sort of newbie in SoCal making the move to South Carolina

[Layla Sewell]

I'm Layla Sewell. I'm a military brat living in Los Angeles, but making the move to Lexington, South Carolina this summer. I'm a wife and mother who works full time as a Social Worker. I'm about to 1031 exchange my SFR in Lancaster, CA for a mutli-family in the Columbia area of South Carolina hopefully by January 2020. My goal is to scale up to commercial apartments. My current strategy is buy and hold. I found out about Bigger Pockets from researching the net about real estate. Now I tell everyone I know who is starting out. I'm an avid listener to the BP podcasts. It took me awhile to introduce myself, but I've been listening to the podcasts for about a year now. I'm still trying to get the hang of the forums. It feels overwhelming sometimes. Thanks for reading my post!

[Ralph Poirier]

@Andrew R. Lucas is correct about the insurance.  The rest of it (utilities/landscaping) is up to you.  I take care of the landscaping because I know they won't.  I look around Cola and you can see many don't take of there lawns.  I also pay the utilities and get reimbursed by tenants.  It makes it easier for them to cut me one check a month then having to have that responsibility to fall onto the students I rent to.  This helps keep the peace within the house without them chasing each other for money.  It's all how you want to approach the business.