All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

That is a great question, and I wish I knew the answer. I think it falls somewhere between tax collection, protecting hotels and just plain stubbornness. What I do know is the fines are very high at $500 per day if you are found in violation. Many people who bought properties based on the income they generated as short term rentals are finding themselves in big trouble since they can no longer collect that income. Here is a story on the topic...Lawsuit: Can Asheville ban short-term rentals?

Asheville and the surrounding towns are great places to live and raise a family. Like @Kyle H. said, there are lots of places within an hour you can easily invest for lower costs and less hassle. One word of caution though. I'd avoid doing vacation rentals in the Asheville area because the city has been putting a stop to it. Folks renting their places short term have been told to stop or pay huge fines. The city has even gone so far as to monitor sites like VRBO, Airbnb, etc to find out who has short term rentals and stop it. If you want to do vacation rentals, I'd recommend going to any of the outlying towns/cities where your business will be welcomed and appreciated.

I use a combination of my money and private money right now. I am always happy to use the bank's money if it is available. Sometimes a deal just makes more sense using my own money. That may be because of a tight margin or because I'm afraid it will take longer than my private lender wants it to. Every situation is different.

I recently got my contractors license in NC because my rehabs are going over the $30k mark. It wasn't too hard to get, and I think its better to keep everything legal and legit. I do like that I can now easily go pull permits and simply tell the building department who my subs will be. Other than that, I'm not sure it makes any difference. My thought was that it couldn't hurt to go ahead and get it.

My best was a 100% construction loan where I was able to buy a lot and pay to move a stick built home onto it. We bought the stick built for $1,000 and it was good enough for the bank to count as collateral. We fixed it up, lived in it for 2 years, sold it for about a $70k tax free profit. Oh, and I got to keep the tractor, so that would make the profit about $85k. That was the good ol' days!

Karen, I think there are some predators out there who will take advantage of a situation. If you do this business with a good moral compass, you can really do some good. Let me give a recent example. Just last week I received a lead from a very motivated seller. I talked with the lady and she didn't really give me much information other than the address and basics about the house. In researching it, I found she was 10 years behind on paying her property taxes. As it turns out, her house in in tax foreclosure. I made her an offer that I thought was low, and she was SO happy. She will be able to pay off her taxes and what she owes on the house and still walk away with a few thousand dollars. To her I am anything but a predator. It will hopefully be a win win for all involved. The people at the tax office are happy, she is happy and hopefully I will be happy. 

Just be sure to always be up front and honest about your intentions and everything will be fine. Remember, they are the ones who have the choice to accept or decline your offer.

Hi Jeff, and welcome to BP! You will find tons of mobiles just to your West in Candler, Enka and Canton. I own a few and agree they are great money makers. Be sure to join the Asheville real estate club, CREIA, so you can network with other investors.

Thanks to everyone for the kind words! I just started a new flip yesterday, so its a busy time for sure.

@Jonathan Bethel - I did try to start up a sub group of the CREIA main group but only 2 people showed up. I'll keep trying. Let me know if you'd like to get together to talk sometime.

@Brandi Williams - Awesome! Class of 99 here. We still get back to Raleigh to watch football/basketball games frequently.

Thank you everyone! It is certainly an exciting time for my family and I. Hopefully I will look back on this decision many years from now and see it as the turning point in my pursuit of financial freedom. 

I've been working toward this goal for a long time, and it is finally official. After being a college professor for the last 12 years, I decided it was time to make the leap. Last year I made more on real estate than my full time job, so it seems like the right thing to do. I gave my resignation just before the Summer break, but told them if they couldn't find someone to replace me before the Fall semester starts I would return. Luckily they found someone and I am now focusing on my investing career 100%! 

That's a good thing because things are really rolling right now. I am just finishing up a flip (see thread here) and have another one starting on Monday next week. I also just put another house under contract today that will be a rental. Things are crazy, but I'm loving it!