All Forum Posts by: Derek Robinson

Hey @Kat McReynolds!

I'm a full time real estate investor and also live in West Asheville.  I started investing in Asheville around 8 years ago, but I do very little investing here now as prices have become so high.  I'm happy to grab lunch or coffee sometime and talk real estate. 

@John McGrath I own a STR in Boone, NC. I'm not sure about the city limits of Boone, but the county has zero restrictions. As far as I know, they don't even have verbiage for it in their rules/laws. According to my realtor there, the city is pretty lax about STRs. They have some rules but they are limited and easy to abide by. My Boone rental is a three bed two bath. I paid $120,000 and put about $30k into it (furnishing, added mini-split system, hot tub, etc). In the first year I broke even on a cash basis, but was able to claim a $5k loss for tax purposes. In the second year I made about $6k for the year. I've found Boone isn't as lucrative as Asheville. It's not really a prime tourist destination, more like "hey, lets go to Boone last minute". It took a good year of bookings, exposure, and 5 star reviews to get good traction. Now, I rent just about every weekend, all year long. When school is out, I keep just about every weekday booked. So when school is back in, it's weekend only. I also only have a one night minimum and I find A LOT of people take me up on this.

Compared to Asheville, I have investor friends that do STRs outside of the city limits.  They post their listings and immediately get bookings, all year and weekdays and weekends.  There are areas close to Asheville and outside of the city limits that allow STRs.

Let me know if you have any other questions and good luck to you!

@Arnab Sinha  One house in on Pierpont Ave by the hospital and the other is Jackson Rd around the Arkwright area.  The apartment building in off Howard (which people are really scared of, but I've had great tenants).  I'd stay away from Saxton.

Sometimes you just have to be patient and wait for the right one.  Also, there is an upstate CREIA yahoo group where a lot of deals pop up.

@Arnab Sinha,

I looked heavily into Spartanburg about three years ago.  My strategy was cashflow and the hopes of appreciation.  I have gotten great cashflow.  I purchased two single family homes and one small apartment building, as well as two mobile home parks.  The houses were in decent shape and needed no immediate work.  They came with tenants and both have the same tenants as when I purchased the houses.  Other than minor normal repairs, I've not had to spend any extra money.  Both could use a paint and some flooring when the tenants move out.  There are good houses to be purchased in C and B class neighborhoods and good, blue color tenants that will take care of your house.  There are also drug dealers and criminals in these areas.  You really have to drive street by street to see what kind of tenants you will attract.  I've got great properties with trash just a street or two over.

As far as appreciation, I can't say I've seen any in the areas I invest in.  My properties are close to downtown and not in the outlying suburb areas.  I'm finding houses from wholesalers in the mid $20,000's.  This price point really hasn't changed in three years.  If you talk to locals, they will tell you not to count on appreciation either.  This kind of surprises me, since the downtown area has undergone a lot of improvement.  I've seen a lot of larger companies bring their regional offices into Spartanburg and large manufacturers in surrounding areas.

Again, I'm not investing directly downtown nor the nicer suburbs outside of Spartanburg, but a strategy of buying low and getting cashflow seems to be the play.  Appreciattion will be a bonus, but I wouldn't count on it.

@Robert Ombres, sorry, I didn't mean to sound like an ***.  I simply meant that if anyone is going to fine you or get you in trouble, it's going to be the city.  So the best place to find how to be compliant is to go directly to the city for answers. No one from the state or federal government is going to come after you, it will be the city.  Weather they are wrong or right in their interpretation, they will fine you based on their understanding.  Now if you want to fight them on their interpretation, that's a totally seperate issue.

I wonder what happened to the guy that have over a million in fees and fines for running three illigal short term rentals?  If they never get money out of him, that's going to set the stage for the city to have no power to enforce their own rules.

I agree, they are not on the land owners side and they are a pain to work with.

@Robert Ombres, I'm certainly no expert...I just know that IF it can be a long term rental, the city wants it to be a long term rental.  The kitchen piece is usually the sticking point on how the city decides if it can be a short term rental or not.  If I were you and looking to invest in this market, contact the city directly and get clarification.  They are going to be the most up to date on laws, not the random blogs found on the internet.

@Robert Ombres The city is fine with ADUs if they are permitted to be used as a short term rental. Their verbiage is basically that if it could be a long term rental, it has to be a long term rental to ease the rental housing shortage. If it's voided as being a long term, they will permit it for short term. Things that would exclude it from being a long term are having a "wet bar" type sink instead of a typical kitchen sink, no stove present, small fridge, etc. My neighbor in the city limits has been renting her ADU for a few years now. At first, she got away with it by moving her stove into storage during her inspection annually. They are getting more strict with her though. On the last inspection, they told her she might have to downgrade her normal size fridge to a small one and something somewhat permanent needs to be built in the hole where the stove goes.

@Erin Mullaney, so glad you mentioned FIRE!  I just stumbled into it 6 months ago.  I'm already there, but wish I knew of the community while I was striving for financial independence.

Yes, I'm glad I got into short term rentals.  I only have the two now, but am looking for more.  I started because I was looking for an asset to put money into that we could also enjoy as a family.  That is why we have one in Boone and one in Myrtle.  I'm currently looking for a lake house.  Boone isn't a high demand destination, but I broke even in my first year and should turn a 6k to 7k profit in the second year.  I'll turn at least a 5k profit on my Myrtle property in the first year.  I have property management that handles both so I'm pretty hands off after I get them set up.

@Erin Mullaney, sorry for the delay, I didn't see the notification from 10 days ago.  I didn't pull the trigger on Durham.  I ended up getting a house in Boone for short term rental, then one in Myrtle Beach.  I still thing Durham has a lot of potential for airbnb, but my plans have changed a little.  If you want any info or help getting started in short term rentals, feel free to ask.  I've learned a lot in the past two years and am happy to share!

@Michael Tierney Thanks!