Let's begin with a basic consideration in real estate investing: leveraging.

Leveraging simply means using other people's money to purchase a property. It's a two-edged sword, but one that right now can cut very much in your direction.

Here's the situation you're trying to avoid. -- Falling on your sword. If you go into a purchase without enough down payment, you may not get enough cash flow out of the property to cover issues like:

- vacancies,

- regular maintenance,

- and management expenses.

Word to the wise:

- If you can't afford to actually own the property -- to own the expenses that come with it and to endure periods of vacancy -- don't buy!

And never buy a highly leveraged property unless you are:

- prepared to be a…

1440 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

- This is a buyer's market.
- Austin has twice been dubbed "recession proof," first by Forbes in 2008 and then by the Brooking's Institute in June 2010.
- In June, Forbes also labeled the city one of the nation's "recovery capitals."
- With unemployment at just 7%, we're doing almost 3% better than the national average, which persistently hangs just under 10%.
- Real estate sales in Texas have been up for the last three quarters, with April- to-June sales up 14% over the same period in 2009.

The median home price in Texas is $149,200. That's roughly 15% below the national average, yet property values are just 1.5% off their 2008 peak.

Essentially, Texas didn't just get through the recession, it got through it without enduring the high volatility that…

1241 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

 

For all that the nightly news might suggest otherwise, this is a great buying climate -- in fact it's a buyer's market much like 2005. Investment nerves are not your friends. When you look at the latest figures about Austin, those nerves don't even make sense.

If you pick up the June 25, 2010 issue of Forbes, Austin is on the magazine's list of American "Recovery Capitals." Using data from both a Brooking's study and from Moody's Economy.com, the editors didn't just pick Austin to make the cut, they put it at the top of a list of thriving communities. The selection was based on one supremely telling factor -- employment.

According to Forbes, the projected annual employment growth rate for the city from 2010 to 2014 is 3.3%, with the projected…

1217 Views, 2 Comments

Read Full Post