All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

@Levi Trentham sounds like a good niche.. It seems inevitable in that market that you’ll have to drill. We have a property in Del Rio which is in Cocke County rather than Sevier. I’m not recommending Cocke as an investment, however there are “no” building codes there but they do require a septic permit and an electrical inspection. Also, in TN you can typically build all your own stuff including the plumbing and electrical as long as you live in it for a year. Always some loopholes that can help.. I’m no expert on the area, just saying what I’ve found.

@Don Scott totally. Thanks

Sounds good @Chuck Kramer. Thanks for the tips. It’s definitely a CRAZY place and very interesting to consider. I think my biggest concern as we were moving closer to the space was .... BEARS. I have 3 small girls and last thing we need is one to get latched up while we’re trying to chill in the woods. Sounds like builders in Gatlinburg would have to watch their back a little. First time we went there I thought they were using bears as a marketing tool nothing more...

@Chris Watson makes sense. It’s always more profitable to go high end. It’s seems that there would be a ton of competition in this space. Contractors with huge showrooms etc. One might need to do some more competitive contracts before winning this market. That is the general rule for contractors, and the ones working for investors practically need to be employees, but the Sevierville market sounded like investors are willing to pay for real co tractors based on demand.

@Levi Trentham hey Levi, I’ve interviewed some excavators from the area and found one significantly lower priced with a good rep and have some good recommendations on Log Home material suppliers. PM me if you’d like any help finding affordable solutions to build something small but impressive.

Hi @Lisa Eckman, I wish the home was in San Diego! I worked for very competitive flippers in San Diego, but decided I'd rather explore other markets that fit my budget. I'm finishing one flip in Greeneville, TN and one near a vacation rental market off the Blue Ridge Parkway in VA. The one in TN we used Prosper lending at 16% on a $15,000 loan for a 3 yr period which we just paid off after 13 months. The other was private money for one year at 15% which we just paid off on time. Interest was $375 paid quarterly for a $10k loan totaling a $1500 ROI for the investor. We also penciled in 1% on the sale to him to make it a little more exciting. As for markets, we came out here to explore Sevierville/ Gatlinburg and also Charlotte, NC. We're hoping to move to new construction as that fits my background too. I think the interest may be a little high on these, but for small loan amounts and what we were able to do with the money, it was win win and we're willing to do that as we're entering the space. What markets are you interested in? Do you think these rates sound fair?

Hi @Chuck Kramer, you seem to be very educational every time I read your posts on this market. Is this thing just red hot? My wife and I were considering a move to Sevierville after we passed through there a while back. We ended up getting some live in flips to move closer to the market and to start doing construction there. Then we got all tied up in flipping that 7 months later we’re still finishing our (2) flips and haven’t tried to do any contracting in the Gatlinburg market. From your experience, would this be a tough market for contractors to break into being from out of town, or are good contractors hard to find there? I know on our first flip in Greeneville, TN we couldn’t get anyone to show up when they said they would and I figured they’re either spoiled in the area, or bad ethics, or I ran into the wrong guys. I’ve built custom log homes, worked for a stair company, flippers and I’ve held a CA GC license for over 10 years. You say people are waiting 1.5-2 years. Do you think it’s a good time for contractors to enter this space, or do you think it would be hard to break into the area as an out of towner home builder, recently moved to the area?? I mean it almost sounds like one would be a hero if they built homes for people here based on the demand and I don’t think they’d argue with price much if it would be started and completed without having to wait 2 years! How much demand is really out there?

Hey @Don Scott,

This is the smartest post I’ve ever seen:)!! Quick question; I just paid back in full my first private money loan. It was only $10k @ 15% which helped me close a foreclosed home for $12.2k. It was super relaxed and we had his banker sister do the docs. Is 15% way too much for private $? I was happy with how easy going everything was, and that it helped me close a property, but I’d like to know what you would consider normal or what you like to see.. I’ll never regret this first deal because of the speed it gave me to close a deal.

@Nicholas Brady hmmm... I'm not real educated since I didn't pay attention to anything they said in high school. All they said in high school was basically we're preparing you for college so find where in the heck x and y lead you to on a graph that didn't have real elements involved. I chose a different course, worked for contractors, got a GC license at 23, worked for home flippers (not to mention did a bunch of traveling and some living in Mexico and mission trips), and now as a late bloomer am getting into flipping myself at 33 and now 34. I've been full time REI for about 1 year now. It's very tough starting out not making money when remodel takes longer than you plan, budget goes over, you get super excited and take on an extra project with too much leverage.

I'd say REI is an education of itself that's learned through successes and mistakes. But specifically whether you should finish a degree, I'd really weigh that out concerning your situation and not let that be so vague one way or the other. It might be the right timing or not. The place or the college might not seem right. There's so many factors on what YOU should do that it's good to work on goals and keep hashing them out... refining your goals. If the college fits the overall goals, then git r done. But I'd say focus on your overall goals and where you want to go and that will give you your answer if you are hashing things out .

@Aaron Gorum why would I read more about codes in your area? Is there something I should know? I’m a licensed GC in CA and know code is a pretty big book. Just not sure what you’re referring to. Maybe you meant to tag someone else’s name there. Always learning...