All Forum Posts by: Will Gaston

Thanks for the great post!

How much time do you typically have between tenants? What do you usually do to prep the place for the next tenant? Do you just prorate the next tenants to make of for time you take to prep?

My spouse and I are looking to get into real estate and we're considering starting with a single family home in a university town. What kind of differences are there with screening potential student tenants vs non-students? Most will probably not have a rental history and may not have credit history either. How do you screen for students and what protections do you put in place for yourself? Do you also screen co-signers? Would you always get a co-signer for a student?

 Thanks!

Dani

Thank you so much for this post. I read all 12 pages of comments and learned a ton. I know you hire 3rd party lawn care companies. Have you ever considered a weekly or monthly cleaning service to clean the bathrooms and kitchen?

I'm looking to purchase a couple single family detached homes for rentals in the coming months.  Can anyone suggest Property Managers in the Columbia, SC market?

Thanks, Christian

@Will Gaston for how many investment properties can you use this 25% exemption?

Hey Bp family,

I’m looking to move to Lexington, South Carolina area within the next year or so. I would like to start investing in real estate once I get situated down there. My plan is to sell my primary home in New York and purchase a house to live in South Carolina. I also have three other investment properties in New York. I would like to 1031 exchange these properties into investment properties in South Carolina. From the research I’ve done so far, it seems that South Carolina taxes investment properties at 6% which makes a tax bill quite high compared to a primary home. This worries me a little. The high tax eats away a lot at the cash flow. Is it still worth to invest in the area?

Also if anyone has any contacts in the area and would like to share, I would greatly appreciate it. I don’t have any In the area at this point. Tax accountants, investor friendly agents, 1031 exhange experts etc. Thankful for any response or input.

 Hi Will,

Thanks for your posts, they are very helpful! I have 2 questions:

1) You mentioned you make one lease for all the student tenants in the house. But what if I get one room filled today and another 2 weeks later and another 1 month later. How will I tell the first tenants to wait to sign the lease until all the rooms are filled??

2)  Do you manage your student rental properties on your own or use property managers. From your posts it seems like you manage them on your own. So is there any disadvantages you see to using a property manager for student rentals.

Please advise - Thanks - Benny

Hi all,

For anyone who has student rentals I would love your advice! I have had a lot of success purchasing 5 bedrooms houses next to larger universities and have been able to easily find tenants. However, I just purchased a 5/2.5 perfectly situated next to a larger university in Chattanooga and it has been very hard to find tenants. I am wondering if this is just the wrong time of the year. Really if I could sign a group up for 2025 I would be very happy with that and would just try my best to do month to month until the new school year. 

My question is should I just suck it up until April, or should I drop my rent rates now to get renters. I know if I do not rent to students, we will not get even close to the type of rent we are looking for, but paying the mortgage with no rent is hard on my family and I. 

Thank you!  

Looking for a lender to do a DSCR in South Carolina.

I am looking for property managers in Columbia, SC.  Tried the PM finder here but it came back with nothing so hoping someone may be able to recommend a PM for a 34 unit property.  TIA!