All Forum Posts by: Joseph Lopez

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $175,000
Cash invested: $150,000

Located in The Great Smoky Mountains within a 5 mile radius to Dollywood and the surrounding communities, we decided to do a completely renovate this property down to the studs. That included a cabin setting complete with log cabin siding and cedar ceiling. We added square footage and all the decks and now operate the property as a short term rental with massive success due to the team handling the management for us as the operators.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

Property was brought to us off-market by a seasoned wholesaler of whom we had a track record of buying from

How did you finance this deal?

It was purchased with a 80% hard money loan and the gap, holding cost, and rehab was provided by a Private Money Lender with an equity share position. Split was 75/25% of which 25% belongs to the investor.

How did you add value to the deal?

Originally pencilled out to be a flip deal, it was discovered to have a better use as a long term hold with a short term rental use. So we repurposed it into a short term rental after researching the project with our team. Team included CPA, Realtor, Property Manager, Contractor and our Insurance Agent. All info was used, then it make it a simple easy transition to enable the deal to fruition.

What was the outcome?

A fully operational hand off short term rental with positive cash-flow and after the cash-out refinance at 65% LTV, yielded an infinite return.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

It was paramount to listen to the team. Everyone's input had a favorable response to short term rental. We exhausted the details and realized there was no reason not to do so. We had multiple exit strategies in play such as 1. Flip, 2. LTR, 3. STR. All were viable, but its most effective use due to its location was STR.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Buckhead Cabin Rentals, Greg Chambers 828-446-0979 was essential in research for our decision to short term rental. His company operates, manages and owns STR's in the area and the advice we received was on par with actual knowledge for our project.

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $175,000
Cash invested: $150,000

Property was originally purchased as a flip and we inherited a tenant in place with a valid lease. That gave us time to hold the property as a rental and discover its potential use. Being in the Great Smoky Mountains with a 5 mile radius to Dollywood and the surrounding communities, we decided to do a complete remodel down to the studs including a cabin setting complete with log cabin siding and cedar ceiling. We added square footage and all the decks and now operate the property as a short term rental with massive success due to the team handling the management for us as the operators. https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/840728131308870818?check_in=2024-08-09&check_out=2024-08-11&guests=1&adults=1&s=67&unique_share_id=547e2f60-2b43-49e6-bb69-0aeb67bfecc9

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

Property was brought to us off-market by a seasoned wholesaler of whom we had a track record of buying from

How did you finance this deal?

It was purchased with a 80% hard money loan and the gap, holding cost, and rehab was provided by a Private Money Lender with an equity share position. Split was 75/25% of which 25% belongs to the investor.

How did you add value to the deal?

Originally pencilled out to be a flip deal, it was discovered to have a better use as a long term hold with a short term rental use. So we repurposed it into a short term rental after researching the project with our team. Team included CPA, Realtor, Property Manager, Contractor and our Insurance Agent. All info was used, then it make it a simple easy transition to enable the deal to fruition.

What was the outcome?

A fully operational hand off short term rental with positive cash-flow and after the cash-out refinance at 65% LTV, yielded an infinite return.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

It was paramount to listen to the team. Everyone's input had a favorable response to short term rental. We exhausted the details and realized there was no reason not to do so. We had multiple exit strategies in play such as 1. Flip, 2. LTR, 3. STR. All were viable, but its most effective use due to its location was STR.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Buckhead Cabin Rentals, Greg Chambers 828-446-0979 was essential in research for our decision to short term rental. His company operates, manages and owns STR's in the area and the advice we received was on par with actual knowledge for our project.

Hi Daniel, 

I own properties in the Smokies and it's a gorgeous place to visit and awesome place to invest, even today.  I'm going to recommend you listen to Avery Carl's episode on BP:  Bigger Pockets Podcast 364 w/ Avery Carl and read her book Short-Term Rental Long- Term Wealth Book She personally has STR's in the Smokies and identifies that areas that make investing profitable in certain markets. The Smoky Mountains is one the preferred areas that meets and exceeds the prerequisites. For example, our mountain home has CCR's that stipulate "...Home can be owner occupied or rented for short term, but not long term..." that's how pro-STR they are in certain regions. Avery and her husband also are real estate agents that will assist you in selection of primary markets for STR's and also can assist you post-closing with a network of resources on her podcast and FB group. The Short Term Shop

That is only my recommendation, but I would still interview every agent that you can especially agent/investors that actually own STR's like Madeline Blom here on this thread. Work with people that are vested in the market that you involved in. Another example is our Property Manager also owns STR's and manages our properties as well as owns a cabin down the road from us.

hi Alexa, what part of Texas?

@Marc A. Thurston welcome Marc ! You will fit right in. You bring valuable insight both personally and professionally to the community and I'm quite sure you will learn as I have here with BP.

I've been hearing about a possible, maybe, perhaps, holy moly its coming ....recession for every year straight since 2012.  As a real estate investor, one needs to be prudent in our business practices and follow due diligence on our investments so we will be actual real estate investors in projects rather than speculators.  I'm not concerned about what the media thinks and I don't ask my dry cleaner for real estate advise.  The reality is that if you are buying and investing in projects adhering to proven tactics and strategies you will withstand with lower risk any depression/recession.  Any investment involves certain elements of risk at its base, however we can leverage risk with proper reserves, passive income and equity in projects.  With that said, I normally buy more properties at a lower discount when we are experiencing troubled times so if it should occur, i'm ready to buy more properties. 

That's Awesome!  Brad Sumrok has a lot of comprehensive information to share in a direct and concise message with no fluff.  He gets right to the point about Multifamily investments.  I''ll be attending.  Thanks for bringing this together.  Looking forward to networking with your group!

@Charles LeMaire you going to be st the August event? I looking forward to meeting Robert Kiyosaki in person ! The man, the myth, the legend!

I attended Brad Sumrok's Phoenix Az event and It was spectacular info as always.

Let's connect at the next function.

Good morning @Kyle Bishop,

I think attending a Brad Sumrok conference is an excellent idea.  I attending his February conference and already met some Sponsors leading to a 196 unit $15k purchase with a $50k minimum as a passive investor.   I'll be at his Phoenix, AZ event this weekend.  He's offering a 1 day event there and I'd like to network with more investors from that local market.  Brad's regular conferences are about 3 times a year, info for his next event is here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/brad-sumroks-rat-race-2-retirement-apartment-investor-weekend-training-tickets-56945481468

What motivated me to attend is my desire to transition from SFR 1-4 units, into 60+ units and looking to tap into an existing ecosystem with structure, comprehensive training, and a network. I met Brad in January where he spoke with a small group of investors in northern California. He was very articulate and spoke volumes of details in a clear concise manner in a short 30-45 minute segment. His conference is exactly like that...non-stop information and training coupled with networking. He's the speaker, all day long.

Best regards!

Hi Kyle.  When you posed the question I initially thought you meant build for investment purposes but are you talking about building your own personal residence to occupy?  I'm sure there could be some costs savings but most people would probably not have the resources to go at it alone and go over budget every time. Most simply won't admit it.  From the few owner builders I've known here in Kern county every single one of then went over budget but ended up with a customer home to their liking so they were happy with the success.