All Forum Posts by: Adrienne Green

@Silo Mansaray welcome to the world of real estate investing!  

What research and planning have you done so far?  Have you read David Greene's book about long distance real estate investing?  Have you read books about short term rentals?  Avery Carl's is a good place to start.  A thorough book will be a MUCH better place to start than the soundbites you'll get on this forum.  The forum is the next layer- like decorations on a cake.  You first have to bake the cake, which in this case, would be reading books.

I would suggest (1) set aside a time period to research and build a plan before you ever start looking to actually buy.  Determine your goals (specific!  personal!), then (2) develop a plan to reach those goals, and finally (3).  You will get further faster by zeroing in on the specific strategy perfect for YOU.0

@Zane Abner maybe your real estate agent would be willing to do this, or knows a newer agent who would to make some extra money!  When our clients buy a rental and elect to self manage, we offer this to help them!

@Timothy Jamar I wish I'd started with long distance investing, you're smart to learn about it from the beginning of your REI journey!

Chattanooga only has 1 turnkey company that I am aware of, Spartan Invest.  They may be one to consider.  

Other than that, there is also the opportunity to buy a rent ready property and use any of our local PMs to manage it!  

@Tyler Fontaine I'm glad to hear you love Tennessee!  It's a pretty awesome place. @David Menapace is definitely someone to talk to- he's up in MA, invests in TN, and is a STR expert.

Where specifically are you targeting, or are you open to the entire state?  That would dictate some of the connections.  @Austin Jameson is a good commercial lender in TN, if you're looking in southeast TN I'd bet he has some good loan products.

@Noah Grigsby welcome! Books: there are so many! Do you have a plan for REI? If so, what books printed by Bigger Pockets would be applicable? That'd be a good place to start!

@Chris Noles congrats on your first investment!  I also own vacation rentals in Myrtle Beach, and I've been very happy with that market.  Eventually you could look at cashflowing MF longterm rentals in that market, I don't think your current budget would go far there right now.

I'm just up the road from you in Chattanooga!  In this market we sometimes can find a C class turnkey single family for $120k or less, MF wouldn't happen at that price point.  Have you looked around Dalton or other areas close to home?  There might be some options there.

In most markets, if not all, at that price point you're going to be looking at a C or D class property.  That can be a handful for self management due to greater risk of tenant non-payment and eviction, not to mention that the property will likely have deferred maintenance to start off with, and incur more wear and tear.  I wouldn't recommend self managing at that price point, and doing it when you're not local is an even bigger ask.

I'm assuming budget is the limiting issue here.  In that situation, some options are (1) wait and save until you can buy something that's a better fit for you; (2) flip to build equity; (3) find other loan options or partners that stretch your funds into a higher price point.  You're focusing on your cashflow goal- consider building equity so you have more funds to invest for that cashflow.

In NW GA you are right in the path development as Atlanta and Chattanooga expand along 75.  That corridor is projected to have explosive growth over the next decade.

@Kyle Grindrod congrats on finding a deal in Chattanooga!  That's awesome! @Mike Kennedy with Flipco would be a great option for a hard money loan.  @Austin Jameson has good commercial loan offerings, if you and the deal would qualify there. 

Best of luck in pulling the deal together!

@Baylen Sparks long distance REI is a fabulous strategy for many people! There's a lot of great advice on this thread already.

The most important step, and what people often overlook, is really dialing in why you are doing real estate investing.  Saying you want passive income isn't enough- what specifically do you want?  How much passive income?  Cashflow or appreciation?  And why- to quit your day job, build a legacy for kids, what?  How much risk are you willing to take on to reach that goal?  Once you really dial in on your why, the strategy (and location) will become more apparent.  You'll have criteria to compare the options and see what would be the best fit for you.

@Jack Lin the first question should be what is your personal goal with real estate investing?  Everyone wants to make passive income, it helps to get a lot more specific and personal for you.  Do you want cashflow or appreciation?  What's your risk tolerance?  Are you willing to self manage, or overall how much involvement do you want? All of those factors will determine what is the best market for you, as the best market should be decided after you decide the best strategy.

That's a macro level bit of wisdom, to address your micro question of market, I would say like @Nathan Gesner I recommend focusing on landlord friendly states.  One tenant issue in a tenant friendly state can cost you a lot of time and money.  In contrast, eviction for a non-paying tenant in TN and GA, the two markets I serve, happens in anywhere from 3-6 weeks typically.

Best of luck in your investing!

@Caleb Spillyards In response to your question of what a good deal is, the truth is everyone has their own definition based on their situation.  If someone is paying cash, they'll have a higher overall return since they don't pay for debt servicing.  Others are happy to take a lower return in order to use the leveraging power of debt.  In today's interest rate environment, those using debt are seeing lower rates than they were 9+ months ago, so that adds another measure: expected returns are a moving target based on interest rates. 

It sounds like, for you, a "good deal" would be something where you're breaking even and all the house's costs are covered by the tenant.  I would add ensure that you are budgeting for repairs/maintenance and Cap Ex.  Honestly, if you're using a mortgage and a property manager if it's a LTR, then that's about what we're seeing for most rent ready in A or B class neighborhoods these days.

On a related note, I've seen people walk away from great deals because they're viewing it with too short of a time horizon.  For example, an investor may state they're planning on holding a house long term, and yet they walk away if, with conservative numbers, the house doesn't have double digit cash on cash returns in Year 1.  Rents will increase annually and many of your costs will be fixed, so returns will only get better over time.