All Forum Posts by: Jeremy Hart

Looking forward to this, thanks for setting it up.

Short of condos, which took the hit 2010 (bottom of our market, rather than 2008), virtually every other sector in Blacksburg has recovered nicely. Condos are selling again, thanks in large part to financing rules opening up, but not at the rate that they were. Townhomes and single-family are doing fine. Our biggest problem, at least in Blacksburg, is getting things to cash flow. With median sales prices hovering north of $250000, it's difficult to get things that can cash flow without significant down payment. That's proved to be most difficult, honestly, in Blacksburg.

Radford is a different story, and can't quite put my finger on it. The university is making significant capital improvements, but the housing stock is still languishing, and the last 12 months we've seen rentals actually sitting vacant, which has been unusual. There are good deals to be had, but the number of vacancies is concerning. ~ 9900 students at the university, with somewhere around 65% of those living off-campus. So there's been a lot of downward pressure on sales prices in Radford, and that's not expected to recover anytime soon. It's a long-range play.

I'm still bullish on rentals in college towns, but I'm shifting focus to get away from the college undergrad, and focusing on SFH that caters to a broader rental subset.

Welcome, Dana - there aren't many of us here, but looking forward to growing!

Hi there - I've been renting in Blacksburg and Radford for almost 10 years. You're right - solid tenant screening is an absolute must. For the most part we've rarely had problems, and when we have, they've come as a result of other issues (failing out so they stop paying rent, etc). I like the predictability of the turn, as well - August to July leases.

So  you've already answered my question, @Account Closed I just don't love it, and there's no appreciation to be had, other than monthly net. Time to start making some decisions.

I'm toying with unloading my last property and figuring out what I want to do next. I've held on to this property the longest, as it was my first property, so admittedly there's likely some emotional attachment there. But the hangup is also the dollars and cents of it. Here's what I'm looking at:

Purchased a property in 2007 for $94000. Until July of this year it's been rented, most recently for $950 per month. After expenses each month, including management (I don't self-manage) net is ~ $250 per month; and until July of this year, it's really been rented consistently since 2009. It's currently vacant, and we're seeing renters for $850 since we're out of the traditional rental cycle for the area. I'm considering selling it as it's in an area of our region that's really seeing no positive growth. It's in a college town, but other than the college there's really nothing positive economically there, and I don't foresee that changing anytime soon. I would likely be looking at a sales price somewhere about 5% what I paid for the property 7 years ago, so appreciation has been small. 

I don't need the $250 net every month for anything in particular, and I have a suitable capital reserve for the property. I just feel like I've got roughly 30% equity in the property and it might be time to put that into something that gains and appreciates better. So ... sell it for basically what I paid 7 years ago and move on, or suck it up and keep it.

What do you think you would do?

This is awesome, @Account Closed - how did it turn out?

@Brandon Maxwell, long-time no-hear. I'll connect with you separately, would love to hear how things have been going since we last worked together.