All Forum Posts by: Timothy Doenges

I’m in short-term rentals in Fayetteville and around Summersville Lake. Let me know if you have any specific questions—I’m happy to help!

Of course, I’m high on south-central WV right now. Tourism in general seems to be on the rise, even as whitewater rafting has been on the slow decline in the area. But people are coming in “just because” more often now than ever, and AirBnB has really revolutionized the exposure our area has in the bigger metro areas surrounding us.

Again—happy to answer any questions you might have!

Tim

@Nate Bell amazing job — I’m in Fayetteville all the time. Would love to connect with you, as I have a project going on less than 10 miles from there!

Tim

@Gregory Cudzilo

I’m investing and helping investors buy homes in Beckley, WV. Multi-family is sparse, as there aren’t many Multi-unit properties in town, but single family homes have pretty great returns, lower purchase prices, low insurance, and low vacancy.

I’ve seem some recent threads here that have notes Beckley as one of the top-5 markets for unleveraged CoCR, accounting for expenses and cost of living, so it’s a pretty great investment from a cash flow perspective.

Tim

@Steven Stillwell

No experience personally, but there are some wind farms close to us. I’ll pm you shortly with more info if I can find it.

Tim

Lots of great info here. 

I'm also a realtor in Summersville, and I have rental properties in Nicholas, Fayette, and Raleigh counties. Raleigh (Beckley, near WVU Tech) is long-term SFRs, and the others are STRs. We are banking on a combination of Trail growth, rafting growth, and tourism growth related to Summersville Lake (if the CoE ever gets their heads in the game).

I'm also available for any questions - let me know if you need anything!

Tim

@Matt N.

I actually don’t know much about Shepherd U. It’s a bit out of my area—I’m almost 5 hours from there. I’d love to hear more about it though!

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) commercial investment investment in Fayetteville.

Purchase price: $90,000
Cash invested: $3,000

Purchased large single-family house (7 bed, 3 bath), with the intent of converting into two large units with bonus living space. Lower level is a 2 bed, 1 bath, with a formal dining room that could be converted to a 3rd bedroom. Upstairs unit is a 5 bed, 2 bath that already has separate ground access. Attic could be storage or 2 additional bedrooms.

Alternative exit strategy would be to operate as a mixed-use property with a single-unit rental property below and a 5-unit STR above.

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

We already operate a 4-unit vacation rental property, and the prospect of using that to own a duplex with potential for short-term renters in the second unit was interesting to us.

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

We found this deal on the MLS, and we negotiated after inspection. We found that the heating system was defunct and needed to be replaced. Also, the property needed some various cosmetic updates, especially if we are to operate as a STR, and needed a patch vs replacement on the roof.

How did you finance this deal?

Financed by commercial loan at 85% LTV. Since the property appraised in such a way that the purchase price was under 85% of the appraised value, the lender allowed us to use all lender funds to purchase the property, with the expectation that we will do all repairs up to the 15% mark out of our own pocket and provide receipts to the bank to prove use of funds.

How did you add value to the deal?

Adding value by installing a functioning heating system and upgrading roof to 40-year industrial metal roofing. Also doing some minor work to fully separate the downstairs and upstairs so the property can function like a duplex.

What was the outcome?

Just purchased the deal, so unknown.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

This one was hard to finance at first. We were working with an endowment fund that pulled our financing at the 11th hour and left us scrambling, but we righted the ship and were able to purchase the property with our back-up financing strategy. Lesson learned: always have a backup, you never know when you will need it.

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

I am a real estate agent!

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) commercial investment investment in Fayetteville.

Purchase price: $90,000
Cash invested: $3,000

Purchased large single-family house (7 bed, 3 bath), with the intent of converting into two large units with bonus living space. Lower level is a 2 bed, 1 bath, with a formal dining room that could be converted to a 3rd bedroom. Upstairs unit is a 5 bed, 2 bath with attic space available for storage or potential 2 more bedrooms. Upstairs already had separate ground access.

Alternative exit strategy would be to operate as a mixed-use property with a single-unit rental property below and a 5-unit STR above. Will have to analyze the deal further to determine which has better output and resale value vs. the amount of time and money to operate as a business instead of passive investment.

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

We already operate a 4-unit vacation rental property, and the prospect of using that to own a duplex with potential for short-term renters in the second unit was interesting to us.

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

We found this deal on the MLS, and we negotiated after inspection. We found that the heating system was defunct and needed to be replaced. Also, the property needed some various cosmetic updates, especially if we are to operate as a STR, and needed a patch vs replacement on the roof.

How did you finance this deal?

Financed by commercial loan at 85% LTV. Since the property appraised in such a way that the purchase price was under 85% of the appraised value, the lender allowed us to use all lender funds to purchase the property, with the expectation that we will do all repairs up to the 15% mark out of our own pocket and provide receipts to the bank to prove use of funds.

How did you add value to the deal?

Adding value by installing a functioning heating system and upgrading roof to 40-year industrial metal roofing. Also doing some minor work to fully separate the downstairs and upstairs so the property can function like a duplex.

What was the outcome?

Just purchased the deal, so unknown.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

This one was hard to finance at first. We were working with an endowment fund that pulled our financing at the 11th hour and left us scrambling, but we righted the ship and were able to purchase the property with our back-up financing strategy. Lesson learned: always have a backup, you never know when you will need it.

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

I am a real estate agent!

@Conor Kearns have you compared the HELOC numbers against, say, a cash-out refinance?

I have seen some lenders that will do a LOC secured on a CD or another form of deposit with the bank that does the LOC.

Too complicated to get a cash-out refi on the house (130k * 80% = 104k, minus current loans), then taking that amount and either investing it or putting it into a CD to secure a LOC?

Best of luck!

Tim

@Tenisha Walker I think if you have a written lease agreement available to review, you specifically want to look for being able to “sub-let” or “subletting” - not sure what other term they may use, maybe “lease assignment?”

Tim