All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

Hi @Jerone Hammond

I am assuming you are talking about a SF home that you are wanting to put an offer on. In Texas, when you make an offer using a standard residential real estate contract, you have an "option period" as part of the contract. Generally, a small amount of money is paid to the seller (usually $100 on an average priced home) for the right to terminate the contract for ANY reason during the option period (usually 10 days, but negotiable). This option fee is in addition to the earnest money that you deposit with the title company. During the option period, you can have inspections done to check out the property. Depending on what your inspector finds, you can ask the seller to make repairs, back out of the contract or ask for a reduction in the sales price. As long as you terminate during the option period, you will get your earnest money back but the seller gets to keep the option fee as compensation for "taking the house off the market" long enough for you to do your research. And remember, you can terminate for ANY reason, not just because you find something wrong with the house.

I hope this helps...

@Jeff Baumann Sorry to hear you are moving out of Texas. I don't have a lot of experience yet as an investor, but from everything I've heard, renting a home with a pool comes with a lot of liability. However, if you are willing to take the risk, a 4 bedroom with a pool in Plano could be a great long term rental opportunity, with the help of a good property manager (I can pass along the name of mine if you need a recommendation).

With the shortage of inventory currently available in the DFW area, there appears to be more buyers being forced to rent, especially those moving in from out of state. In addition, it's still difficult for a lot of people to qualify for a conventional mortgage, which also aides the rental market.

I've had clients from Vegas who talk about the extreme highs and lows of the real estate market there. Maybe buying a rental property during one of the extreme lows would be a good investment, but I would tend to lean more to the DFW area as a more stable market for long term investment success.

And, don't forget, we are currently experiencing a sellers' market here, so if you decide to sell, it shouldn't take too long.

Good luck and let us know what you decide!

Hi @Burke B. I am not an expert investor, but I do have some experience, somewhat accidental, with a vacation rental. We owned a vacation rental for about 6 years and I would say it was mostly a successful venture.

Yes, ask the sellers (or their listing agent) for the income and expenses for the last few years. If you have a chance, I would also recommend talking with the neighbors. Our neighbors ended up being the biggest "expense" for our vacation property.... they were crazy and didn't like living next door to a rental property so they did everything they could to make our tenants unhappy, although most ended up enjoying their vacations anyway.

I would also take a look at Homeaway.com and VRBO.com for other rentals in the area you are looking at. Check out their rental calendars and call the owners and ask questions. How often are they vacant? How much do they charge? What are the other fees (security deposits, cleaning fee, extra guest fees)? We found that we only rented our property from May to August, so we had an 8 month vacancy (although occasionally we would find a longer term tenant during the off months). Try to find a year-round tourist destination.

Also, find out how the rentals in the area are managed. We managed our own (had a resort lock on the front door so I could give an automatic code to the tenants upon arrival, which would lock out at check out) and had a fabulous cleaning lady. You need to have reliable help, especially for cleaning, or you won't get good reviews and visitors won't rent again. I think our cleaning lady was the key to our success!

You also need to check out the HOA, if there is one. Make sure the property can be used for short term rentals. Sometimes even the city ordinances prohibit vacation rentals.

The final thing I would mention is tenant screening. You still have to follow fair housing, but you can prohibit parties, un-chaperoned students, weddings, etc. We had a rental agreement with so many rules that when ever someone finally signed it, we knew they were going to be good tenants and take care of our property. We NEVER had anything missing or torn up at our property... and tenants pay in advance for vacation rentals, along with their security deposit, so that's a bonus!

Good luck and let us know if you end up purchasing!

@Ryan R. good to know.

Great thank you @Ryan R. I need to order about 4500 sq ft of flooring soon. I may give them a try.

@Ryan R. with it being just a warehouse, does that mean I still save on sales tax when I order online?

@Ryan R. that is a lot like what I was thinking. I've seen tile and wood used. These types of accent walls are showing up in all of the very expensive model homes around my area. And, since I am trying to attract a young, urban professional tenant, I thought adding one here or there might set my units apart and add a little extra modern touch.

A peel and stick vinyl might work well. It would be virtually indestructible, just like on a floor and could always be sheet rocked over as the trend goes away. And I think peel and stick that I could do myself would be much less expensive than framing, sheet rock, texture and paint.

Thanks @Ryan R. I didn't realize they were in the area. I've never actually ordered or looked into their location, just saved quite a few of their ads in my mailbox. I guess having a local warehouse will save on shipping, assuming I can find a truck :) But the big box store truck rental will be a lot less for a few hours than shipping costs on heavy flooring.

@Richard C. and @George P. that's so boring! But I know sheetrock is less expensive. I just didn't realize it could be done in our moist climate, over cinder block which may sweat a lot (I don't know for sure as I have never seen a cinder block wall in Texas).

Has anyone done anything creative to cover cinder block walls on the interior? I am purchasing a MF in a few weeks and planning a pretty big rehab on the interiors. I have been searching online for some ideas for covering cinder block walls, mostly to help insulate better. Not all of the walls are cinder block, but there are a few on the front and back sides. I've seen a few recommendations for framing the walls and sheet rocking but I am afraid there might be too much moisture build up with our extreme hot/cold Texas weather.

I was thinking about covering with a moisture barrier and then using vinyl planks on the walls to give it a more modern look. Not sure how I would attach this....

Any ideas?