All Forum Posts by: Arn Cenedella

@Shane H. Do not do it! Just move on.

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Sabrina After a long real estate career in Silicon Valley, I moved to Greenville 3.5 years ago and have been actively investing near downtown Greenville - both flips and long term rental holds. Next time you are in Greenville, happy to meet and discuss the Greenville market. Arn

Kareem: I started my real estate career in 1978 when I was 24. I have had a long and successful career in the highly competitive market in Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Peninsula. #1 Email and social media are lower priorities. Do not start your day with those activities. They suck time and give the illusion of meaningful activity. #2 Work your social sphere - this is highest priority - above all others. #3 This means getting face to face or voice to voice with your friends family and associates. Email does not cut it. Let them know you need help and are looking for clients. Your social sphere will want you to succeed and will help you do so. Let them know, no deal is too small - rentals OK etc. How can you help them? Talk about the market. People always what to do what the house around the corner sold for. #4 Do as many open houses as you can. You again need to get face to face with people. I would suggest low end properties - first time buyer properties. First time buyers are less likely to have a prior relationship with an agent. Get to know that market inside and out. #5 Contact experienced and busy agents in your office and ask for referrals. Every long term agent has buyers they don't have time for. These may be low quality referrals - after all why would an agent give you a high quality referral? But something is better than nothing. These people may waste your time - but better to be out in the market meeting buyers showing houses than looking at your computer. #6 Real estate sales is like an airplane taking off. The plane needs maximum power and effort to get into the air but once at flying altitude, the engines are cut back and the plane coasts. Your RE career has not taken off, you need to reach maximum energy doing productive activities to take off. Once you get a few sales under your belt, you will be off and running. Focus face to face voice to voice. Contact every one you know. 5 to 10 "live" contacts a day. Work open houses. Good luck, hope this helps a little. Arn

Kelly I believe your math is accurate and will apply to just about any "good" market anywhere in the country. I live in Greenville SC 90 miles from Charlotte and the Greenville market is strong too. The numbers here are similar to what you see in Charlotte. Let me provide some prospective. Let's assume you are in your 30s. One invests in real estate for the long term - 15 20 30 year horizon. One can't invest in single family homes with essentially no money down and expect any appreciable cash flow - just doesn't happen in "good" markets. My perspective would be as follows: If I can buy houses with little cash investment in good markets that will pay for themselves, I would be very happy! You buy now and get little or no cash flow. Over time, rents increase your cash flow increases. Over time, the loan gets paid down increasing equity. Over time, value goes up increasing equity. After 10 or 15 years you are creating wealth and financial security. Maybe every 2 or 3 years, you buy another rental. By the time you are ready to retire in your 60s, you have created wealth and income. The real estate race goes to the slow and steady investor who lets time create wealth. Trust me it works. Adjust your expectations from current cash flow to future capital appreciation. If you can find a decent house in a reasonable area that you can buy with little or no cash that will be break even or small positive cash flow, buy it! Hope this make sense. Good luck. Arn

Greenville, South Carolina has a very strong real estate market that offers lots of solid investment opportunities. 

Experienced real estate broker and investor has several projects in downtown Greenville.

These would be both fix & flips and new builds.

I have put together a wonderful team of renovation contractors and allied professionals.

I am always looking for additional partners, investors, or lenders.

If you wish to invest in this hot market, please let me know.

Thanks.

Arn

Mike: No reason to reinvent the wheel, stick with San Antonio up I35 to Austin. Research values before you go. Identify close in neighborhoods that are affordable. Look for solid middle income neighborhoods. Good schools. Drive these neighborhoods. You can tell a lot just by looking. Houses maintained? Yards kept? Then talk to people - not real estate people or people who want to sell you something. Walk the neighborhoods talk to people in the coffee shop at dinner out walking their dogs at the park? How long have your lived here? Do you like the neighborhood? Just make conversation, these folks have no dog in the fight they will tell you the truth. Do you own or rent? How much? Most people are happy to talk especially if they like their neighborhood. It's amazing what you can find out just waking and talking to people. Identify a few neighborhoods, subscribe to local newspapers and social media sites. Search RE online - get a sense for sale and rental values on your own. Track the market. "Like" neighborhood groups and businesses. You can get a great sense of the vibe in an area via social media. I was a lifelong San Francisco Peninsula resident and did all of the above when investing in Austin. Very happy with what I bought. Did the same when we moved to Greenville South Carolina. Very happy here. Use the internet. Drive or walk the neighborhoods. Talk to people. Be a detective investigating and have some fun while you are doing it. Arn

Jack

I moved from the SF Peninsula to Greenville about 3.5 years ago. After a 35+ year career as a RE Broker in Menlo Park and Palo Alto, I have invested heavily in Greenville. It's a great market.

Please let me clarify your question. The tax issue is NOT in state v out of state. It is owner occupied v non-owner occupied. I am a legal SC resident and I pay the higher property tax rate on my rental properties. There is no way to get around this. To state another way, it doesn't matter where you live or where the ownership entity is based. If you don't occupy the property as your primary residence, you will pay the higher rate, period. Hope this helps.

To further clarify, owner occupied properties are assessed at 4% and non-owner at 6%. But the bigger factor is owner-occupied gets a credit for school district taxes. It is a weird system but it is what it is. Non-owner occupied will pay 2.5 to 3 times more property tax for the same value as owner occupied.

You just need to figure this in to your evaluation of the property - no way to game the system. I also own rentals in Austin TX area and their property taxes are high. Even with that, they are great investments!

Greenville SC is a great place to invest. Let me know if I can help. Many of my Silicon Valley clients have invested in Greenville with me. They are happy.

Arn

Olena

I am an active investor in Greenville SC and do have a Broker in Charge license in South Carolina. I am happy to help educate you about the Greenville market. My area of expertise is in the very hot downtown area of Greenville. Additionally I am an SF Peninsula native who moved to Greenville over 3 years ago and love it. Arn

Kelvin

You might consider joining some local real estate investor organizations.

UCREIA is one the the largest and best - attend a few meetings and network.

Partnering with an experienced investor is also a good idea.

Greenville SC is a great place to invest.

Good luck!

Arn