All Forum Posts by: Randy E.

 yes

@Account Closed, I love the neighborhoods around NCCU.  I hope other investors remain skeptical and avoid the area like the plague. 

If an investor is looking for A/B neighborhoods that have been A/B neighborhoods for years, and that investor has no experience renting/living in C neighborhoods (and little experience with people who might live in such neighborhoods,) then maybe it's not the best first option.  However, for investors with such experiences, the area surrounding NCCU is a great spot in which to target for investment.

 It is not too late.  The market has changed from 8 years ago.  The market has changed from 4 years ago.  Hell, the market has changed from 1 year ago.

But the truth is, there are still good deals out there.  I wish I had $100K cash to invest in my first deal.  Even with the appreciated market, in the Triad area you should be able to find many good investment options with that money as a starting point.

Do your homework and analyze every potential buy from 5 angles.  However, don't hold out for the perfect deal.  Accept that the perfect deal is near impossible to find.  Accept that you will never "feel ready" enough to make the jump for your first deal.  Accept that you will definitely make a mistake or four, that those mistakes may cost a bit of money, and that you will want to bang your head on the wall once or twice.  Also realize that as long as you do your homework and research, you will emerge from your first deal on the plus side of the ledger and ready for your next deal.

Good luck.

I went to Greenville to look at houses two weeks ago.  I can't say that I know a lot about the city, but I saw enough to know that there are definitely very easily discernible upper-income, middle-income, and lower-income areas.  As a whole, I like the city and would not mind investing in the lower-income areas and the middle-income areas.

The streets immediately surrounding ECU are very attractive from the perspective of a landlord looking for "easy" landlording.  But the prices there are not the best.  However, the lower-income areas in Greenville do not appear to be neighborhood where novice investors with no experience investing in lower-income neighborhoods should play ball. Especially if you plan to be a non-local landlord.  If the area your prospective house is in is bounded in the area made by 14th-Evans-8th-Dick1nson, go look before you buy.  Great prices and good cash flow, but a landlord who lacks the necessary skills to operate there might lose money then sell at a loss just to get out.

If you're serious about Greenville, take a trip there and drive around to look at several houses for sale.  You'll be able to determine very quickly if you think you're ready for the houses with the prices that caught your attention.  It's only a 2hr20min drive from Durham.

EDIT: Oh, and I see the area I chose aligns with half the area Dan Bryant mentioned to avoid. 

I charge a non-refundable pet fee, and a monthly pet rent of an additional $25/month.  The 

I would rent to him again.

I've had tenants move out with "special circumstances" and would rent to them again.  One guy rented a house for about two years, lost his job, paid late one month, then told me he wouldn't be able to afford the rent for too long with his new job with lower pay.  He gave me enough notice, paid up his rent, and I let him of his lease.  Two years later, when the tenant I moved in after him moved out, he happened to call and ask if I had a place for rent.  He had a better job with better pay. I rented the same house to him again.  He's been there about four years now this second go round.

I knew him to be a decent, honest guy who took care of my property. We got along well, we communicated well, and we never had any problems.  When he hit a bump in the road of life, he was honest and direct with me.  There's really not much for me to complain about that.  He could have lied and paid late and made excuses and whatever.  Instead, he told me man-to-man that he couldn't pay and said he would move.  Why would I refuse to rent to a guy who passed my criteria?

Trust your gut on this.  You don't seem like a newbie.  You probably have a good sense for the tenant game.

Congratulations on getting into the REI game!

I would not spend a thousand bucks to try to save a 17-year old unit.  It was worth $260 to try, but it's not worth another 6-700.  Too much risk that something else will fail on it sooner rather than later.

 That quote of $9000-$15000 is ridiculous.  Assuming the ductwork is fine and assuming this isn't a 5000 sq ft mansion, you can get a new unit for around $5500 including a new furnace.  If you need only a new AC, it will be cheaper.

Get more quotes.  If you can't find a low quote, I can give you my guy's number.  He works out of the Triangle, but he went to Hickory a couple of months ago to install a new unit for my brother -- same problem as you, he closed and two months later the A/C died.  And my HVAC guy also went to G'boro for me last summer. He'll probably go to Charlotte too.

Don't let the start-up costs get you down.  It happens in this business sometimes.  It's great when nothing unexpected comes up early.  But once you do this, at least you know you won't have to worry about the HVAC for a decade or two.

I fully understand being overly cautious with this.  A tight budget, a rookie investor, and cracked bricks is a combination that has convinced many a deal to go undone.  Myself included.

However, as hot as the Durham market is, I don't think the deal will sit too long.  Another investor who is more seasoned will probably snatch it up.

Good luck.

Like @Mark Safrin, I worry about their ability to pay back such a loan.  If the question is what is best for the client, I recommend selling the house, using the profits to repay the IRS in total, and looking for a low-cost housing alternative.  They'll sleep better knowing they have no debt like that.

@Thomas Moran, one of my biggest regrets about not buying involved a house with similar-looking cracks near downtown Durham about 8 years ago.  The front of the house had a huge diagonal crack from window-sill height down to the ground.  Some of the bricks were literally leaning outward.  The interior was a basic reno, new kitchen and bath, and painting mostly.  Asking was about $20K.  I walked that house a half-dozen times trying to convince myself to buy it, but ultimately allowed my ignorance and fear to convince me to pass.  I wasn't the only one -- it sat on the market for months.  An investor finally bought it, pulled down half the wall and had it rebricked.  It was all veneer.  Probably cost him a couple of thousand tops.  I shake my head and smack myself every time I drive past it.

Since then, I've seen several other houses in Durham with even worse cracking and separation.  Each was a veneer problem, not a structural problem.  Sometimes, the entire side of a house (the bricks only) have had to be removed and redone.  That's not necessarily as expensive as you might expect.  I've also seen structural problems, but those can be figured out by difficulty opening doors and windows in the rooms closest to the cracks, and of course, going under the house to check the foundation to see if the cinder block foundation is actually cracked on the inside, or if there is water penetration.

If you've been looking in Durham for a long time for your first buy and this one fits your other criteria, don't just blindly abandon this opportunity.  If you don't trust your own ability to figure it out, pay a professional a couple of hundred bucks to take a look at it.