Safe and high rental demand areas in Fort Worth (Arlington: sales, rentals)

[mcewenissitt]

I am coming to Fort Worth in January 2012 to purchase an investment property. I wanted to get some ideas of good places to buy that is safe and has a high rental demand. We are looking at spending $60K on the house and then rent it out. Would love to hear from locals who are in the know.
I am an Aussie who has never been to Fort Worth and my last trip to the states was over 10 years ago and I visited Disneyland as an elementary school kid!
Appreciate all your advice

[synchronicity]

Originally Posted by mcewenissitt

I am coming to Fort Worth in January 2012 to purchase an investment property. I wanted to get some ideas of good places to buy that is safe and has a high rental demand. We are looking at spending $60K on the house and then rent it out. Would love to hear from locals who are in the know.
I am an Aussie who has never been to Fort Worth and my last trip to the states was over 10 years ago and I visited Disneyland as an elementary school kid!
Appreciate all your advice

With all due respect, if you mean a total cost of 60K (rather than a down payment), the only rental you'd have is a crack house.

[ChristieP]

Originally Posted by synchronicity

With all due respect, if you mean a total cost of 60K (rather than a down payment), the only rental you'd have is a crack house.

Funny statement, but very true.
$60k will NOT get you a decent house in a good neighborhood. You'll need to at least double that amount.

[mcewenissitt]

Thanks for your comments say if I doubled the amount where would I be looking for good safe areas?

[ChristieP]

Hurst, Euless, Bedford, North Richland Hills, Grapevine, Keller

[Doohickie]

...West and Southwest Fort Worth, Arlington Heights, Wedgwood, Candleridge, Benbrook, Edgecliff Village. Basically there are a lot of decent areas. The areas to most avoid would be the area bounded by SH 121, I-35W, I-20 & East Loop I-820 (southeast side of the city). There are some other pockets to stay away from, but that is the largest area of rough neighborhoods. It tends to be spotty at worst in the rest of the city.

[CzechGrazer]

I would respectfully disagree with some of the opinions on this thread. I believe there are plenty of rental properties to choose from in the 80-100K range in nice, safe neighborhoods.
Houses in the 120K+ range do not make good rentals... They are too expensive for most renters.
A good guideline is to get at least 1% of the sales price in monthly rent.
A 90K house should get at least 900 in rent, etc
Those numbers do not work at the higher levels. A 200k house will not rent for 2000 a month.

[mcewenissitt]

I appreciate your comments. Yes I agree with CzechGrazer, there is not point renting unless you receive a good enough return, however can see what the other people may be saying about dangerous neighbourhoods at low prices. As an Australian who has never been to Fort Worth I am taking in all your comments as they come and they are muchly appreciated

[Squirl]

that is truly LAUGH OUT LOUD funny! There are properties between $40K and $70K but they all need to be rehabbed.

There is absolutely NO, NO, NO, NO properties you can acquire for $60K in high demand rental areas unless you buy a place needing total rehab; and it would have to be a condo at that price. With it being a total rehab, expect to invest another $40K and have to rely on contractors. Very difficult if you are not a local.

[loves2read]

And she knows because she buys/rents houses