All Forum Posts by: Jeffrey Long

@Samantha Santaniello shoot me a message.

@Mike M. I've had some success with LTRs in the area over the years. May be jumping in to the STR market this year.

@Devin Fakner Are you looking to self-manage or for a PM/condotel?

Shop hard, and make sure you have a good value proposition to bring to the table to compete.  If you need help from a realtor who's a true native of Myrtle Beach and an investor himself shoot me a PM.

Same story for Myrtle Beach.

@Josie Hucks

While it is true that Myrtle Beach is growing extremely fast, that's also true for much of the nation. As a Realtor and investor myself in Myrtle Beach, I can tell you some investors I love working with and others, I'd prefer they take their "business" elsewhere.

You need to ask yourself some hard questions.  Do you expect your Realtor to find cash flowing deals for you? That doesn't really work, especially in a hot market. I've heard it said many times on the podcast - "you don't find deals in this market, you make deals." You better be ready as the investor to identify opportunities that others have missed and act on them.  If you're looking for a Realtor to find you a cash flowing deal....well why wouldn't I just buy them myself if I find that diamond in the rough?

Are your practices aligning your interests with your Realtor's?  Are you expecting to look at every property in town without placing a reasonable bid? Are you willing to bid sight-unseen? Do you provide your Realtor with updated financial info that you can, indeed, close when the time comes? Are you driving by the properties to see and understand the neighborhoods before talking with the Realtor?

Working with inexperienced investors is often a losing proposition for a Realtor. Lots of time, effort, and gas spent for no reason and if that investor does close, it's balanced out by the deals that didn't close so the Realtor earned less than minimum wage working for that investor.  Conversely, if that Realtor had spent the time shopping for a deal for themselves, or working with traditional buyers, it would pay many times more than that.

Find a Realtor you like and trust and build a relationship and a SYSTEM with them. Remember that they don't get paid until you buy something so use as little of their time as possible until you've proven yourself and built that relationship.  Once you have the relationship and you've done deals with that Realtor in the past, you'll find they're more willing to spend time on you.

I don't see why you couldn't own a condotel in an LLC or transfer it into one just like any other piece of real estate. All the usual challenges of due on sale clauses etc apply.

Do you need the extra asset protection or would a good insurance policy get the job done? What's your intended financing method - conventional, private, hard money, cash?

Commercial financing or hard money if you want to close it into an LLC., especially if you want them to base their numbers on STR instead of LTR.

Most of us locals don't invest in vacation rentals and instead focus either investing in LTRs, managing for investors, or selling to retirees and investors. 99% of vacation rentals are owned by out-of-town investors looking for easy street.

Give that some thought and look into property management fees, hospitality fees, occupancy rates, seasonality, flood zones, HOA fees, non-owner occupied property taxes, and the recession vulnerability of tourism-based markets. Oh, and make sure to run comps on vrbo and airbnb for various seasons.

Make sure you read up on the stories of investors who got flooded during the last hurricane even though they weren't in flood zones.