All Forum Posts by: Chris Tiff

Thanks Shannon, I'll drop you a line.

Thanks guys, I appreciate the responses. When you say living there for a year and requiring proof, are you talking about my son? And does living in campus qualify or would he need to have a separate address independant of the college?

Thanks, Chris.

Hi gang,

Does anyone have any experience with switching residency from another state to South Carolina? My son has just enrolled in CoC and I was interested in buying an investment property for him and a few of his dorm mates to live in. Obviously in-state tuition is significantly more reasonable than out of state, so the equation of what would represent a good deal would alter depending on the feasibility of this.

Thanks in advance,

Chris.

Also I think it's a bit misleading to keep referring to natural price peaks as 'bubbles'. A market bubble has certain characteristics- lack of sustainability, flow of cheap money and a certain mass recklessness (what Alan Greenspan termed "irrational exuberance") that won't always apply to more general peaks and troughs. It's all about fundamentals and substance; something which was conspicuous by it's absence, both in the dot-com boom and the RE run up of the mid 2000's. 

Admittedly, the full effect of the last true bubble, and subsequent crash, has yet to make it's way completely through the system, but many of the most dangerous holes have been identified and plugged. The economic characteristics are simply not the same as pre 2008. The danger of labelling each price peak as a potential bubble is that people will associate it immediately with fear of a 2008 replay, rather than the opportunity it truly is.

So how is it that many of these states, particularly the southern ones, are seeing solid appreciation despite a potentially large supply of cheap inventory in the pipeline? Are the banks holding these REO's deliberately keeping supply artificially low in the hopes that their toxic holdings end up booking some profit? And what would that mean for natural appreciation in the next few years? Is the best approach to finding deals going to be dealing directly with the banks for the forseeable future?

Thanks very much Gino. Jason, I'll drop you a line.

Depends what the basis for the conclusion is. The article itself wasn't that clear. If it's based mostly on pricing models, inflation and national trend charts, then possibly. However if the actual prices in Charleston are driven more by growth and expansion, rather than pure speculation, and unless you anticipate growth slowing and jobs being lost, then probably not. If a market is bubbling over based on speculation and cheap funding alone then it has a problem. This was the case during the dot com boom and the RE run up pre 2008. Conversely, if prices are rising based on solid growth patterns and trends then it has a far more solid basis for sustainability. It's up to you as an investor to decide which it is.

Price run-ups, even rapid ones, are not automatic indicators of a 'bubble' per se, though this definition seems to be trending over the last few years, rather a bubble is significant price appreciation without the fundamental substance to support it. That's what Greenspan was talking about when he coined the phrase.

Brilliant Mindy. Thank you very much.

So if you invest in a college town SFR and rent to students, are each of the bedrooms then considered separate units, and would the lease agreement be with the students themselves or with the parents? I'm assuming in most cases the parents would be footing the bill, and the ones you'd most like to have the legal agreement with.

Thanks in advance.

Thanks Mark. I left you a message.