Wanting to Buy and Hold in Nashville

[JT Spangler]

Yeah, so that pretty well covers it. I'm JT, and I'm a musician who's been living in Nashville for about 3 years now.

I just finished an extensive search for a SFH for my primary residence (I looked at over 50 houses in my neighborhood for over a year before finally getting my current place under contract), and once I was done I realized I had acquired an important knowledge base to add to my 'getting started in real estate' checklist -- I know exactly how much houses should be selling for in my neighborhood (east Nashville). I also have a ton of musician friends who rent, so I have a pretty good idea about fair market rent. I live in one of the hottest neighborhoods in one of the hottest towns in the US, so while the deals aren't easy to find, I believe they are out there. The 1% properties are around me, but there are also 2% and up, I think, if you are smart about it. The other good news is that my neighborhood gentrifying, with musicians and hipsters moving in to an area that was pretty sketchy a few years ago, so there are still bargains to be had on the outskirts and if you don't mind fixers.

My side hustle brings in enough cash that I think I can start making offers on places as soon as I'm back for the new year. My realtor sent me (at my request) all of the cash sales in my two zips of interest from the last 60 days, so I'm getting a feel for who's buying and for how much.

Anyway, I'm not real sure what else to say. My short term goal is to learn everything I can about buying a SFR the smart way and putting a good tenant in their, first quarter '14. My near term goal is to have $1000 monthly net coming my way in the next few years. I'm fairly mechanically inclined, and enjoy rehabbing and DIYing, so I'm planning to help my 50% rule by getting any place I buy in good shape before renting, as well as doing my own maintenance where possible.

I'm excited to start tearing into some of the information here and meet some of you guys.