All Forum Posts by: Ethan Cole

We switched to Innago several months ago, and it has been great. Also, it's free! It has multiple screening options, and the ability to send leases and invoices digitally. So less time going and meeting tenants. Very handy when you start to get more doors.

Let me know if you have any specific questions. I invest in north-central WV, and have had good success. I can help you with realtors and property managers as well.

I'm pretty sure that Wyoming is a non-disclosure state. I know of people that start businesses in non-disclosure states so that their tenants can't just look up the address to their house. Maybe the guy means well, but he may also be intentionally trying to make it harder for you to find him if he skips out. Definitely agree with Brett and Bill. If you do it, have him personally guarantee it. 

Take a look at investing in areas around you that are submarkets of a larger city. A lot of people may want to be in a big city, or a more prestigious neighborhood, but they may not be able to afford it. We have had good luck buying in towns close to us that have nice neighborhoods, and good infrastructure, but are just outside the higher end areas. Same concept as buying the cheaper house in the expensive neighborhood for better appreciation. 

As far as your next steps, you could look at DSCR loans or commercial loans. We have spoken with DSCR lenders that have fixed rates for 30 years, but as someone mentioned above, the rates tend to be higher. They would finance up to 25% LTV. We have also used a lot of commercial loans. Maybe not the best product out there, due to pretty much all of them being adjustable rates for periods of between 3 - 7 years. We have been able to finance 85% of the purchase price with commercial loans, but the term is 20 years rather than 30. So you may have to be strategic to end up with the cashflow that you want. We have paid more down in the past so that the cashflow made better sense, and pulled equity back out through a BRRRR. As far as whether or not you should invest out of state, I would say that depends mostly on your comfort level with the idea. I know there are a lot of people that do it very successfully, but your management skills have to be on point to wrangle management companies and contractors from out of state. I have not done it because there are enough good deals in my area to keep me busy and happy, with the added benefit of being inside of 30 minutes from my house. Hope this helps. Good luck!

My personal opinion would be to pay off the debt first. You're so close anyways. With the amount you're saving currently combined with the extra per month after you have the debt paid off, you'd have enough saved back up in no time to buy a decent property. Then you would be in a more stable position to learn the ropes. Owning rentals can be stressful. Cutting out the other debt first may help to alleviate that.

 Clarksburg is very similar. Code enforcement wants to come out and inspect before you rent it out, and if the property is 4 units or more, the fire marshal also needs to come out (fire code). If you choose to start a business entity for liability purposes, make sure whether or not your town requires you to pay B&O tax. We learned a lot through self managing, although my wife had previous property management experience from a prior job. 

Also, I'm not sure where you're located, but there is also a REI group that has recently been meeting in Morgantown once a month.

A friend of mine in Charleston experimented with this by turning one of his LTR's into an Airbnb. His occupancy rates are great, his rent for that property increased by about 3X, and last I spoke with him, he was converting more of his units to STR's. Hope this helps.

Hi Donna,

Hope this isn't too late for you, but I work with an attorney in Morgantown that can do it. DM me if you need the info.

Hi Yvonne,

We own properties in Fairmont, Clarksburg, and Nutter Fort, and we are consistently getting around $850-$900 per month on a 2 bedroom unit, and $1,100-$1,200 for a 3 bedroom. We typically get a little more if the unit is a standalone building (not a townhome or duplex). I'm not sure what the condition is of the properties you're looking at, but we expect a value of around $150,000 for a duplex in good condition (exterior in good shape, roof in decent shape, no significant interior cosmetic needs, etc). We typically don't buy single family homes, but depending on location and condition, $100 per square foot is probably reasonable to use for ARV. Maybe more if the finishes are nice and it's in a good location. Depending on the size of the gutted unit, $50k is probably not too far off. We recently got some quotes back on a 3 bedroom house around 1,200 square feet. The quote was for paint, flooring, kitchen cabinets, and general cosmetic updates on the interior, and some repairs to exterior porches. The quote came back around $35k. Hope this helps! Feel free to DM me if you have anymore questions!

I'm also curious to find out more about this.