All Forum Posts by: Casey Crowe

I'm interested in doing this as well. Want to look into buying a property and converting some of these pre-built sheds into tiny homes for a single person or a young couple with no kids. 

Hey Matt! Welcome! 

There's a great meetup every month. Check facebook for REI Live! Columbia. Great place to network!

Hey Matt,

Yes, taxes are the bane of the REI existence in SC. You mentioned them tripling, but it's a bit more complicated. Back of the napkin, you can estimate them like so:
Purchase price (or assessed value, whichever is newer) x .06 for a rental x millage which is often .45 or so, depending on the county and district. 
Owner-occupied homes are:
Purchase price (or assessed value, whichever is newer) x .04 x .45. Then there is a sale tax break applied, and in some counties, owners do *not* pay for school operating costs, only construction bonds. (Lexington county is this way, but Richland is not, for example)

So, $100,000 home:
$100,000 x .06 = $6,000. x .45 = $2700.  (Rental)
$100,000 x .04 = $4,000. x .45 = $1800, - sales tax credit and possibly school costs. (Owner-occupied)

You can play with these on your county's tax assessor sight, estimating real property taxes for occupied/rental.

If you want to get into the SFH space, and be competitive, I think your best bet is to invest in properties whose assessed value is sub $75k-$90k.

My strategy is to invest in 2-4plexes, as the *land* is what is taxed, not the number of doors. This allows you to divide the total tax bill across the units, to help keep rents down and be more competitive. 

I have one 2br condo and the taxes on it are slightly less than I pay for my home. It's ridiculous. 

I use and like Michael Morris from MP Morris Law firm in Columbia. Great to work with and easy to get ahold of.

I have an amazing investment/financial advisor. They don't advertise and are a family-owned business. Highly recommend. Her name is Lorena Edwards with Sides Financial Strategies in Irmo. Probably a Roth is the way to go if you intend to make more money later in life than you do now. 

FYI: beware of property taxes. Call the assessor before you purchase and ask them to estimate your taxes on the property at ARV as a non-occupant owner.

Thanks! Yes, they're a dark blue from Sherwin Williams. I can't remember the exact name off the top of my head. That with the epoxy countertops and stainless hardware I think is a good look. We're really pleased with how it turned out!

Long-term update, guys! I just stumbled on this old thread and figured I'd come back with some details. 
We ended up having to gut most everything. The place was just wrecked. All the appliances, HVAC subfloors, and the kitchen was ripped to the studs. We even had to grind the concrete slab down on the first floor. 

Labor was a lot more than we anticipated as the job was far worse than we expected. First time, so now we know! I think all told between purchase, materials, and labor we came in at $35k. Disappointing because the ARV on these was around $40k. Not that we were wanting to flip it, but if we had to sell, it would be nice to make *some* money on it.

We got a tenant in place, who's now on her 2nd year. Rents are $900/mo which is well above what we expected, with monthly expenses at $244 for HOA/taxes/ins for about $600/mo cash flow. We've been throwing all available spare income at the debt we financed it with and as of May, it will be 100% paid off. And on top of that, the housing shortage is bringing the value up tremendously, and it should comp around $55-60k.

All in all a tremendous win! Here's some updated pics with before/after comparisons. https://imgur.com/a/OYuohwQ

This is SC. Most people don't really care about such things. In fact, I'd wager it would be a detriment to about 50% of the potential buyers. Every time I've looked into them they've been a losing proposition, even with gov't slush money. It's still cheaper to just pay the electric bill, unless you're using an obscene amount of power and have a ton of direct sunlight. The value is really in the novelty for most people. Just like electric cars are great, but they still need power from coal and other dirty sources, and cost so much more than a modest car. It's about the novelty, not the dollar savings. 

If you were flipping, and you knew your market well enough to feel like potential buyers would value such a thing, I'd say go for it. But not for a rental, on the chance that they wouldn't value it later on. 

Without running the math, I'd be hesitant to add complication to a property. Easier IMO to just have the tenants pay the electric bill and call it done. Sometimes the juice isn't worth the squeeze. I put solar in that category. JMO.