All Forum Posts by: John Whitfield

@Mitch Davidson Having also moved here for purely 'irrational reasons' and taking a pay cut to do it, your post made me chuckle. I couldn't agree more. I bet, though, that within the BP community, those of us who are pursuing REI as a means to lifestyle freedom might argue that those irrational reasons are perhaps the most rational reasons of all!

Also good to keep in mind that travel nursing peaked in 2020/2021, and a lot of hospitals are really trying to get away from travel nurses.  Their contracts can net them a pay rate that is 2-4x what local nurses make, and it's not a viable financial model for hospitals to sustain.  It also leads to general discord among the non-travel staff and doesn't do much for overall hospital morale.  I suspect we will see a drop-off in travel nurse demand for MTRs over the next couple of years.

We're under contract on a cabin in Ellijay, GA, which we found on the MLS. Thinking back on the process, it struck me as a great example of the LAPS funnel at work. Here's how it went down:

We selected our target market earlier this year.  We've been watching market activity and pricing since January. 

We determined our property criteria, then looked at a bunch of properties (25+) on the MLS over the past few months. We ran numbers on the ones that looked like a good fit.

Of the ones that looked promising (8-10), we asked our agent to look in person and send us videos.  

Over the past 6 weeks, we made offers on 3 properties.  We got all 3 under contract.  The first 2 were single offer situations where we came in lower with room to negotiate.  The third required a stronger, list price offer.  The first 2 did not survive the due diligence phase. 

The property we have under contract now is through due diligence, looking great, and heading towards closing!

The most important lesson we took from all of this is just to keep at it.  We were without question pretty discouraged after the first two due diligence periods.  But, we kept looking, and we're excited with our progress to date.  So, for any newbies out there feeling discouraged, perseverance is paramount!

@Marcelle Abel  There are a couple of bigger PM companies that work out of Black Mountain.  Greybeard Rentals and Carolina Mornings are two of the names that pop up here.  I've stayed at a place managed by Carolina; it was so so.

We're local in Black Mountain.  If you're looking for something less formal, feel free to connect with me, and we can chat more.

@Mitch Davidson Gotcha, thanks for clarifying!

@Mitch Davidson Cool post, and good to see that info out there. What Income level did you use for the DTI calculations?

@Marcelle Abel Hi, we live in Black Mountain. Just recently moved here. No STR experience yet, but we're in the process of converting our garage to an ADU. Feel free to connect; I'm happy to help as able.

@Robert Murphy Thank you very much for the info!!

@Robert Murphy- Hi, ran across this thread. I'm currently shopping for flood insurance and have gotten a quote from Neptune. They're certainly less expensive than the FEMA backed policy. In your experience with private flood insurance carriers, have you seen any issues with not paying in the event of a claim? Thanks!

@Adam Fox, congrats on the business sale.  Sounds like you found the fast lane!  Based on your description, it sounds like you just want a passive set and forget investment.  I'd suggest looking into syndications and come in as an LP.  A lot of them have 50-100k minimums; you could easily invest in 10+ projects at a $250k a pop and get some nice diversification.  Best of luck to you!  Might want to check out Brian Burke's book The Hands-Off Investor.  Great guide for the LP syndication route.