All Forum Posts by: Troy Gandee

@Ray White REI Central is the group I co-founded with some investor friends. It's far and away and biggest meetup in the area. We have a big meeting the 1st Thursday or each month and are in the process of rolling out smaller groups the other Thursdays of the month. We currently have a commercial investing even the last Thursday of each month. You can purchase a ticket at the door or online before the event. 

@Neil Sample I'm in Charleston, but very similar market to MB. In general, long term rental management rates are 8-10%. Most managers also charge fees for new leases, renewals, a percentage of rehab budgets when renovated, etc. 

STR management rates are usually 20-25%. Much higher rates, but a lot more work. That 20-25% does not usually include cleaning/turnover fees. Those are usually a separate expense. Plus, you'll have to cover all the utilities unlike a traditional long term rental.

@Christopher Young No problem. The bar for entry is pretty high these days. We're saturated with STRs. I'd suggest one of the more beachy communities. They're always more STR friendly. The prices are pretty similar anyways. It all depends on your resources. Feel free to reach out.

@Christopher Young I think you're referring to the STR overlay. That's in the Canonborough-Elliotborough area, but it's just a sliver in those neighborhoods. In order to operate an STR full time with no owner-occupancy restrictions, the property must be in the overlay and also zoned commercial. It's pretty difficult to find a property that checks both boxes. There are quite a few listed, but they're expensive. They're trading as more of a hotel than a residential rental.

City of Charleston has 3 "zones" and the STR overlay. You can technically STR in any of the zones, but they all have degrees of owner-occupancy restrictions, permitting restrictions, etc. Downtown is obviously where the cashflow would be the highest, but there are quite a permitting/zoning restrictions to overcome there. The City's website has some really helpful maps and information. We can certainly help you, but just wanted you to know that it is pretty difficult unless you've got the resources to basically buy a boutique hotel.

@Christopher Smith Myself and my company specifically help investors. It's about 50% of our total production. The biggest advice I can give you is to BE AN INVESTOR. Too many agents try to jump on this investing bandwagon, but have no practical working knowledge of how any of it actually works. They may know the formulas and generics, but they've never had to evict a tenant or get a 3am phone call about the brand new HVAC system being stolen from a flip. Start investing yourself. That's the best way to prove to investor clients that you know what you're doing. 

Secondly, BP used to be a phenomenal place for getting yourself out there. IMO, it's become very watered down over the last few years. I just don't get the same value I used to out of the forums as an investor or service provider. There's much less activity than there once was. Something mechanically changed when the company was sold a couple of years ago. BP was doing a marketing package for vendors for a time, but the leads really trickled down. I just stopped getting them. I believe they overcrowded the market.

Otherwise, find your local REIAs and start plugging in. That's the best way to meet real investors in your market. They're not your out of state investors, but they're the real players in your space. Get to know them ASAP. It took me 3 or 4 years of investing myself to start to build a name as an expert. Now we're the primary investment focused brokerage in our market. We'll do about 250 side amongst 40 agents this year. Well over 100 of those would be investment properties.

@Jocelyn Canfield @Jeff Copeland is exactly right. The 6% commercial tax rate is the default rate. The 4% owner-occupied rate is an exception that the owner-occupant must apply for in order to be granted. It isn't a higher rate for the investor, but a lower rate for the owner-occupant. The 4% rate makes SC one of the cheapest in the country as far as property taxes are concerned. The 6% is frustrating, but it still lands us pretty low in the tax affordability category.

More importantly, taxes collected for the 6% rate are largely used to fund our schools, which need all the help they can get. Without the 6% rate properties, our education system would be even worse off than it already is.

I'm an investor and broker, so I welcome investments from out of state owners, but our metro areas have become borderline unaffordable for low-middle income residents. The 4% exemption does also help affordability for in-state residents more than most people realize.

@Letrae Hudgens It's a good market. It's firmly part of the greater Charleston metro area. It's a little North of the "city", but it's close to some good employers. There are a lot of Air Force and Naval personnel that live in that area due to the proximity to both the Charleston Joint AFB, the Naval Weapons Station and the Spawar facilities. It's a fairly mixed back of older, more suburban homes and quite a good number of newer construction homes now. Like everything else here, the prices have skyrocketed over the last couple of years, but it's generally a good market for buy and holds. Shoot me a message if you need help from an agent's perspective.

@Antonio Simmons Come to the REI Central meetups. There's on tonight, actually. 6-8pm at Palmetto Brewing Co downtown. We usually have up to 100 people in the room. Many of them are wholesalers and flippers.

@Joseph A Michel I'm not in that market, but I'm sure the REI Live folks have some referrals for you. That's a great meetup to attend, if you haven't yet.

@Leah Rapley It's probably too far away for you, but we have a strong meetup in Charleston. The group is called REI Central. We meet the 1st Thursday of every month.