All Forum Posts by: Lauren Taylor

@Jamir A Nicholson - State law dictates that as long as you have a license (active or inactive) you have to clearly disclose (make sure to get it in writing, if you use the state standard contract there is a place for this disclosure) that you are a licensed real estate agent in the state. In SC we have equitable title so as long as you make the disclosure and are not getting paid a fee (commission) by the Seller as well, once you have the property under contract equitable title gives you the right to "control", assign, or sell your rights to others. My personal two cents is to be honest about your intention to identify another buyer but this is not legally required in SC so that's up to your personal judgment. Just make sure you have an executed contract before marketing or trying to find a buyer LLR is a stickler about that. 

So my advice would be, 

1. Make sure you disclose your license status in writing in the Contract of Sale.

2. Contract should be written in your own name (use of LLCs could potentially bite you later)

3. Control contract before marketing

4. Get an assignment agreement from your attorney

Hope this helps! :)

I would agree with @Christopher Bunge - we are having a lot of luck around the Midlands and Upstate. Our firm runs all 3 markets (Columbia, Greenville, and Charleston) as well as Charlotte, Raleigh and Atlanta. Our ground teams searching for deals is typically where we find most of them. Seeing flipping become "sexy" again doesn't improve my overall thoughts on the health of the overall housing market but everyone is riding the wave while it lasts. And we have found that having our in house renovations crews to control costs has been extremely valuable in the process. 

We are still focusing on rental portfolios for our funds and clients and supplementing flips in there to keep a nice balance. Definitely not recommending anyone to go all in and over leverage, seems like we've seen this before. 

Robert, why wholesalers in particular? Looking for deals?

@Sarah Young - We hope to welcome you to South Carolina soon! I agree with the recommendations on areas and think it would be best to identify options in each area that you can then visit and get a feel for each area. North Charleston can be tricking and you can quickly go from comfortable to uncomfortable really quickly. But I'd be confident that you could identify a property around your price point in an area that you'd be happy with, at least for the time being. And we get opportunities all the time that would make good "live-in" flips.

As far as your husband goes, if you'd like to reach out directly we are always looking for good people and if we aren't at the time you're moving then I have some institutional contacts that are expanding as well that I could make a connection with. 

I own my own company that operates in Charleston, Columbia, and Greenville. We only cover investment properties and run a hands off platform for distance investors that we are raising seed round on in order to expand. We have worked with institutional, seasoned, and new investors alike. And manage the entire process for most of our investor base, underwriting, acquisition, renovations, property management (through partners), and disposition if needed. I've worked in the investment space for the last 11 years and made the jump to start my own firm and love it. 

Feel free to reach out anytime, you too @Carolyn Lorence - Always excited to add some good ole Girl power to the South! ;)

So in this case, everyone is right. The taxes do suck, yes. And you can still make competitive yields work, yes. My investment firm covers SC, NC, and GA and all have their unique sets of challenges in regards to buy and hold. If you are aware of the appropriate way to underwrite in these markets and are making smart buying decisions, I'm still of the belief that all these SE markets can present good opportunities. 

On a side note, @Alex Franks are you still doing build to rent here in Columbia?

@Courtney Merricks still need help? We'd be glad to assist, just reach out.

@Dakarai Towns please reach out so you can place me on your list. We need more off market opportunities.

@Kim Puckett @Jasmine Norris is right, you do need to be aware of the non-owner occupant tax but you could put it in your sons name temporarily with an estate granted in Fee Simple Determinable so that it shows as him having ownership rights and then transferring back to you when he completes college. But if you purchase correctly, you should still be able to make it work without the worry of the taxes.