All Forum Posts by: Jessica Derr

Hi Ian, I would recommend @Joshua Beall with Atoka Properties. He's a broker and he does business here in West Virginia as well as in Virginia in a lot of the cities you mentioned. He's also here on BiggerPockets (which is how I met him and am now working for him as an EA). Josh has a few of his own investment properties and is really great to work with, super thorough and knowledgeable. You can message him through here or shoot me a message and I'll give you his contact info.

@Bryan Stottlemyer

From @Bill Kenny, above! It looks like they meet monthly: https://www.mdwvhomebuyer.com/...

@Bryan Stottlemyer
Awesome, another investor right here in Charles Town! I’m really excited about how many of us there are. There’s a meetup tomorrow night in Martinsburg that I’m attending to hopefully make even more connections (I can message you the info if you want to go too!) 

And thanks! I’ve read that one as well and it was extremely helpful. 

@Joshua Beall: Thank you! The newborn stage is a little rough but I guess we'll get through it if you guys have SIX TIMES! That all sounds great, I'll message you to talk about specifics. We'd like to buy within the next six months, if possible, but I still don't have answers to a lot of the other questions.

@Bill Kenny: Thanks for sending over those contacts. I'll be in touch and definitely see you at the meet up this month.

@James Wise: Thank you!

@Bill Kenny That's awesome! Someone told me that Martinsburg has been growing a lot lately with the addition of an Amazon warehouse? Thanks for your response! I'd love any recommendations you have as well with the team members I mentioned above (I think we posted at the same time).

@Larry Barkdoll Thank you! Glad to know there are other BP members so close by! 

@Aaron Poling Great, thank you! I'd love your thoughts on specific locations. I'll shoot you a message.

@Ian Lockwood Thanks! Yeah, the panhandle does seem to be growing fast, especially relative to the rest of the state. From my research in Jefferson and Berkeley counties, it seems like Ranson, Shepherdstown, and Martinsburg are doing especially well in terms of jobs and population growth. 

Right now I'm trying to work on my team. Do any of you have recommendations for solid:

-contractors

-insurance agents

-attorneys

-property management company

-mortgage brokers?

Thank you!

Hi everyone,

My name is Jess Derr and I live in Charles Town (not to be confused with Charleston!), West Virginia. My husband Kevin and I moved here a year and a half ago from Frederick, Maryland because the houses out here are considerably cheaper than just across the river into Maryland. He's still able to commute to his job in DC (the drive is actually a bit shorter now!) and our mortgage is much happier than it would have been in MD. I work part time for Costco (their health insurance is unbeatable!) but I just had our second kid 5 weeks ago and we've decided it would make more sense for me to stay home with the boys and start focusing on real estate investing.

I've been searching through the forums and it doesn't seem like there are too many BP members out here in the panhandle. I know WV as a whole is a trickier state to invest in because as someone said on here, it's kind of a one-industry state, plus the opioid crisis has hit WV pretty hard. BUT I do think the eastern panhandle has a lot of promise and I'm curious if anyone else with experience here agrees? A lot of people in this area are commuters, which means their income isn't tied to the fate of the coal industry. It seems like that would make it safer to invest in this area. Ranson, WV especially seems very up-and-coming. Still doing my "market research" using Brandon Turner's tips from The Book on Rental Property Investing but I would love to talk to someone local about their experiences and recommendations.

Thanks in advance!

Jess