In this Multifamily Strategy episode, host Christian (Speaker B) and guest Caleb Hommel discuss why they focus on Texas for multifamily real‑estate investments. Caleb shares a recent $2 million, 25‑unit acquisition in Stephenville and explains the criteria they use to select markets: job stability, population growth, university enrollment spikes, and long‑standing agricultural industries. They compare Texas’s landlord‑friendly legal environment—quick, low‑cost evictions—to the restrictive eviction processes in Washington State. Both hosts also note personal motivations: Caleb moved from California, Christian is buying a primary residence in Texas, and both cite the influx of people from “blue states” and the presence of major corporations (e.g., Elon Musk’s enterprises) as drivers of demand. The conversation highlights Texas’s rapid growth corridors (Austin, Dallas‑Fort Worth, Houston, Valley), the scarcity of entry‑level housing due to a focus on Class A multifamily development, and the overall attractiveness of the market for investors.
Chapters
And people just want to be in these markets, in these areas, whether it's Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth. A lot of people in Houston. Valley's growing like crazy. It's just be somewhere where people want to live. That's the name of the game.
That's exactly right. Hello and welcome back. I am joined again by Caleb Hommel. Today we're going to be talking about why Texas, and in general, how we choose the markets that we invest in. Caleb, welcome back to the channel.
Thanks for having me.
Why are we here today?
Yeah, we're here— I just closed an apartment building this last Friday over in Stephenville, Texas. A little 25 units, $2 million. We did a live about that one, so go check that one out.
Yes, that's actually getting a lot of views, so you guys check that out right now. That's the video that we posted on Monday this week. Okay, so we're in Texas, you're buying in Texas. You own McAllen, Laredo, Houston, now Stephenville, which is a little bit outside Fort Worth. Why Texas?
Yeah, the biggest thing with Texas when I was getting started, I was looking for somewhere that was a red state that had a lot of inventory I could call on. I just finally started using the relationship strategy you guys talked about, but when I was I was getting started, I was only doing broker calls, so I needed somewhere where I could call a lot. Ultimately came down to Texas and Florida are my two options. Texas is halfway closer across the country. I'm calling Texas, and that's why I chose Texas to start.
Okay, there we go. Now there's a couple things in this market that we really like. Now, one of the biggest things that I prefer is job stability. And now you can have different things that work for job stability. In Moses Lake, where Cody and I invest a ton, you have Boeing, Microsoft, Amazon. They do their data centers, they do, uh, aerospace R&D. You have a background of a lot of agriculture. You're now doing battery manufacturing. Job diversity and long-standing jobs is fantastic. What do we have in Stephenville, Texas that makes that an attractive area? Because that has a little different economy.
Yeah, way different economy than out there. We're not doing Boeing R&D out there. We're doing, um, first of all, you got a university that's going like crazy. This year they just hit their 4th year of record enrollment, and university grew 8.6%. 8.6% this year. They just did a post on it. So, wow, when you're in a town of 20-something thousand and your university's adding 8.6%, there's about 15,000 kids, that's significant. And then the next thing out there is the dairy and agricultural industry has a long-standing tradition out there. They have actually in the town square down there, there's a cow with a thing of milk to show like how— like, they basically— that shows you all you need to know about their dairy industry. It's very prevalent all around that area.
Yep. And so you have, uh, farming that is a beef and dairy industry that's been there for hundreds of years.
Hundreds, yeah.
Uh, which is, which is great. So you're like, okay, so we have some jobs here that have been here forever. There's a community on its own. There's a college that just went Division I in sports. They're playing schools like Texas A&M, Baylor. Um, I believe they just got absolutely destroyed by Tech.
Yeah, Texas Tech just got lit up by Tech in Lubbock.
