You may have already noticed if you’re living in one of the three apartment communities that are currently being upgraded, but if not, we welcome you drive by. Three of our buildings are getting a face lift.  306 Hawthorne, 502 W. Alabama, and 4315 Jack St. are all being repainted.  We’ll be adding some pictures to this post soon, as well as some before and after pictures to each property page soon.

For 502 W. Alabama, which we purchased about two years ago, it’s been a long time coming. The siding on the south end of the building (facing W. Alabama) was replaced soon after the building was purchased, however it was never painted.  We’ve also never been happy with the paint job inside the courtyard area. But life (new buildings) got in the way of making the visual improvements we wanted.  So we added some members to our team who are specifically in charge of “making things pretty”.  If you see them around in their “Fat Property” shirts, give them a high 5.  They’re there to make us look good – literally.

One of our favorite small complexes in Montrose is 306 Hawthorne.  The historic Westmoreland subdivision of Montrose can’t be beat. It’s filled with gorgous historic homes like this one for sale. The property is located at 304 Hawthorne and is literally next door to our small 6 unit apartment community.

If you’re in the market for a nice home in Montrose, you can’t go wrong with this one.  And if you’re in the market for a 1 bedroom, we do have one coming up soon at our 306 Hawthorne location. Live in style next to this house for $850/month. For more information, visit our tenant site.

Now this is a pretty cool story — pardon the pun.  Forbes has ranked Houston the #1 coolest city.  Read more here.

Have a multifamily property you’d like to sell?  Contact us.  We’re always looking to buy. Our deals page has more info about the criteria we look.  What we love is inner loop, larger multifamily. Specifically 77098, 77006, 77019 zipcodes.

We’re looking to increase our maintenance staff in preparation for our new properties.  Qualifications include:

• Living near the Montrose area.
• Having your own (reliable) transportation. Truck is best (for supply runs) but not required.
• Have your own (basic) tools.  We have most ‘uncommon’ tools (paint sprayers, large pluming snakes, etc.)
• Work required ranges from painting to light plumbing/electrical, to appliance installation, to flooring.
• Ability to keep busy and problem solve on your own.

If you feel you’re qualified, drop us a note.  Tell us a bit about your qualifications and expected pay.

Our friend Gus at Swamplot just posted a story about what might happen to the property at 3400 Montrose.  We’re not afraid to admit we’ve had a crush on this building for some time.  While we’re extremely jealous about someone else being the ones to take on this project, we’re just happen to see someone taking the leap.

We analyzed this building and while we think it’s a great project to take on, it would require massive liquidity to buy and renovate.  It’s not a project for the faint of heart, but we’re impressed someone saw what could be and will take the risk.

So are the new owners crazy?  Let us know what you think.

From Nancy Sarnoff from Houston Chronicle comes information about Houston’s inner loop and the massive amount of apartments coming on line.  As owners, we welcome the new properties. We feel that the supply will bring new demand and the demo looking at a brand new large “class A” property is different that those looking for a small vintage property — typically tucked away on a side street.  For the most part, these new properties are replacing run down buildings and making a positive impact on the neighborhood.

Disagree?  Let us know.

This came out a few years ago, but Montrose was named one of the top 10 neighborhoods in the US by the American Planning Association.  The Houston Chronicle ran a nice report about the designation. The photo below links to the Wikipedia page on Montrose

Got questions?  We got answers.  We’re trying to put together a list of our most asked questions.  From “Will you guys buy my place?” to “Can you give me tips on how I find an apartment in Montrose?”.   See our new FAQ page.

If you have a question that’s not on there, you can contact us or just leave a question for us right on the page.

We continue to work to a pace of one new property acquired every other month.  Our newest property is at 4315 Jack St.  It’s a 10 unit.  It’s pretty ugly right now (IMO) but it’s in Montrose next to a lot of very nice stuff — including the large Post project being built right up the street on the corner of Jack and Richmond. Our plans are to repaint the exterior, upgrade the units, and do our best to improve the whole end of that block.

This property isn’t far from the triplex we sold at 4204 Jack St. 

The picture below is right as of the purchase date — i.e., it’s still ugly.  Visit this buildings property page for some upcoming “after” shots