All Forum Posts by: David Chwaszczewski

@James Johnson

My suggestion is know your market before you start to look for plans and start building.  You don't want to build something that doesn't fit the area and end up not working out the way you thought.

That being said if you have any questions i am a contractor and if you have any questions feel free to reach out.  

@Brie Schmidt

Depends on the type of stain if it will come out or not.  If it is a surface stain like dirt it shouldn't be an issue coming out.  If its pet stain usually the issue is the padding underneath soaks up the wetness and after you clean it can show back up.  In cases of pet stains You should rip out the padding also if you are replacing carpet.  Otherwise the stain can show in the new carpet.

I would suggest allure flooring at lower or home depot.  Its easy to install and needs no underlayment.  Just a sharp utility knife and some patients. :-)

@Jordan L.

SC Taxes are insanely high.  It kills most deals for most investors.  Here is one i just ran last night.

Purchase price of 40K.  Total Tax Appraisal for home is 50,500.   50,500 X 6% X .3916 = 1186.55 per year. This is in the Rock Hill City limits and that is what the millage is.  

@Edward Thompson Jr.

I suggest Craigslist, FSBO site, and call on FSBO signs that you see. This way your marketing is free and you can work on speaking with homeowners. Once you are comfortable and think you have a system down you can spend money on mailers. Mailers can be expensive.

Good luck!

@Steve Babiak  you are correct.  I meant to say Security Deposit.  I was writing this before the coffee kicked in. :-)

Thanks for the correction.

@Kellen Bradford I agree with @Adrian Chu:

First it is not CARZY to think like this, we all have.  I say you are ambitious not crazy and thats a good thing. :-)

Are you sure that 15K will cover the rehab on each property?  I know it sounds good, but speaking from experience we have all been down the road of 15K budget that turns into 20-25K easy on a project.  You don't want to have one property sink you because of unforeseen issues and you don't want to rob peter to pay paul on any project.  Also if you are going to live in your fixer upper and rehab multiple houses it will be a daunting task and you could burn out quick.  My suggestion is grab one and detail every aspect of the process (budget, repairs, problems etc).  This way you can see what you thought it was going to be like and what it actually was like.  Just my two cents!

Best of luck!

@Julie Macd

Here is how i self manage my rentals:

1.  Bank account for Rent deposits (you never use any money out of this account) and one for Operating funds.  Keep deposits separate from your operating funds always.  When renting you will have to give the account info where the deposit is held.

2.  I use quicken (you can use excel, mgmt software etc. Just need to be able to label and categorize expenses and income) and when I get paid on the unit i just deposit in operating account and label it by the unit and rent received.  If i have to make a repair I just label property, repair and expense to that unit.  I can pull detailed reports and see what i have spent on each property by the unit and labels.

When i purchase my property i put in the budget of what it will take to get to my standards before i put a renter in.  This way i can keep a low 5% per month repair reserve (you can put what you like) since it will be "Rent Ready" in my eyes,  also i don't get calls on things that I know are not correct from the renter and have to go fix something in the middle of the night and drive up repair costs and my time.  I also keep a 7% vacancy and 8% property management fee monthly (pay myself always even though i don't use any money from my rentals to live).  This way if the property has any unforeseen repairs there hopefully will be enough to cover it.  As far as cashflow left over i just leave in the operating account also.  From the report i Know what i have and I can pull if i needed.

Hope this helps!

@Chuck King

I can find close to the 2% rule in charlotte on C/D class areas that need some work.  In SC I can find more that meet that rule, however the problem we run into is that it looks like the 2% rule will work till you add in the property taxes.  That usually will kill most deals here for us especially when the numbers are so low.  These are also C/D class neighborhoods and always need a bit of rehab to get those numbers.

@Mike F.

We invest in Rock Hill.  If you have any questions feel free to reach out.

@Adrian Chu

You may want to call around to try to get insurance for the "Sheds".  I would think that may be the hardest part next to zoning.  Keep us posted if you do go this route.  Good Luck!