All Forum Posts by: Troy Gandee

@Sara Sileo You're more than welcome to discuss sponsorship. @Russ Scheider usually handles our sponsorship stuff if you'd like to send him a message.

@Sara Sileo There are a whole lot of flippers in the Charleston Area. Come to our monthly meetup called REI Central to jump start. We had about 120 people in the room last month. It's the 1st Thursday of each month from 6-8pm at Palmetto Brewing Co downtown.

@Chandler Butler Everyone's favorite answer: it depends. I'm a BIC, but I usually recommend newer agents go to one of the big companies to take advantage of their training. Then decide if they want to stay there or go somewhere with more freedom. I have 35 agents. We have very little as far as formal training goes. I don't charge my agents much, so I can't really afford much training for them. We focus on investment properties, so we are a niche company, but we absolutely crush it for our size. If you have a specific interest like investing, developing, land, luxury, etc., I would suggest you eventually find a company that focuses on that and join them. The big companies are great to get going, but you'll probably want to get away from high splits at some point. The success of your career will be determined on how much effort you put in more than who you hang your license with. A big box will jump start you with leads and training, but the smaller companies will teach you how to be scrappy and creative. I started in a tiny brokerage with a lot of freedom and it taught me how to be tenacious, resourceful and creative. I'm grateful for that. 

@Misti DelMar There are still deals to be had, but it's extremely challenging right now. At the moment, we have 650 single family homes on market in the tri-county area. About 1/2 of them are new construction, so many aren't even completed yet. We should have like 4,000 available homes. Probably more to balance the market. It's a strange time. You just have to be patient and keep plugging along. We're expecting it to try to recover later this year as rates increase. You may have to make concessions on locations. The most desirable areas are obviously the ones that are being picked over the fastest. 20-30k is plenty to put down if you're using a low down payment loan. I would suggest trying to find an agent that is familiar with off-market deals (like us) because you're more likely to have less competition. 

You should also come to our monthly meetup, REI Central, if you're in the area. We usually have about 100 investors there. Many are newer folks.

@Hilary Harrison A lot of us use Justin Welch with AccountFin. He's local and prefers helping RE entrepreneurs. He's just super booked up now. I don't think he's taking any new clients at the moment, but I believe he wants to expand next year. He's awesome and understands what we're doing.

@Monica C. It's interesting he would discourage RE over the stock market in this age. RE is far more predictable than the market, imo. 

There are still a lot of opportunities to invest here in SC. However, it is extremely competitive right now. It's even harder for out of state buyers who are unfamiliar with different areas and do not have contacts yet. In Charleston, for example, we have less than 1,000 single family homes available for the tri-county area. Of that, about 1/2 is new construction. This is the worst inventory shortage we've seen and isn't likely to improve soon. We may see a surge in listings this Spring, but competition also spikes, so it will likely be about the same.

My suggestion would be to get moved here, then find a market in close proximity and start hunting. Wait until you can physically drive these areas and walk the homes before you start making offers. You don't always have to do that, but newer investors should be more diligent with their first properties.

@Stephen Brown Absolutely. If I can't personally do it, one of our agents can. All of our agents are investors.

@Jay Hinrichs Definitely. It's extremely expensive here for the South. Especially with wages still being relatively stagnant. It's really accelerated since Covid started. We're just being flooded with transplants from HCOL states who can work remote. Charleston definitely isn't what it used to be. It's still a great place to live, but much of the small town charm is quickly fading. The number of large apartments and condos under construction is pretty shocking for those who have been here for a while. We're busting at the seams. 

Thanks @Jay Hinrichs.

@Stephen Brown We do have a lot of STRs. However, the regulations in each municipality are very strict and distinct. City of Charleston spans a few different geographic areas and has different "zones" for each. Each zone has different restrictions on maximum number of nights per year. There are also different restrictions for North Charleston, Mt Pleasant, Hanahan, Summerville, etc. The beaches are the most STR friendly, but they're extremely expensive. In general, the inventory in our whole market is extremely low, so picking up an exceptional deal is very challenging right now.

@Sheeva R.Sadly, most of SC is about the same as Florida these days. There are very few opportunities in the Charleston Area that work. I've seen some interesting ones in the North Myrtle Area recently, but that's mostly it. I would recommend you look for the smallest beach communities you can find. They tend to have the lowest entry prices. Beach front property isn't likely to depreciate unless it's under water, so buying lower now should have a high yield in the future. I have a condo on Seabrook Island that does quite well, but the dues and management fees are massive. Always be mindful of high management costs with STRs. And there tend to be more unusual expenses with these types of properties like high flood insurance, higher homeowners, high regime/HOA dues if in a development, etc.