Thinking about buying a property in the barracks or on fraternity row that are listed right now. All cash. I'm a realtor licensed in another city so, I'm not familiar with the market here yet and the seasonality of best times to buy and then rent out for students. I was told this is the best time as parents are already looking for next year but i don't want to be paying on property taxes for a home that wouldn't bring me income until August. My child is currently a freshman too and want to get her out of the high rent I'm paying for her but lease isn't up until July .
I also don't see these areas though going up in value like I'd like and was told to look closer to campus. Yeah, right. My budget is 200-300k so that doesn't seem likely.
Opinions are appreciated as far as areas with my budget and timing.

When my 3 kids were in school the next year leasing shuffle was starting in January and peaked in March/April. This was for leases starting in July.

I'm not a fan of the Barracks but do your own diligence. I agree closer to campus is better. Maybe east side? My daughter lived on the east side and had good homes for reasonable prices. Older but close.

Our leases are usually July to July with about 4-5 days between. Appreciation has been pretty nice recently, but with inflation everything is going up.

Local Realtor, Investor guy with my team, work with a lot of parent investors. Happy to help, compensation be damned. Lemme know what I can do

I'll be joining a brokerage and mls here very soon. Just closing out my existing pipeline first. Send me a pm with any suggested brokerages to join if you wouldn't mind.

Sent

I looked at a place in the Barracks as a rental/investment property shortly after they had started building…I didn't follow through and have wondered how that would've worked out.

I know there's been a lot of foundation problems in there. But that's everywhere around here.

bobcat90 said:

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Thinking about buying a property in the barracks or on fraternity row that are listed right now. All cash. I'm a realtor licensed in another city so, I'm not familiar with the market here yet and the seasonality of best times to buy and then rent out for students. I was told this is the best time as parents are already looking for next year but i don't want to be paying on property taxes for a home that wouldn't bring me income until August. My child is currently a freshman too and want to get her out of the high rent I'm paying for her but lease isn't up until July .
I also don't see these areas though going up in value like I'd like and was told to look closer to campus. Yeah, right. My budget is 200-300k so that doesn't seem likely.
Opinions are appreciated as far as areas with my budget and timing.

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Barracks was built at the tail end of the amenities arm race in college station. It has a huge lazy river with a swim up bar that is a day party spot. Its 'free' to owners and people who live in the barracks, everyone else has to pay. Just something to keep in mind about the company you keep here.

Post-Barracks being brought online, the last 6-8 years have been a proximity arms race to put massive student housing close to campus.

My take from my time at A&M is that proximity really is better than amenities if you have to choose. I would buy closer to town than frat row and barracks but thats just me.

bobcat90 said:

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Thinking about buying a property in the barracks or on fraternity row that are listed right now. All cash. I'm a realtor licensed in another city so, I'm not familiar with the market here yet and the seasonality of best times to buy and then rent out for students. I was told this is the best time as parents are already looking for next year but i don't want to be paying on property taxes for a home that wouldn't bring me income until August. My child is currently a freshman too and want to get her out of the high rent I'm paying for her but lease isn't up until July .
I also don't see these areas though going up in value like I'd like and was told to look closer to campus. Yeah, right. My budget is 200-300k so that doesn't seem likely.
Opinions are appreciated as far as areas with my budget and timing.

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You are right at where I was 21 years ago. Son was a freshman in the dorms and I was simply trying to find a way to beat paying for dorm fees. I was a financial advisor and helping people plan for retirement using the traditional methods of stock, bonds, mutual funds and annuities. So I was not looking towards real estate as a retirement strategy, just a way to save on College Cost.

I bought a duplex 5 mins from main campus, 3 mins to the VET School. It was a 3 bedroom 2 bath configuration on each side. I bought it for 146k and because I was super nervous I put down 46k and mortgaged only 100k.
One side was rented out for $900 to three girls and the other I rented to two of my son's friends for $325 each. My son lived free. My nut was $1000 which included mortgage, taxes and insurance. My initial income was $1550 so I was making $550 a month with my son living FREE. Rents are now $1350 each side, below market but I have no mortgage.

Once I realized how profitable this strategy became (took me 3 years to figure it out, maybe because I am an Aggie as well LOL), I began buying more duplexes. I still own the first one I bought back in 2003 and now have 20 units total. Life is good. I highly recommend investment real estate, especially if you have a kid attending college there. BTW, it is also superb retirement income .

I have no problem finding college students to rent. I pre-lease beginning Feb-Mar for July move-in. All my units are set usually by March for the next school year.

If you want to hear more DM would be happy to discuss with you. By the way, I am neither a real estate agent nor a lender. Just an 69 year Old Fart that is enjoying life. Cheers.

This is great advice and gives me confidence to wait a few months to purchase but definitely going to. It's my plan as well to own several since my money has grown way faster in real estate than in the stock market. Do you use a property management company? Assuming so, with that many properties.

No I do it all myself. I live in Austin. I have 10 units in Austin and 10 units in Bryan. If you can manage one in Bryan, you can do 9 more with relative ease. Bryan is my easiest market to manage.

bobcat90 said:

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This is great advice and gives me confidence to wait a few months to purchase but definitely going to. It's my plan as well to own several since my money has grown way faster in real estate than in the stock market. Do you use a property management company? Assuming so, with that many properties.

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I could tell by your initial post, you were thinking of buying a single family house (SFH). In my estimation that would be a mistake. You stated you didn't want to pull the trigger because you didn't want it to go vacant with no income. Buying a duplex solves that issue. Usually one side will roll over in the summer and even if it doesn't you can just let one side continue month to month until your daughter is ready to move in.

Also, your cash flow should be better with a duplex and with a lot more options. Less risk more money, what is there not to like?

bobcat90 and scrap:

I have my marketing materials ready for our new townhome project off of Holleman in College Station. Started selling Monday mid-afternoon. If either of you are interested in reviewing the opportunity, PM me your email and I will send the Dropbox marketing link to you. New construction and excellent location as it relates to A&M Campus/Kyle, the Brookshires development, and Jones Crossing development anchored by H-E-B.

Happy to hop on a call, too.

Cheers,

I'll be pm-ing you throughout the process. Am definitely buying for investment this spring and want to keep buying but know I'll need to finance by the 3rd purchase. I'll reach out soon and appreciate it bc yes, I'm exactly where you were and want that passive income in the future.

I live in Austin, but go to all the Aggie home football games. I stay in one of my properties in Bryan when I come up. If you are in Bryan and want to get coffee, I would be happy to discuss investing in real estate in BCS. Just let me know if you plan to be in Bryan on a football weekend. Joe

I live here so any time!!