All Forum Posts by: J. Mitchell Bernier

Even if it is only a 2 bedroom, great looking place. Wish they would build houses with this style of architecture still. Instead of the cookie cutter blocks you see now a days. 

Valdosta GA Market Update: Jan 2025

Happy New Year!!

Most of the US real estate market has seen inventory continue to rise with a lot of relisting and stale dated listings, but Valdosta seems to be a “Great White Buffalo” (if you get the movie reference). Last month, I was projecting to see the inventory numbers rise with seasonality and get a slight bump from Hurricane Helene, but that has proven to not be the case.

New inventory and relisting rates have actually declined month over month which is allowing to pricing to remain elevated. Since the last report, we have seen a significant increase to Median Price of New Listings, from $227,950 to $241,450. This is also showing up in the increase to Median List Price of all inventories.

Transaction volumes continue to be slowed with days on market increasing, but Sellers are remaining defiant and not coming off too much of their higher prices. Sellers continue to drive the Valdosta market even during this higher rate environment.

Last month, we were hearing that rental listings under $1250 were continuing to get movement, but anything higher was becoming stale on the rental market. That was short lived! As you can see, the median rent MoM has jumped from $1388 to $1,500 and after a conversation with our leasing team, they have been the busiest they have been in a few weeks, leasing multiple properties with increased rates and in little time on the market for rent. When asked, Are you seeing any pushback on leasing rates? “Absolutely not, we had only one tenant out of eight give any dissatisfaction with the new rent rates this week”

Wil be interested to see if the resale market reverses course over the next month, with rates steady going up the past few weeks.

 Hey Kevin, 

I have worked with these two offices a bunch for clients and would recommend them over just about anyone. 

Mike Rayboun- Rayboun Winegardner Attorneys at Law

Owen Title Company. 

Good Luck! 

 This does seem like a lot of communication, but I would have a conversation with the owner about this prior to firing. I would explain to them your process of handling requests, response times, property inspections, and so on. If they are wanting an even more hands-on approach, then i would refer them out. I wouldn't try and price it up to keep the business. I would just stick to your systems and processes and if the fits not there so be it. However; I would explain it to them first before just letting them go. 

 Hey Jonathan! We treat all of these properties the same as any other, so our down payment is the same for section 8 homes or regular cash paying tenants. We don't have a loan minimum or purchase price minimum, so purchase price is up to you. 

Our biggest thing is the deal has to cashflow at a 1.2X DSCR. That is higher than most, but we want to see you succeed and only way to do that is to be sure every investor has room in the rent income to service unexpected issues.

We do all our loans as balance sheet loans, so that means short term fixed rates with 20yr amortizations and 20% down. 

Hope that helps! 

 @Nicholas Stout Welcome to the section 8 space!

We have had voucher tenants in two separate markets and have found them to be our top performers overall. Nathan is right regarding timelines, need to plan for 60 days for anything you want. However; in Georgia if the semi-annual inspection finds something wrong, you have to get it done in 24hrs. So be prepared for that. I will say my personal experience has been better than Nathan's regarding the cleanliness of the home and overall tenant experience. 

Our voucher tenants tend to stay much longer than our cash paying tenants. Like 3 to 5 times longer. Plus, in Georgia, the tenant can be kicked off the program if they trash the property or don't pay their portion. So, most treat that voucher as a golden ticket and will do just about anything to not lose it. There are outliers of course. We have had no trouble getting our rents increased as long as we have three comps to support it and send in our request in a timely manner, 60 days out. 

One suggestion, go to your states housing page and find the inspection sheet they use and keep a copy of it when you walk your home. That way you can have everything checked off before the inspector comes. Also, take as many pictures as possible before the tenant moves in, again this protects you in case of damage caused by tenant. 

This is a copy of the inspection sheet in Georgia we use: Housing Inspection Sheet

Good Luck! 

 Are these being done on 10 year interest only then P&I for the remaining 30? Is the rate fixed or floating? Lastly how long does the prepay penalty last? Just have a lot of questions on a 40yr loan option. Just seems foreign when we do 15 and 20yr almost exclusively. 

40 years?? How many lenders are offering this? 

Congrats on the move Devin! Good luck on your endeavors! 

Go Noles! 

Recently Trump has announced the nomination of Scott Turner to be the new Secretary of the Dept of Housing and Urban Development, HUD. If you are not familiar with Scott, Scott was the Executive Director of the Opportunity and Revitalization Council, which was tasked in part to support and advance Opportunity Zone tax credits during the first Trump Administration. Why is this important? Opportunity Zone Tax Credits helped fuel more investments in rural and under-served markets where capital is needed, but not much is available. These tax credits unlocked capital which was deployed to purchase and rehab commercial real estate in struggling downtown areas or help fund small businesses in these qualified zones. It is estimated that in 2020 alone $48 Billion was invested in new projects in over 3800 different census tracts.

The current bill is set to expire in 2026 ending the tax credits for these investments. However; two new pieces of legislation were proposed in 2023 to help expand these credits to more areas and extend the timeline of the credits. The most likely main focus of many congressional hearings on this nomination will be on how to address the affordability crisis in this country. Though I have not personally contributed to these investments for tax credits, I have personally seen these investments in action and these investments can help provide more supply of housing and development that would otherwise not be there. This is truly the only way out, build baby build!

I look forward to hearing from the nominee on his plans to help spur more economic progress in more under-served areas like the ones that I live in, work in, and invest in and hope he will help extend and expand the Opportunity Zone Tax Credits.

https://www.jtcgroup.com/insights/opportunity-zones-have-done-what-they-were-created-to-do-will-that-be-enough/

https://eig.org/opportunity-zones-research-brief/