All Forum Posts by: Sam Robbins

Hey guys!

I have a property in the Nashboro village area of Nashville, right by the airport. Looking for a little guidance with next steps. I lived there for a few years, fixed it up and am now renting it out as a mid term rental with Furnished Finder for the past year. I’ve had great luck with tenants - I’ve had it rented for the past 13 months with two different tenants, cash flowing $400/mo and then $700/mo. It’s been great!

Recently I had to search hard for a new tenant, eventually finding one for three months, only cash flowing about $100/mo., and now we’re looking again. I chocked it up to it being the winter, but I can see that this is going to be a stressful cycle and I’m wondering when I should switch over to a long term rental.

It’s a 1200 sqf 3 bed 3 bath end unit townhouse, essentially one half of a duplex. Very quiet dead end street. It’s a nice place in a really quiet, safe area - what do you guys think is reasonable rent? Do you think we could get $2100 in this area or is that crazy? I don’t live in Nashville anymore and am landlording from New England.

Here’s a link to the furnished Finder listing: https://www.furnishedfinder.com/property/566838_1

Thanks!

Sam

Hi!

I've been renting out my 3/3 end unit townhouse for the past three months through Furnished Finder, to a great tenant on a four month lease. It's cash flowing really well and I'm hoping to continue doing MTR. I'm wondering - what kind of insurance should I get for the house? Do I ask the tenants to have renter's insurance? 

Also, does anyone have experience in the Nashville market for MTR's? This one tenant has been great but we've only had one. Hoping we don't have too many vacancies. I did list it on Zillow for LTR and have received some interest, a lot of it from STR arbitrage companies. That seems a little chaotic and risky to me. The property is 5 minutes south of the airport in a quiet, dead end neighborhood.

Sam

I appreciate it! Yup, probably just going to rent it out LTR, which is fine. The HPR thing really annoyed me, it makes no sense to me. Would’ve paid for my mortgage easily, and I’m gone anyways! That really killed me. But it is what it is! I’ll do LTR.

Thanks!

Hi,

I’m Sam, a new real estate investor in Nashville - I got my first property this pas year, just south of the airport. It’s an attached HPR, basically a duplex that is zoned as two single family homes. I own one half, 3 bed 3 bath, and I’m currently living in and renovating it with plans to rent down the line. It’s in pretty good shape at this point, rentable.

I travel a lot for work, and a friend gave me the idea to do a short term rental as a one bedroom, locking all of my stuff in the other bedroom and office - I applied today and was denied because I don’t own both sides of my HPR, even though I have written permission from the owner of the other half…. It’s a completely ridiculous and obscure law to me, and definitely ruined my day!

But anyways, I have a stretch where I’ll be gone for several months - mid July through mid October, possibly stretching to the end of the year, and I’m wondering if anyone has any ideas beyond just a normal rental - traveling nurse, etc. that might be good in Nashville. It just seems like a good opportunity to try something while I’m traveling so much. Any help is much appreciated - obviously a short term rental would be ideal, but it looks like thats out the question for now. 

Thanks,

Sam

Ah, I forgot to include it - they’ve been very non-responsive and unreliable (which I know is common), and I have a somewhat tight schedule I need it done by, so I figured I’d reach out here. I’m really just starting out in all of this so I’m not sure how it works!

Good to know about the “you get what you pay for” thing with this. I’ve been suspecting that with contractors as I’ve been getting work done to fix this place up, but I’ve been lucky so far.

Hi!

I’m first time homeowner in Nashville, and I’m living here, fixing it up to rent out. I’m wondering if anyone has any contractor recommendations to build an outdoor staircase? The stairs at the house now are falling apart. I’m also interested in fixing up the back deck, but I’m starting here! 

I don’t think it will be a huge job - I’ve been having trouble finding a reliable contractor for it, and the quotes have ranged wildly (from 7K to below 2K). Any help is much appreciated! Picture included. 

Hey!

I recently purchased my first property, a 3 bed/3 bath zero lot line (shares a wall with another house but no HOA) in Nashville. I'm fixing it up and planning on renting it. I'm self employed, and had a co-signer on it - ideally, I want to refinance at some point in the next two years, get the co-signer off, hopefully get some cash out of it and do this again.

My question is… what steps do y’all think I should I take today to get there? Mostly with taxes and stuff like that - qualifying for a loan is definitely the biggest obstacle because of the whole self-employed thing. I’d prefer not to pay a ridiculous amount in taxes just to qualify, but it seems like that might be the only option.

I’m still new at the whole real estate thing but really enjoying fixing up the house and I’m just looking to the future. Any help is much appreciated!

Thanks,

Sam

Didn’t go with Home Depot and went with Luka’s recommendation - he came in the next day and got it all done in one go. Saved me 2K. Thanks Luka and BP! Woo!!!

Hi!

I recently purchased my first property in Nashville - living in it for now, fixing it up to rent - it needs some work, starting with the flooring in the first floor. I’m going to be ripping out the carpet and tile and replacing it with vinyl plank. This is the living room, kitchen, bathroom, and laundry room. I was planning on DIY-ing it, but I’m thinking it might be a little too much to take on myself. Home Depot and Lowe’s are quoting me $2500+ for just the labor to have people come in and do it. Any contractor suggestions that would come in and do it with me? I want to learn how to do flooring and I’ll certainly pay someone, but $2500+ just seems excessive. It’s about 500 sq feet. Any help is much appreciated, thank you!