All Forum Posts by: Justin Whitfield

Has anyone had any luck selling interstate property?

We have 17 acres on Exit 27 of I-85 in Anderson, South Carolina with over 700 feet of interstate frontage.

We are trying to find the best way to monetize it or sell it. We already have an income producing billboard on the site which basically just pays the property taxes. I decided to list it on MLS and LoopNet to see if we could get some offers, but I knew that would be slow so I'm trying to figure out a different strategy.

I've been emailing the Real Estate acquisition people for truck stops, fast food chains, etc. and I'm hoping one will be interested. Only response so far is from Loves Travel Stops, who said it was a little too far off the corner for them to pursue.

Any tips or advice would be much appreciated.

For me, it all depends on your situation. If you want the most efficient, quick and easy sale, I would use an agent without any question. If you don't care about the time it takes to sell, handling the paperwork and you want to stick to a set price, then by all means go with the FSBO. Remember, everything is negotiable in a sale so "not paying closing costs" can be part of any of your counter offers and would have nothing to do with it being a FSBO or not.

There has been a lot of good advice already in this thread, and I agree with @David Faulkner, if you're asking these questions you should probably get an agent.

If you get a good agent working for you, it is worth every penny you pay them.  More than likely you will have to pay a buyer agent for bringing a buyer, so it is worth it to have your own agent working for you. I don't list many properties as I mostly am an investor and a developer, but on the listings I have sold I can tell you I work my tail off for my client.

A listing agent will be able to provide you with answers to all of your questions, take care of nearly all the paperwork involved in the transactions, schedule all inspections, answer phone calls and schedule showings, etc needed in the transaction. A lot of people think an agent throws your property on the MLS and collects a big check at closing. If you get an agent who is good at their job this is the farthest thing from the truth.

Ultimately it's up to you but if nothing else, you could always find a great Realtor and schedule a meeting and see what they have to offer. 

Thank you for the responses everyone! I believe I have a better grip on how it would work for this deal now.

These properties are both far from a done deal but it's good to know how this works well beforehand.

Thanks again for the responses @Dave Foster @Natalie Kolodij @Jessica Zolotorofe @Mark Creason

I've never done a 1031 exchange so I'm not very informed on how these work.  I've read a lot of forum posts and articles but I can't quite seem to find an answer for my situation.

My parents and I have an LLC partnership, me 50% and them 50% (25% each).

They own lake property (both of their names are on the deed) and they are planning on selling it.  They have a low basis and will have a good bit of profit, so they were only wanting to sell if they could 1031 exchange it.

We found a great duplex in our farm area that we are planning on buying and it would be a great property to exchange in to. Would they be able to do the exchange from their lake property into this duplex and the duplex deeded into our LLC's name (even though the lake property is in their personal names)?

A lot of the forum posts I have read dealt with buying into partnerships with this money, but this doesn't seem to apply for an existing LLC partnership that we are already 50/25/25 members of.

I will agree with most others that this is a red flag.  If you choose to accept the full year up front, definitely make sure you do your due diligence.

I have 2 experiences with tenants paying up front. One tenant paid 2 months at a time and the other paid 6 months in advance.

The tenant who paid 2 months at a time was already a tenant for a year before he started doing this.  He worked for a construction company that did work out of state and didn't want to worry about his rent while away.

The tenant who paid 6 months in advance turned out to be a nightmare.  Within 1 month she said she was moving and demanded 5 months of rent be refunded to her, claiming that she was allergic to something in the apartment.  She said her doctor told her that the apartment was killing her.  Despite the fact the apartment was checked for mold, etc and found no problems there, and the apartment had fresh paint and brand new carpet throughout.

So my experience is 1-1 on these.  

Use all the resources BiggerPockets has to offer.  If you're wanting to get started in flipping, look through the podcasts for the ones that are mainly about flipping (J Scott on episode 10 is a good start) and also browse the forums every day. There's a forum category dedicated to rehabbing and flipping.

I would strongly recommend picking up a copy of J Scott's books published by BiggerPockets, "The Book on Flipping Houses" and "The Book on Estimating Rehab Costs". 

If I was going to look at having my properties professionally managed I would absolutely go with option 2.  I think you should definitely leverage your number of properties for potentially a better rate. I wouldn't want to deal with 2 different contacts for my management, different book keeping styles, repair procedures, etc.

To me, I don't see a benefit of splitting them. If you vet your property manager you should have a good idea of how they operate and if they have a chance of failing or going under, and if you have your properties with them and they are doing a poor job that would be a warning sign that they could be going out of business. 

If you did split some of your properties for the "competition" factor, I would imagine this would also be a temporary thing because a clear winner would most likely show up between the two and you would move all of your properties to that one company that is doing a better job, you feel more comfortable with and trust more. 

So if he doesn't live in the area, is a property management company handling the property for him? Why not just raise the rent if the market rent is higher than what he is charging? If he's breaking even at $1,100 then raising the rent to $1,350 (if that is truly what the house will bring) would give him positive cash flow. 

Or why not just list it with a Realtor and sell it? If the market is strong in the area and he sells it for $165,000 and owes $120,000 he would make at least $25,000-30,000 on the deal after commissions and everything.

I do agree it would be very beneficial for you or your partner to have a license - I have mine and it has been very useful for me. However, it certainly isn't required - and would probably be a hassle if you don't live in the same state you're looking to invest.

If a Realtor is too busy to give you the time and attention you're looking for, you should look elsewhere. 

You could try calling a few different property management companies and asking them if they know any investor friendly agents. Try to find local investment groups or landlord groups and try to contact them to see if they have any recommendations from who they use.

Many Realtors HATE rental/investment property.  I have been on showings with other Realtors who tap their feet the whole time impatiently just wanting to move on so they can get back to their clients who are first time home buyers looking for a 250k+ house. They are much "cleaner" transactions than investments. You need to find an agent who likes rentals/investing and possibly invests in real estate themselves, otherwise you will get an agent who will be unhappy to be walking through trashed out rental houses with you.

In most places you should be able to appeal the property taxes. In my county they do a reassessment every 4 years, and you have a period of time where you can appeal their new assessed value. You can also appeal after closing on a property.

Call your county assessor's office or whoever handles property taxes in your area and ask what the appeals process looks like.

I have found in my experience the county will lower the assessed value of a property if you purchase it for a good bit lower than their previous value, they aren't so lenient if you purchase it for around the value they already have it at. 

Also, be aware that they may not consider an appeal on a property purchased due to foreclosure or auction - at least this is the case in my area.