even include a few dollars for meals and inconvenience. Just include this extra cost in with your budget before you make an offer.

@Brittany D. There are plenty of positives and negatives about both locations so you are going to need to decide what aspects of each location matter the most to you and which location will allow you to achieve your goals.

Weigh all the pros and cons... Quality of life, ability to achieve financial goals, commute, income, housing, food, taxes, climate. If after a thorough evaluation you're still hesitant about a long term commitment, you can dip your toes in the water by signing a short term lease and taking a test drive while you search for multi-family housing. If you don't like it as much as you thought you would, there is always another location that might be more suitable for you. Good luck and best wishes.

@Eduardo Rodriguez Welcome to the forum. I'm not sure what type of industrial construction your company does, but I'm a 3rd party API Inspector. If you work with pressure vessels, tanks, or piping, I'm sure you've dealt with a few of us out there. I'd be glad to meet up with you and talk a little about real estate in the area when I'm home. There are some good opportunities in the area if you look around enough.

@Dustin Davis I've briefly looked at Eureka Springs, and I'd love to own a couple of nicer homes in the area. I hadn't considered any of the other 3 that you mentioned, but I will be looking into them shortly. Thank you. I appreciate the information.

@Chris Youssi Thanks, and I appreciate everyone's thoughts and perspectives especially from the locals that are already successfully investing in the areas that I'm considering.

@Jim Cummings I've spent too many years recently trading my time for money, and I started looking back at times that I was happiest and one of those time periods was living on a lake in East Texas. While I don't care to live in East Texas right now, I do look forward to living on a lake again in the near future.