All Forum Posts by: Mike Carroll

Craig  and Anthony, thank you guys so much for the reply and all the helpful info! I love that I am so new to all of this because it’s opportunity to learn and grow as a human and investor/entrepreneur! I appreciate the feedback, see you around!

Mike Carroll 

Hello All!

New to BP and REI. I bought my first vacation rental property and I'm gearing up for my first summer season of short term rentals! The discussion I'd like people to weigh in on, is cultivating relationships amongst other investors/agents/lenders etc. I luckily found a friends neighbor help me out a ton with the lending side of it and I will be personally using him for every deal going forward because of the trust and relationship we built organically. But how does one go about finding these other mentors, investors and real estate agents? I know there are things like meet up.com and other groups but my town is very sleepy in the off season and no one uses these sites. Could local chambers of commerce meetings be a good place? It'd be great to hear some of your stories/methods of meeting new people in the business, cultivating relationships, and building great business relations. Thanks everyone!

-Mike

Awesome advice guys! Thanks so much for the feedback. I’ll be sure to check out those books. Appreciate the help!

I am gearing up for my first summer with my brand new beach house and was wondering if an LLC was necessary/suggested? My question derives from a place of keeping things simple from a business stand point. So wouldn't it be easier to just start an LLC and keep the funds from rentals in one bank account. That way I can easily keep track of business expenses and disperse profits to myself after expenses are paid. Also, would this be more beneficial in a tax sense? Or is it easier to just claim the profit from the rental property as additional income and seep it all in under my personal checking account? Thanks in advance! Please let me know if you have any additional questions or answers!

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $263,000
Cash invested: $100,000

This is my first investment property located in a seasonal beach town. I built a 5 bed, 5 bath module home on pilings with a heated pool.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

The land dropped in price almost 30k, so I figured I should jump on it. The location is perfect being in a seasonal town but just outside the incorporated town limits. It has a great water view of a nice pond with a private dock.

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

My parents actually live down the street from the property, so I kept an eye on it. Then after purchasing the land, I hired my dad to be the contractor and we did all the contracting together.

How did you finance this deal?

Traditional construction loan.

How did you add value to the deal?

By building a large beach house people can vacation at one week at a time.

What was the outcome?

I am gearing up for my first rental season starting in late may. It is mid march and I have 3 confirmed bookings so far.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Contracting your own project is NOT easy. This is my why contractors charge what they do. When you aren't an established contractor, it seems the only sub-contractors you can get charge way too much or they are the low hanging fruit and do shotty work. When I do this again, I am not sure if I will hire a contractor or do it again myself. All in all doing it myself was a good investment but it was a LOT of work. Also, add 20% to what you think will be your budget!

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

Hayden Evans from TD Bank did my construction and eventually home mortgage loan.