All Forum Posts by: Mark Muse

Hi all,

My wife and I put in offers on SFHs in Chapel Hill, Raleigh, and Durham NC and fought the good fight from January - May of this year, 2022. We ran all the numbers, got our final number, and made the best offer possible on each SFH, always well above asking price. We simply got priced out in an uber-competitive market. The most extreme was a house that our realtor called a "push-down" due to the water damage, asking price 200, we offer 240, and the house sells for 380. Phew. Raleigh.

Our lease at our rental ran out in May, and we have since signed a new lease in Chapel Hill for 12 months, to read as much as possible and save as much as possible, and watch the market over the next 6-8 months before trying again.

I would love the opportunity during our hiatus from putting in offers to shadow someone through the process of a BRRRR or other technique, be it on a SFH, 2-4plex, or even apartment complex. We wont shy away from the big stuff as I feel fairly confident in our ability to fundraise given some of the connections we have made from our day-jobs. However, we when we start our house hunt again we will probably focus on 2-4plexes.

I am living in Chapel Hill but open to the markets anywhere in the triangle to gain as much knowledge and experience as possible in the coming months.

Thanks for your time and consideration,

Mark

Soon-to-be UNC grad looking to observe the process of BRRRR or flip in the central NC area. Have read the guides and working my way through all of the books, but seeing it in person would be extremely beneficial.

Hi all!

Graduating UNC this summer and looking to get started in REI. I've read all the guides, most of the books, and listened to a lot of the podcasts.

I am in the triangle now but will hopefully be buying our first BRRRR house in the triad area (hopefully Greensboro) and am thinking a 203k loan might work best for my scenario.

I haven't attended any REIA groups yet, if anyone local attends...are they a good place to start getting information on local deals?

Thanks for the guidance @Sean Rooks and @Ian Walsh.

@Michael Noto you are correct. I think both may be not where we want to be, though we would much rather be in a duplex and own it with cash flow than to be in an apartment. Another option might be to purchase a house, not live with roommates, and simply rent it out after a year and we can move to another house? Would be a year of no cash flow but gaining equity.

Bottom line is we're tired of paying rent and not gaining anything for it. 

Thanks for replying! Yes we will likely be within an hour of this location for a long time. There seem to be a lot more single homes in the area than duplexes, but the podcasts make duplexes seem to be more accessible for beginners. As far as our views on the profitability vs comfortability scale, we would prefer to be separated from our renters so I'm not thinking room renting would work for us. We use our extra bedrooms for other small business ventures on the side. This makes me think duplex might be the way to go. 

Hi all, thanks for taking the time to read and consider.

I am graduating at the end of summer semester and have several job leads in healthcare management.

My wife will be doing an internship then graduating in December. 

We are sick of apartments and have saved up money (about 25k) for getting into a house.

I've read lots of articles and listened to many podcasts, but I can't narrow down between single-family hacking and duplex hacking for our current situation. The market is also super hot (Greensboro NC houses are listed for 3 days on average). Should we wait a year while renting or go ahead with a single family or duplex?

Thanks again!

@Brandon Sturgill

Hi, new here with 0 properties, for now.

Are these appreciation maps something only realtors have access too or is the average investor able to access for personal use?

I am aware of searching for sold homes on Redfin, but would love to see if some of the leads in looking at are in decent areas.

Thanks

Hello all!

Thanks for taking the time to read and consider my post. 

I'll provide some background and then a potential deal (but maybe not, just the first property we're analyzing). 

My wife and I are soon to graduate from UNC. We have been listening to the podcasts, reading the articles, and reading the books. How to analyze a flip deal is in the mail as we speak, which is where I need some help. 

I will be taking a 40hr/wk job in hospital admin just to pay the bills and get started in the investing world. My wife and I are fortunately thrifty and savers and were able to profit about 20k together while getting our degrees without loans. This was in various forms, mainly working summers and investing in ultra-conservative stocks. We will have access to +~$3-5k after moving some things around, so a total ~$25k. 

Now, our first interest. 

GIS Parcel #s: 115040, 114988

Google maps view: https://www.google.com/maps/@3...

REIA posting: https://www.triadreia.org/Prop...

From the info we can gather on the GIS page, the parcels were assessed for combined lands and buildings value of 168.9k and are actually listed at $71.5k.  These are 2 houses on 7.74 acres: the 3bd2ba 1960sqft house built in 1938 (grade C) and the 2bd1ba 868sqft house built in 1940 (grade D). The houses look like dumps, but we're not afraid of work and not afraid to hire out work if the investment is profitable in the longer-term (or provides any +cash flow if renting). This is not the best part of town, but it is not the worst, and we think the city-limits acreage alone could eventually attract long-term renters or buyers. The idea would be to live-in flip for a period of time while my wife attends graduate school with ambitions to rent the second home or sell 1 or both in a maximum of 3 years. 

What do you all think? Too much of a dump or an interesting lead? 

I come to you extremely humbly and admit to being a better learner by doing than by reading and writing (its a miracle I've made it through college), though with something requiring most of our savings I want to read and hear as much as possible before committing. Not afraid of committing, just want to commit as knowledgeable as practically possible. 

Thanks again for taking the time to read and consider, 

Mark and Maddi