Rental Property Investor · Boone, NC · Member since 2015 · 291 posts · 88 votes
Recently moved to Boone, NC with my wife. We have invested in long term rentals in Tx where we used to live. I am now looking to start networking with local investors in western NC and more specifically in the Boone, Blowing Rock area.
Yeah, I would love to do all my investing up here because of the proximity to my home but it just isn't realistic for long-term gains as well as the capital you need to bring in incase of any major repair issues.
I have one quadplex, 3 duplexes, and a very small single family home down in Caldwell County. They are all different than what you woul generally expect to get up here. They are lower income folks. While this can some with some drama from time to time (with the Multi-family tenants) and other types of small issues, the return has been fantastic. Though, these are also older buildings. So, for instance, in the quadplex we had a major plumbing failure at about 3am one night in an upper unit. It wasn't noticed until about 7 am that morning and at that point had pretty much destroyed a portion of the unit under it. That ended up being about a $15,000 repair, all said and done. But that could happen in any type of multifamily with upper and lower units. Was just an old galvanized pipe that blew. The lady downstairs has to take sleeping med to sleep, like many people do, and just didn't hear it because it was on the other end of her apartment. My point in saying that is that it is so so very important to have a decent chunk of capital set aside for major situations (what BP people like the call Cap Ex).
I bought these properties for a total of $205,000 between then all and they pull in about $7,000 per month in rent... so that far exceeds the 1% rule... it's closer to 3%. So, the ROI on this specific group of properties is fantastic. I haven't really used much of that for myself as I was running two kitchens in the area at the same time for a while and my fiance is a nurse. We have been slowly remodeling units that become empty.
Just know that in places like Wilkes County and Caldwell County you may end up with a much different type of tenant than you are prepared for, compared to up here. Like I said, mine are all low-income. Only two of the eleven actually work. The rest collect a check each month... but there is some security in that for us as landlords. Not late rent or non-payment because of lack of work. They get their check each month no matter what. But, also with this type of tenant can come more drama. I had a period of time where I had one of the "adopted" tenants from when we purchased... and she and her boyfriend were beyond awful. I did what I had seen others do on here. Offered them a small sum of cash to be out by a certain time. I did tell them that if they werent' out by then that I would start the eviction process. Well, they were out in time and I paid them.
Mainly, investing down the mountain, in either of those counties can make you a good return. They both have huge rental markets. Caldwell county regularly has waiting lists at all the property management firms. But you just have to understand that you may be dealing with a different level of tenant and you have to be willing to handle that burden. My tenants are good people... just a pain to deal with at times. Have one that has gotten bed bugs for the third time. So I have to figure out how to make him understand that it is now HIS turn to start paying for the exterminator when this happens since he hasn't been cleaner like he was supposed to. Stuff like that.
Also, I'd still rather rent to these folks over ASU college students any day of the week. I've heard so many awful stories about renting to college students. I just have no interest and a lot of professionals are moving out of the county towards Ashe County, or the edges of both Wilkes and Caldwell counties because it is just way too packed up here with ASU expanding every year.
Sorry for the long post. Ask away if you have anymore questions.
My wife and I are new investors but we are looking to grow and invest in more properties.
We moved to from Winston-Salem to Vilas, NC (9min to downtown Boone) in June of 2019. We bought a house here in Vilas and at the same time we kept our Advance, NC (near Winston-Salem) single family house as our first long term rental. We currently have a lot of equity still in that house as well as an unused HELOC on it. We are currently looking to purchase more properties for either LTR or STR.
We would be open to meeting with you and any other investors in the area to share ideas. Our summer is filled with a lot of travel and I operate a video production company and travel to video shoots around the area and U.S. Feel free to get in touch and we'll work something out. We do love life in Boone at 3,400 feet elevation and 10-15 degrees cooler than the rest of NC. Even though we are in our 50's, we still are very active in all the hiking, climbing, and mountain biking activities around here.
Yay! It's not often that I catch a current thread about Boone!
I am very early in my real estate game and living in Boone. I purchased my first home which I'm house-hacking as a STR, though things are moving pretty slow with the covid situation.
I would love to meet with others to network, get other perspectives, and just to hear what others are doing in this area with real estate.
Nice to meet you both, would you like to put something on the calendar for next week?
I will be starting my new job next Monday and will be working in blowing rock. I m available to meet late afternoon, early evenings either in blowing rock or Boone.
Let’s see if anyone else gets to see this thread to join in !
Glad to see Boone on BiggerPockets! I only remember seeing 1 or 2 inactive members on here when I was a sophomore at App.
I don't currently live in Boone but I always have an MLS search for places around Watauga county just in case a property comes up that makes sense for me.
I would be willing to make the drive up there if you guys schedule a meetup!
I'm looking to buy a primary residence in the Boone, blowing rock area but I need it to not be part of any restrictive HOA as my plan would be to build a small cabin next to the house that I would rent on airbnb.
I’m still waiting to hear back from @Daniel Jones and @Christopher Brown to set up a meet up. Maybe some more folks will see this message as well. I bet there are more investors around here, maybe just not on BP yet.
I let this fall off my radar but I'm still interested in meeting up soon if you all are! @Eric Nelson, good to hear of a fellow App State alum in the BP community!
There are a few places open for public but there are some pretty good spots with outdoor seating around Boone and Blowing Rock for a meet up.
@Daniel Jones I sent a pm to Christopher. Hopefully he’s around and not travelling at the moment.
Let me wait to hear back from him and then let’s set up a meet up in Boone or blowing rock. What about booneshine ? They have outdoor sitting, they do seem to get a little crowded though.
