All Forum Posts by: Blake Hernandez

Do not bother unless you want to become a full time realtor.  
The time money and effort are better spent creating a good deal and executing that deal. 

I recently purchased a house in a hot market in a hot neighborhood while working a job 2000 miles away in the middle of nowhere. Normally I do my own inspection but since I was out of town, and wanted a fast closing, I had my parents look and everything seemed fine. So I purchased the property.
A month later I finished the job, move home and started doing cosmetic work on the house to get it ready to be rented. I found termite damage (intentionally and well hidden) around an external wall and window. While repairing that I found more and more damage and an extensive and active infestation. Long story short I ended up having to replace 4 walls and the ceiling in that bed room. This involved building false walls to support rafters and the roof while replacing the entire framing for that room, including damaged studs and top cap, sheet rock, and insulation. I did the work myself and I have no background in construction so as you can imagine this was quite the ordeal. It is a 1950s house so there was also the headache of different sized framing studs then what we get a Lowe’s today. Nothing is square on an old house. NOTHING!!!!!

In the end this cost me a lot of my summer and a few thousand in materials but I got it repaired and eventually rented and now it is making me money.

This story isn’t meant to scare you but to encourage you. Even when plans fall apart, and problems arise (which they will). You can work through them. Make a new plan, say a prayer and attack.
For gods sake get a Termite inspection!!!!

Good luck out there. 

1st of all congratulations on your acquisition.

after that i always say, make sure you know how to turn off the water. Bonus points if you show your tenants how to turn it off in an emergency.  

Before you start having to pay interest on a HELOC I would recommend you have everything else in place. I have no ideal what your financial situation looks like but make sure you have reserves of cash as well just incase things do not go as planned. There are always more expenses and they are rarely cheap. Make sure you have a good realtor, PM and even a handyman.
      I am from Baton Rouge myself and had rentals there but sold them as neighborhoods declined.  The property I kept in Louisiana is in a small quiet one street neighborhood.  
Just make sure you know the area you invest in and what direction it is headed.  
Best of luck!

Those are both great areas.  While you are in the town I suggest checking out Navar and Fort Walton Beach as well.  They are all with in an hour of each other but are wildly differnet markets.  

The local STR market is also crowded right now so do your research.

best of luck!

Is this a question or an answer?

LTR market is currently VERY good. But with the ROI you are looking for I think you will have to go with STR. I get amazing returns but a lot of that is because I was lucky and bought here when prices were rock bottom. Buying in the current market i can probably get 10-12% but that is because i do everything myself (except finding and vetting tenants.)

I've been quite successful with LTR in Fort Walton Beach.  The rental market there is so tight no one want to loose a lease so they don't bug you with stupid ****.   

Consequently good deals are HARD to find.

@Garth Aaron Presgrave. Im not sure what you mean by open but Craig's list in defiantly a thing here. Most of the listing are on MLS as well but if you look enough you could likely find something. I don't know where exactly you plan to live in BR but you can also search the surrounding areas. There are also things like FSBO (for sale by owner) sites but i haven't spent much time on them.

Hey Garth.  The market is currently pretty hot favoring sellers.  Most homes in decent areas are getting multiple offers.  So making good deals is currently more challenging.  Of course interest rates are super low so that can offset price some. Im trying to think what might be relevant information coming from Canada.  I guess you don't have to worry about basements flooding since we don't have any. We shrug our shoulders at cat 5 hurricanes but a light dusting of show shuts down the entire city.  
 The older parts of Baton Rouge are by the River and to the north along with a lot of the chemical plants.   Baton Rouge has grown to the east, that is where you will find newer areas and more and more people are spreading out to the outlying towns.