Choosing a Real Estate Market
The Dallas / Fort Worth real estate market, where Frontline Property Management does the majority of our business, is one of the hottest real estate markets in the US – and that’s even considering recent shutdowns and other issues caused by the pandemic. But what makes a market a good one to invest in, or to convert empty property into rentals in, and how do you determine if it’s right for you?
Get a Market Overview
Don’t worry yourself too much with mining data – there are plenty of companies and websites out there who do this for you. This will let you know not only what the current housing trends are, but how that matches up historically. You will also get a good estimate of what the growth potential of the market looks like.
Dallas’ recent housing boom is expected to continue, for example, despite the pandemic. That’s because it’s not only the black and white of the economy that is a predictor of the housing market; there’s a very real human factor as well.
Study Population Growth (& Watch What Millennials Do)
The housing market isn’t the only thing that’s booming in the Dallas / Fort Worth area. We’re on track to have the most new residents of any metro area through the end of the decade. That’s not just native growth – due to low mortgage rates and other influences we’ll discuss, more people than ever are moving to the Dallas / Fort Worth area.
Where people are moving – especially millennials, who make up the majority of the workforce – there will be a demand for housing. The way things are working out for the largest portion of the population, we can expect that renting will be the most common form of housing financially available and affordable. (That’s where you come in!)
Look at the Job Market
As you are someone looking to provide housing as a means of income to a portion of the population who are on average more educated yet less wealthy than the previous two generations at the same time in life, it is safe to say that the job market will be a great barometer of the real estate market. DFW has a diverse economy and jobs market, including an influx of companies who have moved to town.
Millennials rank Dallas as the third-most popular city that they would want to live in. But again, it’s not just about the nickels and dimes with millennials, it’s about intrinsic values.
Quality of Life
There’s a reason some small towns are struggling to thrive and suffer housing depreciation while places like DFW are experiencing a skyrocketing population: accessible and diverse activities. The Dallas / Fort Worth area boasts of things to do! Everything from parks to the arts can be found, and everything in between. These are very important to millenials, who will more readily take a job in a city with entertainment, public transportation, and affordable housing over a market that has very cheap housing but not much else. After 2020, you can expect that millennials will emphasize connectivity.
For this reason, among the others, the home appreciation in DFW is expected to do nothing but climb.
Of course, there are a lot of nuts and bolts in the property management machine to consider! Frontline Property Management will help you evaluate your rental property and the market that it’s in, down to the competitive pricing of the neighborhood. If you haven’t yet invested in a property in the DFW area yet, but would like to, we’d be more than happy to discuss helping you build and manage a portfolio with us!
