All Forum Posts by: Ralph Poirier

I used the Smartcore vinyl planking from Lowes.  It's waterproof and extremely strong and durable.  Easy to put down and it looks awesome . My tenants were so excited to see it! 

I just drove through Irmo (I'm in Chapin for the holiday) but my question is who is renting for those rates that often?  What makes you think 50% is the right number?  Is the house on a lake?  I could see potential demand during football season.  Sorry just make sure your estimates are realistic.  If they are it sounds like a win!!!!  Good luck!

@Selina Banda A camera inside the house is extremely creepy to me!  If I rented a place the first thing I would do is unplug and then I would be untrusting that others weren't hidden throughout the house.

I use Stessa. You can use your phone to snap a picture of the receipt. If you get it via email you just forward the email to Stessa and they add it to your account. Best part is it’s free!

I use Stessa. Imports transactions and its free. New features rolled out regularly. 

The RE market in SC has been very flat. Only recently am I seeing decent growth in my properties. SC didn't see the massive growth that other markets experienced Prior to the crash. I would also say there taxing strategy to charge REI 3x an owner occupied has something to do with the lack of appreciation.

CALL THE TOWN!  Do you really want to be that guy renting an illegal unit?  The fines and fees associated with that situation.  What about the poor tenant you may have to displace.

As the commercial use to say:  You can pay me now or pay me (much more) later!

IMHO everyone above is correct.  You should consider a ladder approach:

1) You should have reserves in case something breaks; tenant stops paying; etc.  depending on how conservative you are 3-6 months should do the trick.  These should be invested in the bank accounts mentioned above.

2) After your reserves you could start putting that money into the market.  Lucas had some ideas above.  Think low cost highly diversified.  I'm not a fan of the REITs in this use case.  You are going to get killed in taxes and dealing with the K1's at tax filing is a pain.  There are a ton of Robo advisors out there that will manage the money on the cheap.

3) Then lastly, once you have enough saved listen to Joe and rinse and repeat with your next property!!!!

Good luck!

I would think you would be looking for a short term lease (3-6 months) since you said you want to sell it. You will want to do your due diligence on this individual.  Many people use cozi (check the forums there's only a thousand posts on due diligence).

If you were keeping it I would stay away from a six month lease (turnover can be a hassle - vacancy, cleaning, maintenance).

Good luck!

I have three properties (working on 4th) and I use Stessa (which is free).  Imports my transactions to save time; stores all of my documents (closing, insurance, leases - whatever you want really). It is web based but does have an app.  They are adding new features all the time.