Advice Needed: The best investment on earth is "earth" (Houston: RV park, real estate)

[Ciscogeek]

Dear City-Data Sages:


I am a Plano resident in mid-30s, and really very new to real estate investing. I have explored the idea of hold vs. flip for a while. I feel flipping is more of a full-time job, and at this point, I am also at the mid-level of my professional career, so time is a luxury for a father of 2 young kids and holding the property for a rental seems to be a better option.


Now if I go for a “hold” route to generate passive income and go by the 1% rule so I can at least rent it out for 1% of the property value; I don’t even find the decent properties in decent locations. For the last 5 years, I have been looking for:
i) SFR: Min 2BR/2Bath,
ii) Area: 1400-2000 sq. Feet,
iii) Price: 140-160k
iv) Location: Dallas/Plano/Richardson/Wylie/Sachse/LittleElm/Arlington/Duncanville/Forney
v) Year built: 2003 onwards


So I can put it on rent for $1400-$1600 but have failed to find anything. If I go above 160k point, I am afraid, a higher rent will turn away many potential renters, and the property will have a limited customer base.


The disheartening part is that results don’t even show anything in this price range. I have also explored the idea of finding properties which I can do rehabs and make-readies with some effort but still don’t see anything worth considering.
i) Am I making a mistake of looking for this price range through the MLS listing and instead should look more in the auction? I have tried Redfin, Zillow, HAR and haven’t had any luck finding anything with no significant issues in an excellent rental location.
ii) Am I making a mistake in my filtering criteria and should I change some characteristics?
iii) Or is it that the market for the last 5 years has been really a seller’s market and the low interest rates are keeping the house prices high, and not a good time for an investor? Should one wait when the interest rates go above at least 5% and, house prices may drop some. But I have been waiting for this to happen since 2014 and things haven’t changed.

I am not even looking for extra income at this point, just a property at a location, where I can hit break-even from the get-go and equity over time. I am not a big fan of owning apartments, more interested in single-family residences.


Can you all please offer some words of wisdom? What are my options? I can’t wait for the right time forever and do nothing. But if doing something is not getting results, then doing nothing seems to be a better option. So confused and looking for ideas.
1) How to get started?
2) How much should be the better, more reasonable affordability bracket for rental income, given the current housing market? What should be the price ceiling for rent? $1800?
3) Which location/cities may have some of those neighborhoods that meet the excellent location for renting criteria?
4) How old properties do you recommend exploring?
5) Do you recommend self-management vs. getting a professional property manager? Are professional property management companies worth the cost? If they are, how would you cover this cost and the property tax along with incidentals from the rent, that the tenants in that area are willing to pay?
6) Or should one adapt to the changing dynamics and explore properties that can be better candidates for Airbnb, VRBO (roommates vs. vacation rentals?)
7) Are there turn-key property investment solutions who buy and rent properties on your behalf?

I know, this post may sound, I have been all over the place, but that is precisely the case. I have thought about many possible options, and nothing seems to be taking me anywhere forward. Need your help and guidance. Thanks in advance!
Mo

[TurtleCreek80]

If you’ve been looking for a rental property using that criteria for FIVE YEARS and have not found anything, it’s because it.does.not.exist. What makes you think there is some secret “stash” inventory of homes off MLS in desirable locations that are priced anywhere from 40-60% below median prices for those cities? Same thing with rent- median SFH rent in Plano is around $2300....that means 50% of the renters pay more than $2300. Why be trying to play the bottom end of the market and not more toward the middle where there’s more inventory.

If you want to be a slumlord, sure, you can find houses in Dallas for $15k, $20k, $40k. But good luck collecting rent checks or having tenants that don’t destroy your property or do illegal things there. Same thing with being a RV Park landlord.

[Peter5457]

You know the 2 largest hedge fund sfh investment offices are in plano. And we gots intl flight from everywhere bringing foreign money scooping up homes. Fort Worth has been where the action has been with Slumlords bankin. They got felons 2-3 per room renting houses. And they all getting jobs out there. Or, you can try Houston. Can you cut drywall? Good bargains down there.

[Sunbather]

to be fair, it is odd that you have looked for five years with this criteria without realizing that it is completely unrealistic criteria for the areas you are looking or without realizing that $1400-$1600 rent for a SFH in this area is certainly not the high end. In fact it is on the low end. Going above that is not pricing you out of the rental market...