Buyers, especially from out of Texas, need local representation to avoid the potential pitfalls of investing in commercial property. While there continue to be many good investment opportunities in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, some Californians, in particular, have paid too much for some Dallas area multi-family properties and are suffering negative cash flow.

Out-of-state investors are sometimes not aware of Texas' high property taxes and how tax assessments work here (e.g., it's a "non-disclosure" state, but…). Many have also been surprised by the amount of their utility costs, especially on all-bills-paid properties. Finding satisfactory management has been another challenge for some out-of-state investors. I offer learned advice in each of these areas.

My deep market knowledge and experience includes 15 years in the D/FW apartment business and 17 years in commercial banking here. My apartment experience actually goes back farther to 1982 when, while at SMU, I marketed to apartment developers my family's four-acre homestead near White Rock Lake in Dallas which became the Oaks White Rock Apartments, developed by the Staubach Company and once owned by Post Properties.

As a third-generation, 46-year lifelong resident with 25 years in D/FW banking and real estate, I KNOW the various D/FW areas, which neighborhoods have upside, which ones to avoid, which ones have become over-priced.