All Forum Posts by: Cole Oraham

@John B. I use Entegra Bank for a multi. They also have a great residential loan team. Happy to send you contact info for either!

@Brent Wooster I'm happy to answer any questions you have about the Clemson market!

@Brian Briscoe if you have any questions about the Clemson market then feel free to reach out to me! I’ve been managing student rentals in the area for over 7 years. I’d love to connect!

@Stephen Spearman we aren’t currently doing tours of occupied units. When everything started to go crazy in SC we scheduled times with current tenants to have one of our leasing agents to do a video walk through. There were a few current residents who were hesitant, but we let them know that we thought it was a much better option than having in person tours. We also required our leasing agent to have gloves and a mask and wiped down all surfaces. Some future prospects have not liked that they can’t see it in person, but most of them have been understanding. I hope this helps and that you are able to get it leased with no problem!

Hi @Robert Pisarski! That's awesome that you are ready to hop into your first investment. Before starting, please note that this is not advice and advice is only given when there is an agent/client relationship.

I have managed off-campus student housing at Clemson University since January of 2013, and I have been in real estate sales since May of 2015. I love the market and student housing. There's a lot of pros and cons for it, and Clemson (the city) itself is different than surrounding areas (Seneca, Central, Pendleton, etc). The major pro of student housing is that you can lease by the bed and normally are able to charge more than if you leased the entire house. For example, you might be able to rent a 3 bedroom house for $1000/month vs charging a by the bed rate of $400/month. Students look at what their cost is going to be vs what the overall rent amount is. Most students are not able to pass screening by themselves. As a result, you can require a guarantor/co-signer for the lease. While a student might not care about their credit, requiring a guarantor can greatly decrease the chance of delinquency. This also helps when there are damages. The guarantor is still on the hook for repairs.

The main thing that can impact student housing is vacancy. Where in a normal market you don't start marketing a property until just before it is vacant/as it becomes vacant, in student housing you begin leasing in ~October of the year prior to the school year. For example, we started leasing in October of 2019 for August 2020 leases. This coincides with the date that Clemson has for the deadline for their on-campus housing. There are a lot of properties that fill up quickly (the downtown properties are the A-class properties which normally have a 1 year waiting list). Leasing continues through July, but you get a large percentage of your leases before students leave for winter break, right after they return from winter break, and right after they return from Spring Break. If you don't get your property lease for August, there is a pretty high chance that it could sit vacant until the following August. That is where there is a major downside. 

Personally, I don't like the numbers for purchasing condos in large communities. It can look very good on paper because the returns look great. The issue there is that you are competing against all of your neighbors with the same floor plan and same features. It makes it kind of luck-of-the-draw for if someone leases your unit vs the neighbor's unit. There are pretty high HOA dues depending on the community as well which can eat into cashflow.

I hope that this all helps! I'm happy to discuss further or help you find your first property! Please feel free to message me and I can send you my contact information. I'd be happy to talk further and answer any other questions you have!

Here are some of the things that we are monitoring in student housing:

1. We had a resident ask what will happen to his lease if the university moves to e-learning. He believes his lease should be terminated due to an act of God. (force majeure)  

2. For the safety of our maintenance techs and vendors, should we make sure that they wear gloves and face masks when entering homes?

3. Should we suspend showing homes by moving to video walk through? Should we require gloves and masks for any prospects that we are showing properties?

We are still pondering the above things since there have not yet been any confirmed cases in our location. Interested to hear any replies and comments for the above items!

@John Smeltzer The BP member that I was thinking of is @John05261 (John Underwood). For some reason it isn't letting me tag him in this post though.

@Lauren Hogan I'm a real estate agent and investor just outside of Greenville. I agree with everything else in this thread! The Upstate of South Carolina is beautiful. It is an excellent location for the outdoorsy type people with the lakes and mountains. The climate is great (mild winters). It is a short drive to Atlanta, Charlotte, Asheville, and Charleston. The landlord tenant laws are landlord friendly. It has the big city feel while maintaining the small community feel. 

@Brad Collins Go Tigers! If you and your wife decide to make your second investment property in Clemson or surrounding areas then I’d love to help!

@John Smeltzer Lake Hartwell has a lot of fishing tournaments. In 2019 Bassmasters came (I'm not sure if it is a yearly thing, but I think that they have fished Hartwell before- I don't keep up with it) to town and did their weigh in on the northwestern side of Anderson. I can't speak for the Georgia parts of Hartwell, but I am familiar with the Clemson, Seneca, Anderson (SC) areas of Hartwell. Depending on your budget and what you are looking for, there are a number of lakes here in the area that might interest you. If you have any questions then feel free to shoot me a message! I know that there is another BP member who comments often about his Lake Hartwell short term rental. I can't remember his name, but I will be sure to tag you the next time that I see him post.