1st SFR in Clarksville, TN (area) not going so hot...

[Nathan McQueen]

So I bought my first SFR near Ft. Campbell (Oak Grove, KY) last year in September. Since then things have not gone as smoothly as I'd like so I wanted to reach out to other investors to see if its something I'm doing, the area, my PM, etc...

I closed on the property in mid-Sept, it needed very little to get it ready for the market, it was officially on the market in early Oct. Our first tenant moved in around Thanksgiving (60ish days on the market). Their 1st rent payment was late, they blamed it on their BAH being messed up. We did eventually get paid in full and things leveled out for a bit. Then Feb rent was late, I reached out to the PM they said, Oh, we'll look into that." We did eventually get Feb rent on like the 20-something of the month, but I'm like WTH guys....? The fun keeps coming, in mid-April I get word from the PM that my tenant has orders to PCS (he's military) and will be moving out in 30 days. I checked the orders and they were legit. Then May rent was late, we think it was because the tenant put down a deposit on another place (still not a valid reason). 

The only saving grace (I thought) was that my PM placed another tenant 10 days after the 1st one moved out. I was feeling quite relived, the first tenant, despite not being the best at paying rent, moved out left the place in good condition so another tenant could quickly move in. I was thinking things are looking up! Yesterday I get word from our PM that the new tenant hasn't paid June rent.... (when it rains it pours!) Once again the tenant is blaming their BAH getting messed up.

Finally here's my question, I'm asking other investors in the area (or similar military towns), is this the kind of thing I can expect renting to predominately military folks, or are both of these experiences a fluke? I feel like my PM may be adding to some of the issues here, but I don't want to blame them entirely.

Any thoughts or opinions from other investors in the area would be greatly appreciated.

@Josh McQueen

[Charles Biter]

Nathan,

No it is not what you should expect.  I have several rentals (that I self manage) and the military are my best renters. First of all it sounds like your PM is doing a terrible job of screening applicants.  Second your location is not ideal.  Oak Grove is not nearly as desirable as Clarksville due primarily to the school systems.  Why didn't your PM contact your first renters First Sargent when they were not paying? 

[Nathan McQueen]

@Charles Biter thank you for your feedback, glad to know Clarksville is working out for you. 

Overall I'm not too pleased with this PM for the very reasons you mention. I have had to pull info from them more than they've given me. 

I looked at a lot of things when I selected Oak Grove, but schools was not one of them (I don't have kids so its not something I think about, still bad on me). In Oak Grove I found a better price to rent ratio and lower taxes as pros over Clarksville. For the intermediate late rents I'm guessing the PM didn't reach out to the tenant's First Sargent because the rent did eventually come in that same month (I may be giving them too much credit). As for the last/ final late rent on the 1st tenant I asked the PM to contact the tenant's unit, but was told that since they PCS'd the old unit couldn't/ wouldn't help us so now we're getting attorneys involved. 

[Jacob Sampson]

Unfortunately, most PMs are total horse sh%t and you are using one of the sh%tty ones.  Hopefully you can find a good one in that area.  I literally don't have a single good PM in my area.  Most of them own their own properties and so guess which properties are put on the market first and guess whose properties get the A&B tenants and whose get the C&D? 

[Caleb Heimsoth]

@Nathan McQueen are these tenants like infrantry soldiers who are single guys or are these officers who have family’s?

You can’t discriminate based on those facts but I will tell you that single soldiers will he very hard on your unit.

A former business partner of mine (who’s a veteran) was so against renting to active service members and I asked him why, he said they’ll trash your unit and there’s very little you can do about it..

[Nathan McQueen]

@Jacob Sampson I'm beginning to think that. I was spoiled by the PM managing my property in NC.

@Caleb Heimsoth I'm pretty sure the tenant is an enlisted soldier, but with a family. Its a 3-2 that rents for $900/mo so its not at the top and not at the bottom of the market. So far I've been fortunate on the turn costs. 

[Caleb Heimsoth]

Originally posted by @Nathan McQueen:

@Jacob Sampson I'm beginning to think that. I was spoiled by the PM managing my property in NC.

@Caleb Heimsoth I'm pretty sure the tenant is an enlisted soldier, but with a family. Its a 3-2 that rents for $900/mo so its not at the top and not at the bottom of the market. So far I've been fortunate on the turn costs. 

 Yeah I’d expect lots of instability to come with an enlisted soldier, with or without a family.  You’re experiencing that now some, I wouldn’t expect that to change a lot going forward.  Good luck!!

[Nicholas Earls]

I was told by several contractors and agents to stay away from Oak Grove.  As mentioned above the schools are bad, the build quality of most everything there is very poor, the is not much there to attract people other than being cheap.  Thus the tenants that are looking in that area are usually the lower quality ones in general.   I was also cautioned about renting to single enlisted soldiers because they will tear stuff up and leave more often when PCSing.  Obviously you cannot specifically discriminate against single people but do whatever you can to position your property to be more attractive to families because they will take better care of the property and tend to be a little more stable in one area.  That is not to say that they won't get orders to PCS, but the Army tries to keep them more stable for school a bit more so.  

As far as property management: there are a ton of really bad ones here since there are so many soldiers renting,  many of the good ones won't touch Oak Grove for the reasons mentioned above but really dig into reviews and see if you can get in with one of the better ones.  I like JKA Properties but I'm not sure they will go into Oak Grove.