All Forum Posts by: Tyler Anderson

-Criss-crossed with many gravel and dirt roads with numerous potential building sites. 

-Bold creeks at northern boundary and right through the center of the property.

-Perc testing performed at one of the potential building sites, electric available from lines adjacent to property

-Bedford county is very friendly to short term rentals due to the presence of Smith Mountain Lake 

Property is located on Mountain View Church Rd in Blue Ridge, VA

Hello! 

I'm just about to close on a sweet plot of raw land and have some really fun plans for using it to expand my STR empire. Excited to get into construction on some unique trendy stays, which is what I've been working towards by doing more traditional rentals until now.

I'm curious if any of you are aware what types of "improvements" to raw land are able to be used (via cost segregation) for bonus depreciation?  I've read that construction of roads and parking areas can be depreciated in <20 years and therefore qualify for bonus.  What about electrical lines? Wells? Septic tanks? Clearing Trees?   

Thanks everyone! Excited to report on how this project goes. 

Hey everyone, here's a follow up to how this all resolved:

I used a DSCR loan to purchase a large home in my target area. Did a moderate renovation. Now renting out the property for about what I expected (averaging 850/night at about 50% occupancy). We made A TON of money in equity after our renovation even with the market softening. And I get to do cost segregation of the home and significantly lower my taxable income for the year. Win, Win, WIN!

It definitely sounds like DSCR loans are the way to go, but after asking a few people it sounds like very few of those options are ok with lending for someone's first investment, which this will be for me. Any thoughts on a group that's ok working with someone in Virginia their first STR?

Foiled by student debt again!

I’m a young professional with a high salary job, good credit score, 50K saved up for investing, but high student loan balance (due to be forgiven in 5 years through PSLF, so I DO NOT want to pay off more than I need to).

Our home is in a 15yr fixed mortgage so it’s a pretty high monthly payment.

The combination of that mortgage and my student debt have shut me down when trying to get a 2nd home loan. I really want to get into short term rentals and have spent all year reading and researching and networking. I feel ready to pounce and have ID'd a good market. But I can't get a loan! Since all govt. loans are in deferment, the banks are using a default 1% rule when calculating DTI. This makes my DTI super high.

Still can’t find financing even though we have a business partner willing to put up 250K to get things rolling. So we could do like a 30-50% down payment on something but I’ve tried multiple portfolio lenders and they all string me along for 1-2 months before telling me sorry no dice.

Any tips on where to look for financing?

Hi Marcus, just came across your post.  Congrats on getting started. I will also be investing in Spartanburg and I'm trying to find a good agent too. 

As far as advice: you're off to a good start by finding this website. Basically every question you can imagine has already been asked in the forums, its just a matter of searching and reading.  There are also lots of great folks on here who can answer additional questions you may have.  

I recommend listening to the real estate rookie podcast to hear how others are getting started. Worth checking out a few books that are recommended here on the site too. 

Good luck!

congrats on the exciting prospect of getting into real estate.  There are lots of great resources on this forum, youtube, and podcasts that can help you get started. Some of the "Rookie" podcast episodes are great in telling the story of people starting out and might help you get some confidence in knowing how to overcome challenges that may arise.   I'm just starting out too and I've found all of these resources very helpful.

I'm not going to be flipping houses, so I can't help much there.  We've decided to focus on getting into short term rentals first.

thank you all for sharing!

For a lot of people starting out such as you and me, a new LLC can't get financing so even if you had an LLC the property would be under your name (unless you paid cash through the LLC for the property and didn't need financing). So even though I'll have an LLC so that I can split income between myself and my partner, I'll still have umbrella coverage because the property is in my name and the LLC may not provide any/enough protection.

I've read this many other places. What I wonder is how the LLC gets enough of a track record to start qualifying for loans? If I buy 5 properties in my own name while my LLC just sits there empty its not going anywhere. But I can't transfer loans to the LLC without risking upsetting the bank. How do I structure a partnership and get the protection of an LLC if I'm doing all the financing in my own name?