All Forum Posts by: Michael S.

I mean, it shouldn't be very hard for the city to act on this.  If the property isn't zoned correctly and is on AirBNB, citation and fine issued.  If the property is zoned correctly but not permitted with the city and on AirBNB, citation and fine issued.  My guess is the majority of STRs in Huntsville are not eligible based on zoning.  

@Dena Puliatti - is the City of Huntsville finally starting to crack down on STRs?  They've been threatening to do so for a while. . .I don't have any STRs, so I am simply curious what the latest is.  

New SFH acquisitions in Huntsville/Madison proper do not cash flow right now unless you go to C/D neighborhoods or you put at least 30% down on an A/B property to "force" cash flow which not necessarily ideal. I've never seen the market so tight here in the 6 years I've been doing this. We haven't written an offer in months outside of flip opportunities because the numbers simply do not work on LTRs right now here.

@Asa Ifill - this is not a criticism at all - but my concern would be the number of new construction MFHs in the Huntsville area is out pacing need/desire, and I think some of the building owners are going to be trouble quickly when they can't fill their vacancies.  So for me, it all depends on the price point you are targeting - if you are looking for $1100 or less a door, I think you'll do really well.  $1500+ a door could be very problematic.  

@Bobby Dailey - just to give a different perspective, for future appreciation of significance, I personally would not consider any of those four locations you noted (Jasper, Clanton, Eva, Oak Grove). That said, I think Cullman and Foley were much better ideas for appreciation plays.  I think Athens also has more potential for appreciation than the locations you noted if you want a small city location.

@Florencio Nayve - to add to what @Chris Mignone noted, North Alabama has a lot of appreciation potential in the near future.  As far as potential, Madison county would be first without a doubt, then Limestone county.  Morgan county (and the city of Decatur especially) have really lagged in appreciation compared to the other two counties mentioned, and I actually think Decatur could get passed by Athens proper in the next decade population wise.  So I'd view Morgan county as more a cash flow play than appreciation play.  I think Marshall county will appreciate far more than Morgan and Jackson counties in the next decade.  

I view Gulf Shores as higher risk/higher reward - appreciation potential is definitely higher, but risk is much higher to get wiped out as well;  basic costs (rehab, insurance, etc) will be much higher as well, but so will rental amounts.  

@Matthew Crivelli - you noted:  
"Over the last few years, we have closed on a ton of cash flowing rentals in this market".

Absolutely, we bought a bunch of properties that cash flowed in years past as well. The last few years are not a valid metric for the current state of deal opportunities that cash flow in Huntsville right now. The last solid cash flowing deal we found was in November (and it was on the MLS which is amazing). We bought a property in March that we were going to LTR, but we may flip it as the numbers are just not great for LTR right now.

@Matthew Crivelli - very, very few deals to be had in Huntsville right now, and cash flow in A/B neighborhoods is very challenging at present.  

 Sorry, I should have been more clear in my post - the permit I pulled myself was my own personal residence that I live in, and was not a rental property.  However, all the licensed subs also had to pull permits for my house as well.  But I was the 'GC' for the addition to my own home that I live in when we did the addition in 2018.   

I have never tried to pull permits on any of our investment properties because my licensed GC does this. 

@Alexander Parunin - in the city of Huntsville proper, if you perform what is deemed to be "substantial unpermitted work" on a house, it is technically illegal to sell the property for the first year after the work was performed.  Granted, this would require the buyer to determine permits weren't pulled and file a lawsuit;  but you would lose the suit by default.  How do I know this?  I pulled a permit myself in 2018 for an addition to my house;  the inspectors office told me directly that either unpermitted work, and/or work that the final inspection was never signed off on, would result in the owner not being able to legally sell the property for one year after the work was deemed to have been completed.