Buying a house in the Northside ISD (San Antonio, Anton: price, property)

[MichelleSG]

I know in our neighborhood that renting a house out is terribly difficult. I my area of our subdivision the houses sell for $250-400k. There was one place up for rent (owned by Cali investors) for over a year. I don't know what they ended up doing with it but I think it was eventually sold. We have to sign a 1 year contract with the builder when we move in that we wont sell or rent the house. Be sure to find out the details of the neighborhood you want to buy so that clause doesn't bite you in the butt. Try to find out if there are any rentals near the house too and see what they go for. It could be that it's not enough to cover your mortgage. Many people come here thinking they will rent a home and find it much easier and more practical to buy. Using the real estate function on MYSA.com the highest priced house in 78251 is $370k but there are 36 pages of homes going down to $47k. It means you're probably going to have a lot of competition and it may not be so easy to rent your place out. SA is not known for being a great place for investing in residential real estate, be very careful before you make that purchase.

[Steel Man]

Originally Posted by rd2007

There's absolutely nothing wrong with that Turtle_Mom, but unfortunately the vast majority of them were off site, mostly California and Mexico and therefore could care less about the neighborhood they invested in.

We do indeed need more people like what you were suggesting. There's absolutely nothing wrong with a rental house and I lived in one the first year I was here.

Amen! To the right of my house are 3 rentals in a row and the 4th house is for sale and could turn into a rental. Also two houses across the street from me are rentals. This all happened in the last four years. So far, the neighbors are pretty good, but who knows about future renters? I must say that the rental houses look a lot worse (grass not cut, large weeds, etc.) when they are empty between renters.

[missmypfc]

Our neighborhood ( Highpoint at Westcreek) is making me nervous... nothing pre-existing is selling... they are sitting there for months on end and now I'm starting to see the rent/lease signs go up. We are still competing with new homes, which ARE selling, so maybe after the subdivision closes out, it will get a little better. I keep saying that our saving grace just might be the new high school and the extension of Grosenbacher. We plan to sell the spring before it opens, so we'll keep our fingers crossed. Our friend who is a realtor told me that people are just starting to inquire about the new high school boundary lines as one of their priorities. Renting is out of the question for us, so we will have to stay until the market changes.

[Big Guy]

Jeff Davidson, Davidson Real Estate 210-826-1616, essentially handles almost nothing but rentals.

Not knowing the purpose for which you want the accountant, let Jeff recommend one.

As far as attorneys, good general practice attorneys are are tough to find. I have used Mike Kreager, Kreager Law Firm, with good results. He handles Red McCombs affairs and I guess he is good enough for me. 210-829-7722. you could also count on him to recommend a good accountant.

You will also be wanting water treatment for you home or it will be a mess in no time at all. I found the guys at Watershed Water to be easy to deal with. They were not the cheapest nor the most expensive, But they seem to have good quality products at reasonable cost. My brother and I both have their units in ours homes and my brother has it in his office also. No problems in 4 years on any of the units. In the meantime we put one in my mother's house also. Except for putting in salt, just forget 'em.

[maco]

Thanks for all your replies! I understand your position about out of town property investors. It all comes down to good property management. But I believe a well managed rental property can attract good tenants and supply rental accommodation for people who aren't able or willing to go through the trouble of buying and maintaining their own home.
Appreciate your input Jules07 and Big Guy. Why would I need water treatment?

[rd2007]

The water is VERY hard here

[firstclassflyer]

The renters will never, ever take as good of care as you would your own home. Sorry, but it doesn't "all come down to good property management".
I've bought and sold dozens of properties and have seen what can happen.
I strictly deal in commercial properties now, besides owning my own home.

[rd2007]

and most of us appreciate you for it

[jules07]

Originally Posted by firstclassflyer

The renters will never, ever take as good of care as you would your own home. Sorry, but it doesn't "all come down to good property management".

Well, I'd agree with one of your sentences. It's doesn't "all come down to good property management." But the first one really bothers me. The whole "all renters are scumbag, second class citizens who will trash you house" mentality makes my hair stand on end! There are good tenants out there. Ask any of our previous landlords from 4 different states, we've always left a house in at least as good, and most times better condition than when we moved in. And I don't think that we're the only ones who've ever done that. Ya can't lump all tenants into a category anymore than you can say that "all landlords are money grubbing slumlords who don't care whatsoever about xy&z, only about putting tons of money in their pocket no matter who they hurt".

Good property management (whether done by an outside company or by the owner him/herself) involves more than just the bottom line! And whether or not I think that maco should invest in a potential rental has nothing to do with the fact that he/she seems to be looking at the whole picture and somehow create a beneficial situation for both him/herself and the tenant.

[rd2007]

I don't think second class scumbags was even close to what they were insinuating with their post

and you are right, you can never say ALL of anything is anything, that's impossible because there is always an exception. However, it is safe to say most renters do not care as much as a homeowner. There really isn't an incentive for them to, because it's not theirs.. Good example would be a rental car. I care about getting in an accident with one, but other than that I treat them like a car I'll never have to deal with again...

and it's easy to tell the rental properties on my street, especially the lawns... although I can't really talk about lawns today because mine needs mowing....