All Forum Posts by: Ryan Copeland

Investment Info:

Townhouse buy & hold investment.

Cash invested: $44,000

I renovated my rental property to become an Airbnb. It was my first major undertaking and I learned a LOT. The outcome was great, but going forward I need to decrease my carrying costs and find other cost effective ways to make impactful improvements.

COVID-19 drastically impacted the STR rental market where my property is located. On July 1, 2020 I leased this unit out as a 6-month STR (fully furnished). This was always my exit strategy if Airbnb wasn't working.

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

I did a feasibility study using AirDNA for Airbnb where my property was located. The numbers came back highly favorable. I figured I could make good income and still use the property when we go visit. Also, the Atlanta Braves stadium is only 5 miles away.

How did you finance this deal?

I used cash to renovate the property. I also did a mortgage recast of $10,000 to bring my monthly mortgage payment down from $900 to $629 to help minimize risk.

How did you add value to the deal?

Fully renovated the interior.

What was the outcome?

$2200 monthly rent
$1000 operating expenses
---------------------------------------
$1200 net operating income

Lessons learned? Challenges?

The biggest lesson learned is to have all of your renovation design ideas thought out prior to starting construction. This caused some delays in my project.

The challenges were:
1) finding a contractor
2) selecting materials
3) decor design

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

I didn't work with any real estate professionals. If I had known about BiggerPockets before I started the project, I'm sure I would've done a lot of things differently.

Investment Info:

Townhouse buy & hold investment.

Cash invested: $44,000

I renovated my rental property to become an Airbnb. It was my first major undertaking and I learned a LOT. The outcome was great, but going forward I need to decrease my carrying costs and find other cost effective ways to make impactful improvements.

COVID-19 drastically impacted the STR rental market where my property is located. On July 1, 2020 I leased this unit out as a 6-month STR (fully furnished). This was always my exit strategy if Airbnb wasn't working.

$2200 monthly rent
$1000 operating expenses
---------------------------------------
$1200 net operating income

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

I did a feasibility study using AirDNA for Airbnb where my property was located. The numbers came back highly favorable. I figured I could make good income and still use the property when we go visit. Also, the Atlanta Braves stadium is only 5 miles away.

How did you finance this deal?

I used cash to renovate the property. I also did a mortgage recast of $10,000 to bring my monthly mortgage payment down from $900 to $629 to help minimize risk.

How did you add value to the deal?

Fully renovated the interior.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

The biggest lesson learned is to have all of your renovation design ideas thought out prior to starting construction. This caused some delays in my project.

The challenges were:
1) finding a contractor
2) selecting materials
3) decor design

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

I didn't work with any real estate professionals. If I had known about BiggerPockets before I started the project, I'm sure I would've done a lot of things differently.

@Jonathan Perez my suggestion would be to determine where you would want to be long term.  If you feel like the warm weather in Jacksonville is the place for you, then by all means continue your journey to move there.  I personally wouldn't advise you to stay in Columbia just to start your pursuit to be a realtor.  If you really want to move to Jacksonville, I say wait until your job gives you the approval and then get your FL RE license.  No need to pursue one for SC when you may get the approval to move to Jacksonville before you even finish the coursework for a SC RE license.

Being that you already know the Columbia market so well, you can always invest here as it's a fairly stable market.  You open yourself up to loads of new opportunity by going to Jacksonville.

Hello @John Underwood.  I'd love to connect with you to learn more about tax lein properties.  I've always heard about this strategy, but have never met someone with the experience of doing it.  Being that you've acquired 19 properties this way I'd love to learn from you.

Hello @Joshua McClam. I live in Columbia SC and I'm new to RE investing.  I've been studying the market for the past 3-4 months.  This town has a lot of out of state investors because the market is so stable here.  I haven't found a lot of "deal" on public listings, but I have found a few that would work based on the BiggerPockets calculators.  I just haven't bought yet because we're closing on a new home for our primary residence in 2 months and I don't want to trigger any risks with that loan by purchasing investment property beforehand.

One thing to be aware of in this market are the taxes. For investment properties, the taxes are 3x higher which will derail a deal if you don't account for it. Also, for SFH (3BR,2BA) the rents seem to range from $1,000 - $1,500. I've seen some going for more, but that is rare from what I have seen. So you want to be SURE that you conduct good analysis and have your numbers right before you buy.

Being that you will be stationed at Shaw AFB in Sumter, a good area to consider for house hacking or maybe even rentals is Hopkins SC. I haven't met many investors or realtors who know a whole lot about Hopkins, but I've seen some good looking investment properties for seemingly low prices.  It may be a good idea to poll fellow airmen at Shaw to see where most folks there prefer to live.  If it appeals to them, it may appear to future airmen who will get assigned to Shaw AFB.

I'd love to connect with you. Maybe we can learn some stuff together.

When I think about paying off a mortgage, I look at all of the interest I would be saving on paying the loan off early. I'm not talking about paying it off in one lump sum, but adding extra payments over time.

Purchasing a $400,000 home on a 30 year mortgage, financed at 3.5%, the buyer will pay $246,624 in interest over 30 years. If that same buyer puts an additional $200 per month ($2400 annually, $60k over 30 years)....the buyer will save $60,200 in interest payments.

I personally hate the thought of paying all of that money in interest on my personal residence.

Hello BP,

I'm looking to get established with some lenders in the Columbia SC market. If you don't mind, please share any references you may have, your experience with the company/person and the type of rates you received then/now. 

Thanks!

Hi @Amol Kulkarni. I'm new to REI in Columbia as well. What I have learned thus far is that the taxes are 3x higher for investment properties. That will break a good deal in this market. Below are links to tax calculators for Richland county and Lexington county.

Richland County Tax Calculator

Lexington County Tax Calculator

Glad to hear that things are back on track @Ruben Morgan.