Charlotte, NC area investors - what was your first property?

Question

Calling all Charlotte Area investors!! I am curious as to what you first property was that you purchased in this area. I have lived down here for a little over a year, and the market is much different from where I lived in Upstate, NY.

If you have time, I would like to know a few things:

- What was your first property type and what was your strategy for it (Buy and hold, flip, etc)

- When did you buy that first property? Obviously, a lot has changed in Charlotte in recent years.

- If you were to do it again, what would you do differently (if anything at all)?

I am curious of these questions because my initial strategy was to find a 2-4 unit property and house hack (I just learned this term a few days ago...but that is what I had wanted to do!). However, it seems as if the inventory of 2-4 units is quite small compared to where I moved from (Binghamton, NY). So now I also am considering starting with a SFR with a live in and rehab strategy.

Thank you are for any answers you give, and I appreciate your time!

-Matt

Tyler Watts · Answer

Matthew,

I've been investing in the neighboring town (Gastonia) with a lot of success. My nitch area is find the 2/1 or 3/1 for less than 50K fully rehabbed. Easier said than done so I have to concentrate on foreclosures. I've got some good contractors that can help get things up to par which is a key to my success. There's a lot of old mill homes in the area and they make perfect rentals if rehabbed correctly.I have found that when re-habbing, do it correctly and economically . People want a nice place to live and will stay and pay a premium rate. Knock on wood, I've got 2 properties in gastonia and I bet I had 30+ people that wanted to rent it before I could close on the property (with deposit and 1st months rent in there hand). Everyone said, "the house looks new" so the results of re-habbing and not cutting corners seemed to help a lot in my case. There is a considerable price difference for purchasing and rents b/w the two cities although there only 25-20 minutes apart.

Chris T. · Answer

@Matthew Jones

Here is how we got started here in Charlotte:

We purchased a SFR in the NoDa area in late 2012.  The house was definitely in need of some work, but came with tenants in place.  We are buy and hold investors so we didn't do much until that set of tenants moved out a year and a half later.  We really have only been doing things on an as needed basis (roof, siding, etc.) but when we do we make sure we not only fix but upgrade to make that aspect of the property more in line with the other rehabbed properties in the area.

This property has been great.  With its location we have had exactly zero days of vacancy even though we are now on our 3rd set of tenants.  I have tried to not only do a good job of screening tenants, but also trying to be very responsive when issues do arise.  As a result the managing of this property has really not been much of a headache.

We bought our second property in the same general area of town but not in the immediate Noda/Plaza area.  It too has been fantastic and very easy to rent.  Now we are currently under contract to purchase our 3rd property also in that same area.   We are planning on continuing to expand our property holding, all for long term buy and hold.

Don't count out buying a SFR and getting a roommate or two if your situation might allow.  That is how I originally started and was almost living for free.  A slightly different way of "house hacking."

James Slaughter · Answer

Hey Matt,

I will go first.  My first rental was/is a townhouse in Cornelius I lived in for several years.  My wife and I decided we wanted to buy a new place about two years ago and we decided to rent the townhouse out instead of selling it.

So far my first rental has almost been too easy....knock on wood (I know there will be issues and vacancies at some point).  I also know the HOA and property manager are taking a bite out of my profits, but having a place that is taken care of on the exterior at least was an easy stress free way to ease into the rental market.  Having bought another property since, I have found (mostly due to my wife) that the property management aspect although challenging has overall been a rewarding process.  One thing I have found is that I have great tenants and I plan on working hard to keep it that way.

Not too exciting so far and hopefully it will stay that way.

Matthew Jones · Answer

Great info guys! I appreciate your time!

Regardless of what my first property type is, I had planned to rehab it in some sort of way. I dont want to buy something really turnkey, because I really enjoy projects and I (in my opinion) do great work. The OCD really helps lol! And I want to be able to add that sweat equity to the right property. Luckily I have a little bit of experience with all aspects of construction and remodeling, so that should help me in the future.

Charlotte, NC area investors - what was your first property?

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