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All Forum Posts by: Will Gaston

Will Gaston has started 83 posts and replied 1630 times.

Post: Nearing 1,000 College Student Tenants: Here's what I've Learned

Will Gaston
Posted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Columbia, SC
  • Posts 1,692
  • Votes 2,214
Quote from @Dani Edwards:

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?

1. I do a ~355 day lease
2. Clean, paint, punch list items
3. No proration - same as all the big apartments all around USC. 12 payments but 355 day lease.

Post: Screening for students?

Will Gaston
Posted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Columbia, SC
  • Posts 1,692
  • Votes 2,214
Quote from @Dani Edwards:

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


 Hey Dani, this student rentals thread may be helpful: Nearing 1,000 College Tenants - Here's What I've Learned

Post: Nearing 1,000 College Student Tenants: Here's what I've Learned

Will Gaston
Posted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Columbia, SC
  • Posts 1,692
  • Votes 2,214
Quote from @Debra Orringer:

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?


 Thank you Debra - no, I haven't. In my experience, they're just going to get dirty again, so no real value to the owner.

Post: Best Property Managers in Columbia

Will Gaston
Posted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Columbia, SC
  • Posts 1,692
  • Votes 2,214
Quote from @Christian Jones:

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


 Can you tell me more about the locations, type of property, etc? Section 8, student rental, market rate?

I manage my own stuff but know lots of BICs in Cola - happy to recommend w/ more info.

Post: Real estate investing in South Carolina: Worth it at 6% property tax?

Will Gaston
Posted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Columbia, SC
  • Posts 1,692
  • Votes 2,214
Quote from @Eli Fazzo:

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


 Each investment property that you buy is eligible. If you buy 100 different properties in 2024, they are all individually able to get the ATI.

Post: Real estate investing in South Carolina: Worth it at 6% property tax?

Will Gaston
Posted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Columbia, SC
  • Posts 1,692
  • Votes 2,214
Quote from @Eli Fazzo:

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.

 I own a 21 unit in Lexington County. Lexington is bad too, but not nearly as bad as Richland County. As @Troy Gandee mentioned use the tax estimator on the County website or call the assessor. Explicitly tell them what you're paying for it so you can get the exact number.

Also, we do a 25% property tax relief in SC under the ATI bill - so if you fill out that form, you will get a reduction for 5 years.

Info below:

ATI Real Property Tax Exemption

South Carolina law now allows a partial exemption from taxation of up to 25% of an “ATI fair market value” that is the result of an

Assessable Transfer of Interest. The exemption allowed results in a “taxable value” of either 75% of the “ATI fair market value” or the final Current Fair Market Value for the tax year of sale, whichever is higher.

Post: Nearing 1,000 College Student Tenants: Here's what I've Learned

Will Gaston
Posted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Columbia, SC
  • Posts 1,692
  • Votes 2,214
Quote from @Benny Dadlani:
Quote from @Will Gaston:

@Kyle McCorkel Everybody at the house or apartment is on ONE lease. This has been crucial to the success of getting in paid in full by so many tenants. We explain up front that everyone on the lease is responsible for the entire contract amount and note it several times in our lease. 

Peer pressure from their friends works 1000x better than anything we say to them.


 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


1.One of the many reasons I use 1 lease is that all of the kids that come to me show up as pre-existing friends. So, when I advertise a 5 BR (near campus) 5 kids in the same fraternity or sorority show up wanting to rent it together. I would list the total number of BRs and try it that way. IMO individual lease are a nightmare.

2. I have an in-house team of 5-6 to manage my portfolio. I have ~230-240 beds and my tenants and my houses get better service when I have them dedicated to just my stuff. If you want to use a PM, make sure that they have lots of student housing they are already managing. 

Post: Student Rental Timming

Will Gaston
Posted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Columbia, SC
  • Posts 1,692
  • Votes 2,214
Quote from @Connor Castillo:

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!  


Where are you advertising? Have you tried Zillow? We've pre-leased ~225 beds out ~240 already for next year and 90% of our leads come from that.

Timing is everything in student rentals.

In my experience, the larger properties pre-lease earlier (5+ BRs) than the smaller properties.

This student rental thread may be helpful: Nearing 1,000 College Tenants - Here's What I've Learned

Post: Looking for a Lender

Will Gaston
Posted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Columbia, SC
  • Posts 1,692
  • Votes 2,214
Quote from @Tekoa Glover:

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

 @River Sava can help you

Post: Looking for Property Managers

Will Gaston
Posted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Columbia, SC
  • Posts 1,692
  • Votes 2,214
Quote from @Kathy Merkh:

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!


 Kathy, happy to connect you with a PM. Can you tell me more about the property? Market-rate? Section 8? student rentals?

Switching PMs or a new purchase?