All Forum Posts by: Chris Rosenberg

@Jeff Ebert

How long have you owned the property for? If it’s a new purchase and the sale triggered a reassessment then you can certainly appeal it if you think they overvalued it. I’ve appealed about 5 properties in Horry county successfully lowering the tax value. There was only one they wouldn’t bend on. If you’ve owned it for a few years there a cap on the amount they can increase the taxable value, I believe it’s 15% excluding improvements to the property. But it’s absolutely worth an appeal. Show some cherry picked comps and be specific on why the value should be lowered, making sure to site current condition if anything needs upgrades, etc. I’ve never had an on-site inspection done by a tax appraiser but I also wouldn’t lie about it. I’ve had a few properties triple In taxable value. I appeal them all. 

What a great position to be in! I don’t know the rest of your financial picture but if you are a realtor and have $1 mil cash to put into real estate and no other assets I would diversify a bit into other investments. If the real estate market crashes you lose your job and your wealth. I personally prefer to not be over leveraged but I have at least some type of leverage on every property. If I were you (and there are many things I don’t know about you) I might put half into cash flowing real estate at 60-70% leverage (to get depreciation, loan pay down, cashflow, and hopefully appreciation) and invest a large portion of the rest into something else. And also keep a nice chunk of change in reserves or very safe short term investments. But the very last thing I would do is put the whole $1 mil into real estate if that’s all you have. If you have lots of other wealth in other buckets then disregard my last comment. Hope this helps!

@Mike Liu Hey Mike. With $600k in pretax income I would imagine you could use some write offs. I'm no CPA but I would think more properties with more leverage will help with this. If you sell or leverage your 2 properties and use the $100k you have you to buy rentals you will not even come close to making as much in cashflow as you make with your current career. I typically don't suggest this, but given your current income I would go after class A/B+ assets with low maintenance and with much greater chances of appreciation potential. I don't know when you're planning on retiring but I would venture to say you can work a few more years and save $300k a year and spend that on additional investments and in a few years increase your net worth by at least $1 mil. But with your high income and not a lot of savings I would try to save as much as possible for the next few years and then reap the rewards. Regardless of the real estate type, I think it's more productive to just make $600k a year in your job and get some great properties in great locations, enjoy the tax savings, and let time do its thing with appreciation and mortgage pay down. And regarding the BRRRR strategy, I love it but think it's a waste of time for you. A BRRRR without the rehab part will be incredibly difficult to find. You should be able to save more than enough for 25% down payments with your current income, and focus on buying newer lower maintenance properties in excellent locations. Hope this helps!

@Jerry Velez

 Hey Jerry. There’s a big difference between a 5 minute and 10 minute walk to the beach. I own a STR in NMB that’s a 5 min walk and it does much better than the one I own that’s a 10 min walk. Both are houses of comparable size. The market is tough but a 2/1 house can do pretty well depending on how it’s set up and how fast you can get good reviews on the platforms. If I had to guess and don’t know your exact locations or amenities I would say your house can gross $30-40k a year. If it’s truly a 5 min walk to the beach and in a good area and has a very nice setup and excellent property management then maybe $45k. As an LTR you might gross half, but have fewer bills. Also, I’m pretty sure that unless you have an HOA that doesn’t approve, all of NMB is zoned for STR. You just need to get your business license for that property. But check with the city of NMB, not horry county. We are getting into peak season and if the place is already furnished then now is the time to try it as a STR. Hope that helps!

@Hayden Charles Langenburg Welcome to BP. Would you mind sharing your ideal numbers you’re looking for in order to buy a deal? I was in the same position as you when I started, I spent a solid year looking hard for a deal. Finally found a 3 family house and put $60k down and $50k into it plus lots of sweat equity.  I was about negative $1,500 in monthly cashflow. Traded $1,900 in rent for a small 1 bedroom apt to $1,500 in mortgage and house bills for a 3 bedroom apt in a house I owned. Moved out 4 years later and it cashflowed $1,500 a month. Sold it a year after that and walked away with $400k, mostly tax free. 

In the beginning the numbers might have made it sound like a bad deal but it was truly a launch pad for my investments. I used the equity in that property through a HELOC to BRRRR multiple other properties.

My point is that maybe you’re focusing on numbers that may be unrealistic, and missing the forest for the trees. House hacking offers so many benefits besides just cashflow, like appreciation, mortgage pay down, tax benefits, etc. If you’re paying rent now then you’re wasting money anyway. I would focus on finding a solid property in a solid location with tenants you don’t mind living with, force some appreciation through repairs or something like that, let time do its thing and then scale up if you want to.  

Just my 2 cents, but I know I could have waited another 2 years to buy and probably regretted it and paid a lot more. Your first deal doesn’t have to be perfect or a home run, but almost any decent deal will probably be better than paying rent for another 2 years while inflation continues to be on the higher than average side. Hope this helps!

@Bette Hochberger In my county they mail a letter when the property gets reassessed and give owners the right to appeal it. I send in the appeal letter and try to call and speak to the appraiser directly. They usually want comps and maybe pictures of the property to determine its condition. They might even want to do it in person. I also push for a reassessment if it’s a new purchase and I paid less than the assessed value. I do it myself and have succeeded 4 out of 5 times in reducing reassessments by an average of 25%. I push pretty hard but in a nice way, and ask for explanations of everything. I’ve also found that they don’t always take into consideration what price I paid for the property. They just want comps and reasons why I believe it’s assessed too high. Hope this helps!

@Ashley Ernst Hey Ashley. I know a lender that will do a cash out refi on the 90th day of ownership with a cash purchase. You can begin the process sooner so you can close on the 90th day. I was quoted yesterday 75% LTV at 8.1% interest. It's a cash out refi based on the new appraised value after rehab. I need to find a tenant before closing and it needs to cash flow 1.2 DSCR. For me it's totally worth it to cash out refi in 3 months and get all my cash back out vs doing delayed financing and leaving $50k in the deal. But that's because I complete some type of rehab and increase the value of the property and recycle my cash. If you aren't completing a rehab and aren't buying much below market value and don't mind leaving money in the deal, then delayed financing should work fine for you. Hope this helps!

@Jen Menchaca Hey Jen. I can tell you Myrtle Beach is a pretty tight market. I typically look for BRRRR properties that hit the 1% rule, especially now with interest rates higher, and they are hard to come by. I've only ever found 1 on the MLS that met this rule, about a year ago. It was a cash purchase, as is. Everything else has been off market. I've begun buying in Columbia SC because the numbers seem to work better. I have had good appreciation here in Myrtle Beach over the last 4 years, along with most of the country. I can't predict that will continue, I can only say it seems like people continue to move here, and they continue to build houses here.

Hey guys. I’m also a cash buyer based in Myrtle Beach but looking for wholesalers in Columbia. I just started investing there. Looking for single family homes hitting at least the 1% rule. Anyone who wants to connect fee free to hit me up. I’ll probably attend the next Columbia meetup this Wednesday at noon. 

@Esther Tama Hi Esther. That is a good price point in Myrtle Beach. You probably won't find yourself in a newer subdivision, more likely an older one. Your money will go a bit further in Conway (just inland of Myrtle Beach). I always prefer houses over condos, especially for a LTR. You won't hit the 1% rule but we have experienced a lot of appreciation over the past few years. We are known for STR and used to be very seasonal, many restaurants and attractions used to close in the winter. Now everything stays open and the full time resident population has exploded, especially in Carolina Forest. As far as property managers go, I recommend @Pete Schmidt.