Buying a house to rent in Austin TX

[cbloom]

I'm considering buying a house to rent out near Austin (in Buda or Kyle) for around $100k. I've never bought property just to rent it before, does anyone know about this or have good references I can read?

I also don't live in TX (I now live in CA where real estate is out of control and I don't want to buy) so I don't have a good feel for what's going on in TX, though my advisors are telling me Austin is a good place to invest. Anyone in that area have a feeling for the market there?

[bwana devil]

yes, houses are cheap here and rising.

edit: i just realized you want to rent it out and are not actually moving here. there are a TON of california investors doing the same. of the two towns i would think buda would be teh better pick. it is closer to austin and it has major retailers that have moved in. the town is still fighting the transition of urban sprawl that is happening down the interstate. it is still a small town but of the two, buda will probably see a population increase earlier as it's probably addressing these issues already to some degree.

bwana

[NoTalent]

Sure, invest. Just don't move here. If I get cut off by another california idiot talking on his cellphone I'm going to go postal. Please stay in Cali.

[cbloom]

Thanks bwana. BTW I went to UT and lived in Austin and have visited Buda before, but it was 10 years ago and I don't have a feel for what it's like there now.

[hawk59]

If this forum was around 6 yrs ago you would be asking what dot.com stock to buy. Now everyone asks where to buy real estate.

[Pirc Defense]

[ QUOTE ]
Thanks bwana. BTW I went to UT and lived in Austin and have visited Buda before, but it was 10 years ago and I don't have a feel for what it's like there now.

[/ QUOTE ]

UT grad here as well...the traffic in Austin is just ridiculously bad. I mean terrible.

[crosse91]

but but but.....we have TOLL ROADS coming!!! what a help.

[tremain]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm considering buying a house to rent out near Austin (in Buda or Kyle) for around $100k. I've never bought property just to rent it before, does anyone know about this or have good references I can read?

I also don't live in TX (I now live in CA where real estate is out of control and I don't want to buy) so I don't have a good feel for what's going on in TX, though my advisors are telling me Austin is a good place to invest. Anyone in that area have a feeling for the market there?

[/ QUOTE ]

The Kyle/Buda area is growing very rapidly. It has less expensive land and home prices compared to Austin and is of course right on I-35 for access to Austin, San Marcos and even San Antonio.

There are a number of books dedicated to the topic of building wealth through real estate. I have not read any titles myself, but recommend checking out Amazon or your public library and search topically for the most popular authors and titles that way.

In general, though, a lender will require you to put 20% down on a house that you purchase for renting. There is some serious amount of research you will need to do on schools, neighborhoods, home prices and prevailing rental rates. This is to make sure that you can make the cash flow equation work for you. Note that especially in those areas, there is a lot of new home building going on, so the rental market may be not as strong since many potential renters may opt to buy instead. YMMV. Just remember that in renting, Cash Flow Is King.

I have read pieces about real estate investments in books like "Start Late, Finish Rich" by David Bach, "The Road To Wealth" by Suze Orman and others.

[bwana devil]

[ QUOTE ]
Thanks bwana. BTW I went to UT and lived in Austin and have visited Buda before, but it was 10 years ago and I don't have a feel for what it's like there now.

[/ QUOTE ]

buda doesnt look toooo much different than it did ten years ago. my coworker recently moved from there and told me the town doesnt have a laundromat (business opportunity anyone?). ten years from now it will be a different place though.

but immediately east of buda at the interstate is a HUGE arse HEB grocery store and a HUGE arse cabella's hunting/sporting store. there's no break in retailers from buda to austin along the interstate now. once you get south of buda, things quiet down until san marcos.

buda has the wiener dog races every year too. i take my wiener dog mix there but he's scared to death for some reason. the town gets packed and draws national coverage now and it gets bigger every year.

[MadScientist]

Austin is booming.

Pirc Defense, why do you have a KU avatar if you graduated from UT????