All Forum Posts by: Stephen Stokes

Sounds like your property manager is not keeping up with increases. Why do you say that rates have been flat? I was born and raised in North/Central Austin and can recall not so distant past when my 1bdrm apt in Far West area rented for $500/mo. In 10 years that same apt has more than doubled to over $1200/mo now. 

I also include a statement that rents will increase annually in my new tenant orientation documents and presentation when I have new tenants move in. I explain to them exactly the situation you find yourself explaining here to BP; taxes go up every year so rent must as well. 

Sign up for a service like ProTax and make sure they keep your taxes in line. 

Seeing the same with slowing activity in a couple of my properties. Anyone have MLS stats on 2018 for rentals? @David Ivy posts the sales stats and we see a lot of info on sales but less reporting done on rental stats. Be interested to know # of active listings, average rent / sqft, etc.  Lot of speculation on overbuilding in multi-fam commercial area but have not seen any hard facts to back up these statements.  

Agree with @Kris Wong that [cash out] refi is the hard part. I am focused on multi-fam (duplex) and they will only go 70% LTV on cash out and requires 6 month seasoning under conventional. There are some portfolio lenders out there that will do 85% LTV on cash out refi's but there are a lot of associated costs (origination and rates are higher).

I have been wondering how folks are finding these types of deals in Travis county as well. 

Interested to discuss your project; send me a DM. 

Have been struggling to find a good landscaping maintenance company for my long term hold rentals for years now. Happy to hear if anyone has suggestions on where or who to look. 

@Kris Wong I would advocate the same except you can also keep earning additional equity and possibly cash flow by keeping the house for another 3 years after living it in then sell. At that point they will still have 2 of the last 5 years as primary residence so they would still qualify the tax free additional equity gained over next 3 years (assuming the tenants rent covers mortgage and home values do not decline in the area). 

1st step would be to order a desk appraisal to understand the approximate equity in the home. If sufficient equity, next step would be to do an owner occupied cash out refinance leaving only 20% equity in the home under the new loan. Next, shop for the new home and depending on the down payment you have at the time, apply for either conventional or FHA owner occupied home loan for the new purchase. Note; you likely need to wait 6 months between the cash-out refi and closing on the new home. Once secured loan pre-approval and under contract for new home purchase, lease out the existing home. Suggest to vet the market on rentals in advance as well so you know what you can achieve. Talk to local agents on how fast they are renting and what attainable market rent will be. This can also be done by calling shops like Renter's Warehouse to get their free rent estimate without obligation to hire. Once you have a qualified tenant, sign the lease and provide it to the lender for the new home purchase before closing along with proof of deposit. Last step to close on the new home and move your stuff in. Done

Austin proper buy and hold (excluding value add opportunities) investing strategy does not lend to cash flow today but rather appreciation and cash flow down the road. Look to outskirts if you need cash flow today. 

Austin proper buy and hold (excluding value add opportunities) investing strategy does not lend to cash flow today but rather appreciation and cash flow down the road. Look to outskirts if you need cash flow today.