All Forum Posts by: Adam Johnson

Hello all,

I have just recently reached my savings goal and have started looking for my first deal; I had a fourplex pretty much fall into my lap today that looks like a good deal; however I haven't been looking in my local area for my first investment.  Can anyone recommend a good property management company to look after a residential unit in the Upstate SC area?   Carolina Upstate Property Management looks like the one that I will be going with, but I have also discovered Flagship Properties and Alpha Properties, although I am looking for someone to handle properties in the Spartanburg area.  Any input would be appreciated; cheers!

Conratulations!  It sounds like the whole experience let you learn a lot in the process so going forward you'll be that much more prepared to deal with issues as they pop up!

Congrats on your first deal!  After reading about your foray into the investing world, I'm curious to know if you have any other contacts in your investing area other than your real estate agent, and if the property you've purchased is requiring any kind of rehab/improvements before it's rentable?  

Well guys, just a quick update.  Went out to look at some prefab homes to get an idea of how much it would really cost me to set one up to get my master plan rolling.  Turns out it costs way, waaayyyyy more all together to buy and set up one of those things than I initially thought.  So it looks like the money I save up will be going directly into my first investment property after all!  Gonna have to find an awesome investment to use as my first one, I'll probably look into either student housing or some kind of multifamily property out of my area unless I can find a really awesome single family home to pick up close to my primary residence.  Thanks for all of the feedback, looking forward to the journey!

I'll check out some prospects outside of my area; I just listened to the podcast on investing in out of state properties and David Greene has an excellent strategy going for him.  The main concern overall is cash flow; by going the manufactured home route it would allow me to live debt free while still making money from my home rental and day job, if for some reason the house I'm renting out becomes vacant, I can still afford to make the mortgage payment without any difficulty on my end.  If I were to invest in a four plex property out of state while staying in my current home, I would prefer to be making enough to cover both my home mortgage and the mortgage on the four plex, plus be able to profit.  That means that I would need to be clearing $700/month profit PLUS whatever the cost is on the mortgage on the four plex, plus any necessary savings set aside for property management/unexpected maintenance fees etc.  

Thomas, thanks for the response. The total monthly cost of the mortgage and the HOA is $680, so if I were to rent the property out at $1100 per month I would be clearing $420 a month before setting aside money for maintenance/repairs/vacancy coverage etc. I've looked around the area that I live in for multifamily properties that I can house hack but Spartanburg doesn't have many if any around. The closest options are student housing in Clemson that is 1.5 hours away. I'll look harder in the Greenville area which is closer but the prices in Greenville are ridiculously high; I can stick with it and find a deal somewhere I'm sure.

Hi guys,

I'm planning on getting started in real estate investing next year, on track to make my first move in June 2018. Currently I'm living in a 1900 sq. ft. 3 bedroom 2 bathroom house in a quiet rural neighborhood that I'm paying $650 a month for not including utilities with a $350/year HOA fee. Rental rates for single family houses with the same specs in my area run between $1000-1500/month and I plan to start out advertising for about $1100/month rent.

The current plan is to save up between $30 and $40k and buy a manufactured home for cash.  This will allow me to rent out the home that I'm currently in, as well as have a property of my own to live in that is completely paid off save for utilities.  I'm also working a 40 hour/week job, so if I manage to get tenants in the house for rent I'll be able to bankroll all of the rental profits along with all of the income I get from my day job, which will speed up the process of buying and renting out properties while minimizing the amount of risk that I am taking on.  Worst case scenario is that I would end up with a vacant house for several months while I'm trying to find someone to rent it; or the market tanks and I won't be able to get my desired rental price met.  In either of those cases I will still be able to cover the mortgage cost with my own paycheck.

My question is, instead of taking this course of action, would I be better off taking the money that I save up and putting it into a second property to rent out?  With all of the talk about the market being at its peak and being primed to fall I'm hesitant to put myself into a situation where I'll be stuck with two house payments and no way of making them with my current income, although with my current plan of action I may end up with more houses than I can pay for anyways if I end up with two or three under my belt instead of just one.  Any thoughts?

Thanks Matt, it's great how everybody in the community is so welcoming!  And hi Chad, it's good to run into somebody else who's in my area on this site; we might be able to discuss a couple of different strategy options if you'd be up for it!

Thanks for the welcome Andrew!  And thanks for the advice, Jack; researching the properties in my area over the last few weeks has already started to give me second thoughts; multifamily properties seem a little bit scarce around here, and the best bet I have for student housing would be in Clemson which is about two hours away from me.  I know that ultimately it all comes down to the deal I make when it comes to determining income and expenses but generally it seems that multifamily properties tend to give the investor more income than single family houses do.  The problem I'm running into right now is that there seem to be a whole lot more single family homes in my area than there are multifamily, who knows I might be able to find an awesome deal when I'm ready that will produce a great cash flow starting out!

Hello everyone, I'm Adam.  I started researching real estate investing a few months ago and after stumbling my way through the stock market for the last two years I feel like real estate is a much better "guarantee" for a good return on my investments.  I'm about halfway to my $30 K savings goal and hope to make my first purchase around June of 2018.  In the mean time I'm studying constantly and trying to decide on a niche to begin my portfolio with.  Currently I'm leaning towards multi family or student housing as my first purchases, I'll need something that generates a good bit of cash flow to get up and running and those seem to be the best bang for the buck for those just starting out; although one of my concerns is how demanding the tenants can be in those types of properties compared to single family homes.  I'm looking forward to having some great discussions with other members here on the site!