All Forum Posts by: Brian Levredge

Feel free to hit me up if you want.  I'm an investor and own a PM company.  Our approach is geared towards investors.  

It's actually a federal law.  A member of the military need only show deployment papers to break a lease.  There is no recourse.  There is 30 days notice and normal routine of deposit itemization to follow but you can't charge extra fees or evict/collect. As far as additional family members go I'm not really sure and that would best be answered by an attorney.  I will say that if the deployed member is the primary qualifying person from an income standpoint you wouldn't want the remainder of the family staying behind if they can't afford to pay the rent.  

There are a fair amount of people spending a decent amount of money monthly, to market for properties in Chatt. The main thing is to not lose focus. I use to run the REIA here in town (been 3+ years now) and we would get a lot of newbies who we would see for a few months. They'd get frustrated not finding anything worthwhile their first few go rounds and disappear.

You need to decide what marketing methods you want to employ given time and financial constraints. Once you've made the initial decision stick to it for awhile but don't be afraid to change what's not working. Wholesaling, flipping, etc., all of it really are about endurance mostly. The REIA here in town has changed somewhat in the last few years, but there's still networking opportunities there and there's a BP meetup here in town the fourth Thursday of each month, I think.

My .02 on Clarksville (I looked at it ten years ago) is to be careful.  The base accounts for a fair % of residents and if the 101st gets deployed it will create a vacuum that won't quickly be filled.  

@Brighten Miller, a couple quick tips about TN. There is no state income tax here for properties owned in your name personally. There is a Franchise and Excise (F&E) tax levied on LLC's, S Corps, and other entities that offer legal protection. There is also an exemption to the F&E tax on closely held, family owned real estate businesses whereby as long as you don't have more than four residential (1-4 unit) properties in the LLC then you don't have to pay the tax. This doesn't apply with more than four properties, apartment buildings, or commercial properties.

If you are planning on using financing on your rentals here, I would probably stay away from land trusts. Banks don't like them because they obscure ownership and if not properly executed they can screw up the chain of title and make a property unwarrantable. You will generally add several thousand in compliance costs per LLC set up annually for the tax return and annual reports. Just something to keep in mind in your decision making process. I own in both LLC's and my name, and at the end of the day a good insurance policy is always first with financing in place being a close second in acting as a deterrent to lawsuits.

Also happy to provide you with a couple referrals for attorneys and cpa's.  Feel free to PM me.

To piggyback on @Jeffrey Holst's comments you generally won't find MLS listings that work real well. If there's upside on rents it's usually already built into the purchase price. That said, there plenty of off market opportunities for those with the right networking.

@Michael R.

I moved out to Chattanooga about six years ago from SoCal.  One of the best decisions I've ever made.  Great place to live.  Great market that is close proximity to about half a dozen other markets, including Nashville, ATL, Knoxville, Huntsville, Birmingham, etc.  All can be reached in about 2 hours by car.  

Several things to note:  On an assumable loan you would come up with the difference between the loan balance and the purchase price.  You might be able to get a lender to do a second to come up with some of that difference but at those numbers it will be really difficult.  

Secondly, that is a very high price to pay for a C class property in an area where rents are still somewhat low (it's transitioning) and they are struggling with occupancy (83.3%).  That property has been on the market for some time, and actually I believe may be under contract to a group of investors from out of town.  Regardless, outside of bad management with high vacancy like they have you will have even more if you start pushing up prices without upgrades to the property to keep tenants there.  

Lastly, If you have experience in multi family on this level then great.  But if not, you're better off starting with something smaller.  Much more forgiving that way.  

Not to be vague but it really depends.  Basements at best appraise for 50% of the value of the main level(s).  More often than not that number is 25%-40%.  You get it higher by making the basement look as close to the main levels as possible.  In other words, if it looks like a typical finished basement out here then expect the lower number.  I've actually been given no credit on an appraisal for a finished basement.  If you plan on having a bedroom in a basement then make sure it meets egress as well.  

For estimating purposes you should plan on the lower appraisal numbers in your analysis and when you have the cost to do the project make a decision based on that.  I think adding the kitchen and bath would add some value but don't know it will be dollar to dollar so probably not worth it.  Also, your construction numbers will most likely be much higher than you project here unless you are doing the work yourself.  If you have a slab you'll need to sawcut it to get a 4" waste line for the toilet installed and tie into existing waste line system.  You'll also want work permitted as well.  And if you don't have 10' high ceilings now then it's probably not a great idea because the mechanicals will make your finished height much lower and you want to avoid a drop ceiling for max value as well.  

I should be able to make it.