http://www.dfwinvestors.net/blog Real Life Experiences from a Dallas/Fort Worth Property Investor Thu, 10 Jul 2008 02:51:22 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I recently executed a contract on a property in my “buy and hold” target area or NE Fort Worth/Keller ISD area.  The house is 1680 sqft, 3/2 built in late 2005 that requires no work other than some cleanup and landscaping.  Tarrant county appraisal district values the property at $130,800 ... http://www.dfwinvestors.net/blog/a-good-reo-buy-and-hold/ After three weeks scouring the Keller area and making "low-ish" offers, i've determined that we haven't hit bottom yet.  Utilizing our Advanced County Appraisal Search there are over 2,000 houses in Tarrant county owned by banks.  However, they don't seem too motivated to sell as most are offering these properties ... http://www.dfwinvestors.net/blog/where-are-the-motivated-sellers/ After several weeks of rejected low-ball offers on bank-owned (foreclosed) and new builds I was beginning to grow concerned that banks and builders may not be as motivated to sell as I had hoped. All that changed Saturday night when I was searching through MLS.  I've run the same searches looking ... http://www.dfwinvestors.net/blog/newer-house-for-50-of-county-appraisal-where-mls/ While driving the streets in my target area I ran across a small home with a Beazer sign.  I thought it was odd as the neighborhood has completed for quite some time.  I called the number on the sign and left a message. When I returned to the house I looked ... http://www.dfwinvestors.net/blog/offer-1-144k-keller-house-for-90k/ The first step towards my goal for of purchasing 5 cashflow properties in 2008 is to determine my target property areas and types. I ran purchase and lease comps in several areas and decided to focus on newer properties (< 7 years old) in the NE Fort Worth/Keller area.  These are ... http://www.dfwinvestors.net/blog/2008-cashflow-plan-first-steps/ It's Leap Day, 2008 and I am offically buying (and blogging) again.  I pulled my head out of the sand this week while listening to the real estate guys radio show podcast on "it's a buyers market".  While listening, I recalled a book i read over a year ago, "Timing the Real ... http://www.dfwinvestors.net/blog/time-to-buy-real-estate-in-dallas-fort-worth/ Business 2.0 magazine just released their October edition ranking the Dallas/Fort Worth area as the #1 real estate investment opportunity in the U.S.    http://www.dfwinvestors.net/blog/dfw-1-real-estate-opportunity/ The bust of the subprime mortgage industry may be a boom for rental property investors.  The rental market in DFW has been depressed for years as interest rates dropped to historical lows and renters turned to buyers. The populatiry of subprime lending over the last few years didn't help the rental ... http://www.dfwinvestors.net/blog/the-perfect-storm-subprime-mortgages-are-history/ There are a number of developments in the market that appear to be creating the perfect storm for investors.  I'd like to highlight a few recent articles in the local paper and give you my thoughts of how these shifts may create great opportunities for investors. Home builders have building like ... http://www.dfwinvestors.net/blog/the-perfect-storm-builders-in-trouble/ Ok, so I finally closed on the sale of 911 Worth on June 6th.  It took much longer to sell and I didn't the price I had hoped.  Here is what I learned... 1.  While the location was great, the timing was poor.  The property was just one house down from ... http://www.dfwinvestors.net/blog/911-worth-post-mortem/