All Forum Posts by: Max Householder

@Peter MacKercher @Brian Miller

@Peter MacKercher is your guy

@Brian Miller is great!

IMO, if the properties are paying your note and all expenses, the first year especially but even up to 18-24 months in, without any additional money out of your pocket, that's a win. A lot depends on property type (multi-fam, SFR, 1-bed, 2-bed, 3-bed etc.) location, property class (1930s or older like many in south city or relatively new?).

If it's a newer property and it's sucking up all your revenue, especially with basic expenses like utilities, basic maintenance, etc. then maybe revisit your math and see if you calculated a reasonable buffer or if you were too aggressive. If it's an older property that had deferred maintenance, it can Hoover cash for multiple years before stabilizing. (Ask me how I know!)

St. Louis is a large and diverse market. The best property managers tend to specialize in a specific market/niche so a lot depends on the location within STL metro, class of property, etc. @Peter MacKercher is our PM for 5 years and he's a wealth of knowledge about the whole market and especially management insights specific to south city.

We've been with @Peter MacKercher Mogul Property Management for almost 5 years now. We are local, but they work with a lot of OOS investors.

Eric Brand with Shelter Insurance

We use @Peter MacKercher with Mogul Property Management. They do a great job

It sounds like you're bailing on California for all the right reasons, but why move to Austin or Atlanta or Boise where everyone and their brother from CA is going to? What do you think those places will look like in 10 years? DC?! Are you kidding guys?! You're venturing into the belly of the beast. If you want to fix your personal finances then go someplace with like-minded people who enjoy low-cost of living and self-sufficiency. That's not going to be a trendy "hip" market like Austin.

St. Louis isn't a bad shout actually. There is apparently a thriving tech/entrepreneur scene here as well as several established Fortune 500s. There is ample opportunity for REI in the city, with SFR in the county, and plenty of awesome outdoor activities within an hour. Tons of state parks, float trips, camping, hiking, Johnson Shut Ins, great fishing, hunting, etc. etc. Winters get cold in Jan/Feb, but snow is hit and miss. We just had one of the worst winter storms in my 16 years down here so terrible winters are few and far between.

If you want outdoors with low cost of living, check out New Mexico. It's a really unique state with everything from desert to lakes and boating, skiing, hiking, golf, literally anything you want to do outdoors and they have the climate and topography to do it. Albuquerque or Las Cruces are great jumping off points and relatively large, thriving cities for the region.

Florida would be another good choice, specifically the panhandle, even into Alabama. No state tax, good government, nice weather obviously, and outside of Miami and some of the major cities, cost of living isn't too bad, especially if you go over into Alabama which is still close enough to Atlanta and some other major cities to give you good WFH job prospects.

Charlotte, NC is another great shout. The state has really boomed and there are a ton of smaller cities dotted around that you can still live comfortably for relatively cheap. The blue ridge mountains are amazing and there's a ton to do and you're close enough to the ocean to take weekend trips. Tennessee on the other side of the blue ridge, Knoxville, Nashville, or even Chattanooga would be good to check out and TN has low taxes and smart government. Nashville has blown up, but the rest of the state hasn't come up to that level.

Lastly, maybe buy a travel trailer and explore the country a year until you find your place to call home. You can get a REALLY nice 5th wheel trailer for < $50,000 and a decent truck to pull it for half that. Your payments on the combined rig will be way less I'm sure than your rent in the trendy neighborhood and if your work is 100% remote then why tie yourself down immediately? Something to think about, we love our camper but unfortunately for work we're tied to a location still.

Good luck!

Expatistan is a great site to compare cost of living easily between cities.

Freedom in the 50 States is a great way to compare governments between the states depending on what's important to you.

We use Croghan & Croghan in Kirkwood. Mike is a great guy and knows his stuff inside and out. I don't know if he does REI himself, but many of his clients do. Their pricing is very reasonable IMO. Others can probably recommend more REI-specific accountants, but we really like the job they've done preparing our returns.