All Forum Posts by: Gigi Blanton

Which adds to the downward pressure on the demand curve...as it is, even rentals are down as more folks move in with relatives and/or friends. I think it's a great time to buy, rehab, and hold, but I don't think housing demand will pick up until at least 6 months after unemployment figures change their current trend. Must admit, I feel like a kid in a candy store right now seeing better deals almost daily. :cool:

Yes, that "helpful attitude" usually goes away after the first bad tenant or two, if you're smart. I've had tenants that called me at work to come pick them up because their car ran out of gas (uh, no, I'm not a taxi service), tenants that wanted me to help them move out (not a furniture mover either) and even had one fellow that had the stones to come ask me if he could run an extension cord to my house for electricity because his utilities had been shut off in January - this was about 3 hours after I'd personally delivered a notice of eviction to him. Care to guess what my answer to him was? :D

I am no longer renting to pet owners - reason being I have dogs of my own and my property adjoins the rentals, and my last tenants dogs attacked my dogs. (My coonhound won against the pit bull.) So, no more pets.

Hey all!

I love this site - I've been reading until my eyes feel like they're gonna fall out - great resources, both human and computer!

My interest in RE started a few years ago when I bought my current property, which included a house and 2 rental unit that I immediately refurbished and rented out. I've been looking to expand in some manner, and I have recently inherited some land to boot, so I'm researching possibilities to find out the best way to maximize return on these assets.

I freely admit I know just enough to be a danger to myself, but I am a very good student, so please be patient with me.

Thanks!

Hey folks!

Pardon the essay, but I may have an opportunity. I recently inherited a small property in a lower-end neighborhood - not much money in it, small houses and mobile homes, but not a lot of crime. City water, easy access to utilities. So far, so good.

There is currently a totally uninhabitable and unrepairable structure on the land. I've still got some friends from my days in construction who are willing to cut me a good deal on razing and removing this heap. (It's going to be a LOT of hauling off.)

I currently own two rental units, both mobile homes that are 25+ years old. My original thought was to haul in an older mobile home, fix it up & rent it out. However, that can be quite a pain, so now I'm thinking why not just sell it outright rather than rent it, and be the financier? Older MH's are very difficult to get financing on, so it's not like I'd have competition from the bank. Also, the amount of money I could actually get lump-sum from selling is just not that much, so I'd rather have the monthly income. No more maintenance, and home sales in this low-rent area are going up, especially in the last 6 months. (I would be tapping into a market of construction workers, we just had about 2,000 jobs open up.) Also, I'd do most of the fix-up myself as I've already re-habbed both of my mh's.

Problem is, I've never sold any RE ever. Have no idea how to go about doing this. Property's .97 acres, fenced, with very low taxes (<$100). I'm thinking carry costs will be very low to nil (I should be able to pay cash for everything), so if I need to hold it for a few months - which I really don't think will happen - I'll be okay, which is why I'm thinking about doing this. Actually, a realtor friend of mine suggested rent-to-own, and this is just a progression from that.

Thoughts? Advice? Resources? What am I missing here? Any and all input greatly appreciated.

Even if it is regional, I'm in your region - up near Augusta.

I know some MH's are better built than others - who do you think builds the best and the worst MH's?

Hey everyone!

I recently inherited a piece of property, single lot in a residential neighborhood, city water, not sure about sewage yet. It's the home I grew up in. Anyhow, the trailer/Frankenstein house built around structure has gone to oblivion. It's going to cost me $4000 to get it totally razed and the lot cleared. After that, I'm planning to get either a used or a foreclosed MH and set it up on the lot, then lease it out. I already own two other MH properties that I just fixed up where they sat and then leased them out, so I'm familiar with fixing up MH's to a degree, but this is the first time I'll be doing a move and setup.

I'm planning on spending 20 - 25k to get this set up and going, and if I lease it, rents in this area should be around 400 - 500, depending on how many bed/baths. If I do a loan, payments should be around 160 - 180/month, and that's if I borrow the whole enchilada, which isn't likely. My other rentals would cover my personal mortgage plus this loan payment if needed, so I could carry for awhile. Demand has been weak, but it's picked up recently, especially in the lower-cost end of things in my area.

This looks like a good deal all the way around, but am I overlooking anything here?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

I have two MHs that I own and lease. Unfortunately, my last few tenants have been less than reputable, to say the least, even with rental application fees, background checks and higher rents. (Yes, they're older MHs, but they're freshly painted, repaired, and have newer appliances, and they're on private lots in a very quiet neighborhood. I also live right in the middle of both units. How stupid do you have to be to mess up with your landlord as your next-door neighbor?)

Anyhow, my question is this - who do you use for your background checks?

My attorney in the upstate said that real estate sales in their area have picked up just a tick. I'll have two rentals opening in the next two weeks, so we'll see how that goes. Even with background checks my last few tenants have wound up being bums, though. They usually put the one "good" person up front, then the riff-raff comes in later.

As far as the imports vs. indigenous discussion goes, my observation is that in college all my study groups were all Indian, due to the fact that the american-born kids were lousy students who didn't care as long as they got a c in the course. Lack of motivation....