Posted by ski on March 22, 2006 at 20:10:51:
Silly me, I thought that El Paso was part of Mexico.
Don’t mess with Texas - Posted by Jeremy FL
Posted by Jeremy FL on March 22, 2006 at 16:28:06:
Looking for some good info on some Texas mutlifamilies I’m looking into. What areas to stay away from? What areas you like. What are insurance and taxes like where you live things like that. Feel free to e-mail me privately. I’m just kicking tires at the moment but will be ready to move soon. Probably looking to 1031 out of some of my Florida properties. I know this is broad but I need help narrowing it down.
From just web surfing for a few hours I am liking El Paso area. Any comments appreciated.
Re: Don’t mess with Texas - Posted by RogerTX
Posted by RogerTX on March 22, 2006 at 19:23:39:
I live in FL but work in San Antonio. People are making a lot of money here even with 3% property tax. It doesn’t matter what the tax is as long as someone else is paying for it. We have a lot of money coming in from CA.
Re: Don’t mess with Texas - Posted by dealmaker
Posted by dealmaker on March 22, 2006 at 17:38:58:
Well I live in TX and I won’t buy rentals here! Our ppty taxes average about 3% in the bigger cities, although it’s a LOW (sarcastic) 2.7% in the little town I live in.
Also our insurance rates are are NOT REGULATED, although I understand you Floridians are going through some of the same issues we have gone through the past few years.
Last but not least, appreciation in TX is pretty miserable, about 2-3%/year. I know someone will post telling me about a recent article in some national media bragging about how great it’s been the last couple of years, but I like to look at the long term.
All I know about El Paso is that it and the lower Rio Grande Valley (Harlingen, McAllen, Brownsville) always have the highest unemployment rates in the state. A quick look at a map will show you why. On the other hand labor rates are really low!
dealmaker
Dealmaker, Dealmaker !!! - Posted by Jimmy
Posted by Jimmy on March 23, 2006 at 07:54:52:
Texas been berry, berry good to this cowboy. I think it is a mistake to generalize about Texas. It is a huge state, and there are thousands of little markets here.
I live in Austin, but have no rentals here. too expensive. anemic cash flow, if not negative. my stuff is is East TX. I now live off the cash flow from the properties, and walked away from my day job.
Yes, property tax rates are high (2.2 to 2.6% in my counties). but the assessed values are nowhere near FMV. exception: Gregg County (Longview).
no appreciation. I beg to differ. In 2003 alone, the entire Tyler/Jacksonville/Whitehouse/Troup area jumped 20-25%. Granted, that came after and was followed by a couple flat years. But this market jumped again last year. Maybe another 12-14%. And its not just SFR’s that have moved. 2-4 units have moved too. the GRM’s I am able to fetch when I sell 2-4’s have increased, even though underlying rents have been flat.
Re: Don’t mess with Texas - Posted by gerald(tx)
Posted by gerald(tx) on March 22, 2006 at 18:04:22:
Dealmaker,
I remember reading your posts, and if I remember right you’ve got about 20 houses that you do owner financing on, right? In the Hill Country?
I’m in the DFW area and your MO sounded much like mine, I mostly do owner finances with mine, too.
While I presently hold no rentals, I have found that compared to other states, our rent to value ratio is higher than theirs, which has to be in order to compensate for the higher taxes, otherwise few would ever cash flow. So in effect, the higher taxes are passed on the tenant.
But I am in agreement that the tax, insurance, and appreciation situations in Texas all suck! But in spite of this, we are both still making money, right?
gerald