Uh, but they're getting to play football against those schools now, so you're attracting a lot more students, and it's a growing school. So we have multiple things driving population. On top of that, it's not that far out of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. That is in the path of growth. If you look at the nearby cities like Weatherford, Texas— oh my gosh, the graph population is like a straight up line. A ton of jobs moving in there, and that's right down the road. So as you're starting to look at path of growth, you have population growth. It's always hard to keep up on housing since we buy primarily entry-level housing. Caleb buys a lot of stuff just like I do. They don't build more old housing to make better.
That's the nice thing. They aren't building more '75 builds. Turns out that's impossible. No, that is—
they are not. However, you are seeing a lot of building going up there. They're building hotels, they're bringing Class A multifamily.
A lot of Class A multifamily stuff sitting in the market down there. That's Class A. It's, it's ridiculous. And that just kind of really helps us out, the entry-level, entry-level housing, because nobody's building that anymore.
Yeah. So what are we really looking at for a market? We're looking at job stability, we're looking at population growth. We want to be renting where people want to live. Now let's talk about the politics a little bit because I live in Washington and my portfolio— Washington has major drug problems which bleed their way into my portfolio and into your little housing. It will happen. We have very, very, very difficult to evict in some areas.
I can't relate to that at all.
Yeah, some areas in King County and Pierce County you can no longer run background checks. Those have been banned.
Recently.
And you're talking eviction on a month-to-month lease, it's almost impossible to evict in Washington State. In Texas, month-to-month lease, if you end the lease, you can usually get people out within, what, 2 weeks?
Yeah, if that. I mean, I processed one eviction about— I've been an owner for a little over a year now in Texas, and I had to process one eviction. I think it ran me $150.
Average eviction for us is $2,000 to $5,000 depending on the eviction. How long it's gonna take and how much actual court time it takes. People can actually show up to court after we give them, we're required to give them 2 sets of letters recommending free lawyers that the state will pay for to defend them against their eviction for non-pay. And these are for people who haven't paid in months and months and months. We include the ledger in that, we include their whole rental history, the balance, where they're at, we submit that. They can show up, and this is typically what happens, first time you pay for your lawyer to represent you in court, you go there and they go, oh, I didn't get a lawyer, I want representation. Automatically kicked out 2 weeks for them to find a lawyer. Then they come back, if they come up with anything, a wrong date on a notice posting, a missed communication, we've actually had someone restart the process because they couldn't receive the notice because they were in prison. That is what you work out— I have to work with in states like Washington. Well, I love Washington because there's less competition because people don't want to deal with that. In a state like Texas, you don't have to deal with it at all. Exactly. Why are we here? Better landlord politics.
Yeah, we went over why I'm down here. Why are you down here?
I'm down here because I am buying a property. This property happens to be a primary residence. In fact, I'm going to be having a call, uh, with the agent on that in just a few minutes, but we're getting in an offer on a house that I am building in Texas. I believe I found the land parcel and the builder that I'm going to go with. So, uh, fingers crossed because I don't get too excited until a deal is done and we haven't even signed the paperwork yet. However, that is why I'm down here looking for a place to live and happen to coincide with the fact that Caleb's down here buying a deal, buying a $2 million deal. So look at that.
I mean, it's also perfect, right? We're talking about markets, why people are moving to Texas. We're prime examples of it ourselves. You're coming down from Washington, I'm moving from California. People want to come here from these blue states. It's just the landlord friendliness for business is unmatched. Just overall, just business in general. I mean, there's a reason big companies here— Elon's already brought everything down here that he owns pretty much. And people just want to be in these markets, in these areas, whether it's Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth. A lot of people in Houston. Valley's growing like crazy. It's just be somewhere where people want to live. That's the name of the game.
That's exactly right. Now if you want to learn more about how to buy real estate in any market Check out more of our YouTube channel, like and subscribe here. This is Cody and Christian, Multifamily Strategy. We're joined today by Mr. Caleb Hommel. You can find on Instagram @caleb.hommel.
And really wanted to get rid of the dot, but the guy wouldn't give it up, so that's okay.
That's okay.
You don't even have a dot, so you win.
And most importantly, if you're a fan of freedom and reasonable laws and want to be a landlord, come to Texas.
