All Forum Posts by: Caroline C.

One of my rentals in Jacksonville FL is in an 8-plex condo where the landscaper is significantly raising the monthly price. The HOA is high enough as it is! Anyone have landscaping recommendations for Jax? Thanks!

@Charlie Anne first investment purchase was a single family home in Asheville NC in 2006 - we sold it in 2011. We were still fairly inexperienced at that point, and when the tenant moved out, the rental market was a bit soft and we would have had to lower the rent. Also we had spent a lot of money remediating a mold issue a year before. Also, we had a shared driveway with the neighbor, and they stored all kinds of junk on their lawn. So afraid it would be a money pit and difficult to rent, we panicked and sold. We were only able to break even with the sale because the market had tanked after 2008 and by the time we sold in 2011, prices had just gotten back up to 2006 levels. 

The thing I wish we had kept front of mind back then was that buy and hold is a long term investment, so while we went through a rough patch with the mold issue and potentially lowering the rent, if we could have been patient, we'd current be enjoying years more of equity paydown, and significant appreciation, both in monthly rental price and value of the home.

@Dimitri Paspalaris There are so many factors at play, and you can end up with a long vacancy at any time trying to find the right renter, especially if higher end. That said, I'm just one data point, but successfully rented both of our vacant places in Jax in late March - $1000 and $1150 per month rental points.

@Greg Yunov

2 things:

1) make sure you visit the market, visit the streets where the properties are located, and meet the people on the team of the company you will use. There is no substitute for seeing the streets and neighborhoods first-hand before you invest. Also you need to get a face-to-face comfortableness with the people you will partner with. They are sales-people, so over the phone and email, things will seem great.

2) property management is where you make or break your investment, so make sure you talk to the pm in detail about how they operate. Get references. Also, don't lock yourself into a full year contract, so that if you are not happy, you can make a move with 30 days notice. PMs seem great until you have a tenant that falls behind, or a costly turnover, or a big repair, and by then it is too late, so look for warning signs of poor management, and keep in touch with them.

Good luck!

@Tyler Santos  I think website has more upside because (a) in your outreach marketing you can ask people to go to your landing page if they want to stay in touch, and (b) if you can build good keyword content on a website related to your market/activities, you can get daily traffic from Google search (SEO). Social media can be effective if you can get your follower count up, which is not easy and happens by engaging with others and posting good content. Most effective is to do both - so they 'work together' in that your social media can help amplify the content on your website.

@Luis Pineda be very careful investing in a market you don't intend to visit. Keep in mind that when you are spending thousands on a property, some travel expenses are a drop in the bucket, and in your head that should be part of your up-front costs. Also tax deductible if you buy. For a few years, our 'family vacations' were centered on driving to places we might invest, with time built in to doing research and looking at properties. Kill 2 birds with one stone! You can also get a lot done and get pretty far on a 3-4 day road trip and keep the costs minimal. 

Hi @Luis Pineda. I advise people starting out to pick a market where you can get there easily - you need to visit yourself to get familiar with the areas, the kinds of deals available, and arrange trips where you can attend REIA meetings where you can meet people on the ground. We were living in NYC when we did most of our investing and our first markets were in North Carolina and Florida, where we could get easily (we enjoy long road trips), and places we enjoyed visiting, since we ended up visiting many times.

This is a great time to do your research and get your ducks in a row, as there certainly might be better deals to be had over the next months then there has been in the recent past!

Has anyone retitled personal real estate into a revocable living trust in NC (Asheville specifically)? Did you do it yourself via LegalZoom or did you hire a lawyer?

@Adrian Rae I'd just add that I strongly agree if you are buying just a single property, don't go the C-class route, because then you need to make sure you have money set aside to handle worst case scenario, such as eviction and costly turnover. 

Also, one of the things I talk about a lot is that it is really hard to 'save' your way to financial freedom. You need to focus on side hustles to address the income part of the equation.

@Kevin Merlander congrats, and good luck with it! Never been to Tahoe but I know it is hugely desirable. I'm sure if your reviews are strong and photos great, you'll do well.