All Forum Posts by: Kayla Johnson

Hi Cale! I live about an hour or so from Mammoth Cave. The area is beautiful and the tourism is great for the area in season. There aren’t a ton of AirBNB or VRBOs around there, so I think it would do well. We have 3 small children and rather than going on big vacations, we go to that area. They love Kentucky Down Under, we will be going to Dinosaur World this year, and we like to go to the cheesy touristy places. 
None of the attractions are new or sparkling. Most of the traffic is likely pretty local, like us, within a few hours of home, trying to have a decent little vacation without the price tag of the beach or the mountains. I think you'd stay booked throughout the tourist season if you're priced right, but this probably isn't the market to have a pristine, feature style STR for high dollar rents. That's not this market, but I think this is definitely a market you could make money in!

 Thank you for the feedback, Daniel! 

We own our primary residence, have always taken the standard tax deduction, have 4 children, one graduating high school this year, have never owned a business, don't know what could possibly be written off or what needs to be saved throughout the process, and would prefer to have a cpa and attorney assist with the set up of an LLC to ensure we're getting the most tax benefits and asset liability protection as well.

I know we won’t be able to avoid all backpedaling, but I don’t want to have to restructure later, transferring properties and missing documentation necessary for tax benefits because I didn’t know to save it. 

We may just use the CPA to help set up the LLC and then return later when we have enough business to really need them. But either way, I need to ask valid questions in the consultation.

I’m in the process of putting my business together, though my husband and I have not yet purchased a property. I want to put a hard focus on laying the groundwork to create a business that is poised to scale. Once we start buying properties, I want to scale as quickly as we can, and I don’t want to backpedal to handle things on the business side that could have been ready ahead of time. 

That said, I have my first consultation with a CPA next week. What are some questions I should ask to make sure the CPA is a good fit from a real estate investing perspective?

Thanks, all!

Thank you all for your insights! I will check more into the state of the major systems and go from there. My excitement has been tempered, which is what I was going for. It’s no good to go in with emotions high! 
Thanks all!

Thank you! All good points. Reworking plumbing and electric are things I hadn’t considered.
The roof and siding look to be in good condition, but an inspection would be necessary to know for sure. The duplex next door burned down at some point somewhat recently and insurance replaced all the siding on that side of the house.

I’d like to make it a 4/2 or at least add a half bath, but it would depend on where else the money is eaten up. Even a 4/1 accepting section 8 in this area would be a desirable rental, though not ideal.
 

I do want the property, but knowing when to listen to people who know more than you is a sure way to get ahead. People have pointed several things I haven’t considered that are really helping me rein this excitement in!

We have about $45k, the rest I’d have to work out private financing, and hoping the seller would finance the purchase. It would be a lot of work to even get it going. That’s why I’m looking for reasons it’s not worth it.  BP is coming through on it, too, I knew I just needed someone to point out the things I didn’t know to look for or was purposely not seeing!
My husband and I have four children in the house from 1yr to 17, house hacking isn’t really something we can or are willing to do with our household size. 

I’m basically just guessing because $20k will get a good chunk of work in this area. I haven’t been in the house yet, and I haven’t done real research on estimating it. We would do all the painting, and the majority of the handyman level work. We could put 20k, or even 30k into it and still come out on top.  If it’s a deal that really becomes viable, I’d have an inspection done and receive some bids to make sure it could be done in that budget. But I don’t want to go through all of that if I’m just looking through rose colored glasses because I’m excited at the prospect. I need someone to point out any obvious red flags I’m looking past because I do not have a local network yet, I don’t know anyone that’s doing this that can talk me down with logic, and I need that right now, haha.

Electrical is something I didn’t account for, you’re probably right that it’s a mess. 

I need to be talked down. I’m convincing myself that this is a good deal before I really know what I’m doing and what to consider. I know this is not a proper analysis, I’m working on that. My market is western Kentucky, so the numbers are all relatively low in comparison to what most of you are accustomed to.

My husband and I are looking to buy our first property in the next few months and BRRRR it. I'm only halfway through the BRRRR book and haven't even started The Book on Estimating Rehab Costs (it will be here this week!)

We found a falling apart property in a low income area, probably a C- neighborhood. The basement wall has crumbled on one side, the support posts have fallen off the porch and it is currently condemned due to structural damage. The current owner has it FSBO for $30k obo. It's been empty for months. Seller is elderly, was selling to previous tenants on contract when the structural damage occurred and they left after not paying her for over a year.

She’s gotten one bid for the structural repairs at $25-$30k, the AC components have been stolen, the inside is in bad shape. Previous tenants apparently had large dogs and no inclination to clean. It looks like there is a plywood floor in the kitchen area, but we haven’t been inside yet, just peaked in the back window and talked to chatty neighbors.

Now, this is where I need the talking down.. I just about have myself convinced that there’s very little chance this isn’t worth buying and fixing for cash flow and here’s why. I think the seller would be likely to finance (she was selling to tenants on contract), and take a much lower price than $30k, say $18k, then the high end of the bid she received for the structural repairs, $30k, and another $20k in rehab would put us all in at $68k. This is a 4BA, 1BA, built around 1900, I believe. An updated 3/2 several blocks down built around the same time sold for $126k not too long ago. I’d hope to get at least $100k on the appraisal and pull out 75% on a cash out refi, leaving me with a $75k mortgage, escrowed payment likely under/around $700. Section 8 voucher for a 4 bedroom in my area is $1041/mo.

Tell me why this won’t work. Please. I need to pull back but I can’t talk myself out of it because I want it!