I am definitely open to Booneshine! Their outdoor seating seems to be spaced out fairly well but you're right, they tend to be in high demand. I am working from home so my schedule is pretty flexible although I will be out of town this weekend.
Great to see an active High Country thread on here! My wife and I live in Boone and are new to real estate investing, although we do own a home here in Boone and would definitely be interested in meeting up as well.
That sounds great! If we're looking at this week, I could really only do Wednesday or Friday evenings, but I can do any evening next week, the week of the 27th.
You guys want to do Friday evening at 5pm at boone shine ? I can also do Thursday evening, I usually run with the east boone running club and we always end up at Boone shine around 6 to 6:15pm.
Yes, I was traveling for work and a family camping trip in Indiana. Sorry I didn't have my BP login and my laptop didn't have it saved in keychain. I'll update that so it works when I travel.
I, unfortunately, am leaving Friday morning to travel to Virginia. I have a family reunion starting Friday, 7/24 until Tuesday, 7/28. I then have a video shoot Friday, 7/31. If you would like to go ahead and meet this Friday without me I understand. I appreciate Tristan for working this out.
I would definitely try to make future meetings. As a small business owner in the video production field, scheduling last minute is usually best for me.
Keep me updated and I'll respond quicker next time.
I'm glad you guys are meeting on Friday. I really wanted to join in if I didn't have this Virginia family event weekend. Next time.
I could use some local referrals if any of you know of any. We put a contract on a Boone 4-unit muli-family this morning. Can anyone recommend a home inspector and local Boone, NC bank? We won't use the home inspector that did the home inspection for our Vilas primary residence. I have bankers down in Winston-Salem I am talking with but I was also thinking of talking to a local Boone, NC bank. It would be good to start a banker relationship up here and they may want to keep this new loan (and hopefully many others) in their portfolio of loans. I can definitely find the local bankers, I just didn't know if any of you had a contact that worked well.
We are excited about the multi-family contract. It would be our first one. There is still a lot of research ahead.
Thanks for any home inspector referrals and/or local banker. Have a great meet up on Fri.
@Christopher Brown congratulations ! that's great news ! how did you find the 4-plex, was it listed or was if off market ?
Since I just moved to the area (5 weeks now), I do not have any local contacts as of now. Boone isn't big, I feel like you could call all the local credit union/bank and see if you can find someone that's investor friendly.
As far as home inspection, I do not have any recommendations just yet. If you need a structural engineer to look at the property though, the firm I started to work for in Blowing rock do a lot of those (especially for real estate transactions).
Hey guys. I'm a little late to this party (busy launching a new business). I might not be able to make this Friday's meeting, but I'm interested in joining in on future meetings. My wife and I have a little STR in Blowing Rock, and the business I just launched is a home inspection business covering Catawba, Caldwell, Watauga, and some surrounding counties. Anyway, it would be cool to meet you guys...that is if all you App grads don't mind a Georgia Southern grad crashing the party.
Side bar, @Tristan S., I talked to Tyler Bryson at Blowing Rock Real Estate the other day. He mentioned that someone told him I sent them to him (I assume it was you based on what he told me). Anyway, he was grateful for the referral, so thanks for that.
Adam, congrats on the new business! My wife and I are very interested in a STR here in the Boone / Blowing Rock area. I remember seeing some of your posts over the last couple of years. How has the rental been performing for you all? Would you be willing to share any info on the kind of occupancy you've had? We've been reaching out to a few people trying to get a better feel for occupancy numbers, that seems to be the biggest hurdle for us to get comfortable with in this process. Just based on the eyeball test and what I've heard from some local business owners it seems like things are just about as busy as ever up here despite covid-19. What kind of impact have you all seen since STR's opened back up? Thanks!
@Ryan Warrenburg Our little cabin has done really well. Our place is quite small, only around 900 square feet (2 bed, 2 bath), so our nightly rate is under $100. That being said, we are almost 100% booked for August. Prior to the COVID shutdown, we were working on raising our rates. We decided to leave them alone for now to see what happens. Over the past year, our occupancy has stayed somewhere in the neighborhood of 80% (excluding COVID). We have had our share of headaches since our cabin was built in the 30's. But, once my business gets on its feet, we hope to look into adding more STRs in the area to our portfolio. There's something to be said for that.
Even though I can’t make it this week, the meet up won’t be all APP grads. I guess I’ll represent the Northern States. I grew up in New Hampshire and my film school college was in Massachusetts. I just love it up here in the mountains like everyone else. The small community mountain culture is great. I truly enjoy being a member of the Linville Central Rescue Squad mountain rescue team and helping people lost or injured out in the wilderness.
I think others forums have mentioned that Boone has strong rental opportunities for both LTR and STR. LTR for the APP students and young employees, and STR for weekend get aways. I remember reading other BPer's mention that they get a lot of last minute, short 1 or 2 night bookings from last weekend getaway seekers saying "hey, let's go to Boone this weekend." We don't have a STR yet but our primary residence now in Vilas will convert to a great STR one day (cabin ext, updated int, open floor plan with loft and enclosed master BR upstairs, large covered front deck with swing and dining table, looking out over a valley, 8 mins to downtown). I would just need to throw a hot tub on the back porch. Someday we'll convert it when we find our dream primary residence here in Boone.
I believe there is a STR property with a rental history on the market in Vilas. I'll see if I can look it up for you guys.
@Adam Payne that sounds like that has done really well for you all, congrats! And thanks for the feedback. That's really helpful.
@Christopher Brown if you don't mind that would be amazing! We're just trying to pull as much data as we can right now to where we can feel more comfortable with it. We pulled the history for a cabin out in Todd the other day and it was shockingly poor. But I need to call the management company today and get some info from them. I assume the owners must use it a lot because they told us the gross for 2019 was $5,400.