All Forum Posts by: Blaine Atkinson

Finally made the jump on my first rental property.

Deal specs:

Purchase $51k

2br 1ba

900sqft

Built 1940

Spoke with local agent who did a rental comp between $800 $900 monthly in it's current condition. Local housing authority states they will pay up to $1088 for the property.

Mainly cosmetic repairs needed. Walked through with contractor who estimates up to $10k. Some of this I can do myself ( flooring, paint, trim, etc)

Surrounding comps are around $100k to 130k. Down side is that it is very close to a paper plant and industrial area. Within 0.5 miles

Financials:

I plan on paying cash to purchase the property, make the cosmetic repairs, refinance with local CU ( they have already agreed and I've used them previously for real estate transactions ).

Thoughts and input welcome

@David A Lisowski

Welcome to 30a. I can't think of a single person who ever regretted moving to the area. You may get caught in traffic but that is just the price you pay to live where everyone vacations!

Lately, the market has been WILD here, much like elsewhere.

@Ryan Moyer

Panama city beach rents well, just keep in mind rent is comparative with the prices.

From my limited experience in pcb has a pretty high tourism rate!

@Robbie Eddington

I live and work in the 30a area. Destin is going to provide a better ROI when it comes to the financials.

30a is another market in it's own. Many home are simply second home where the owners offset their costs by renting. It's a market that has a lot of luxury homes that come with higher price tags.

This is also a short drive from the destin area so can be accessible to vacationers in the destin area as well.

@Claudio Zocchi

I understand your line of thinking but again, it was a long time ago when the individual was a teenager. Most offenders typically come out a much different person than they went in after spending decades in a facility.

I'm not saying the landlord here should 100% rent to this individual. If they aren't comfortable, they aren't comfortable. It's their property.

@James Wise

So, in your opinion, one arrest 20 years ago equates to a poor tenant? I agree that someone with repeated behavior it's definitely of the table.

I am not trying to be argumentative, just want to understand your standpoint. I work with people after release very frequently and we stay in touch with them for long periods of time.

If you could, please elaborate on your thoughts.

@MarieChele Porter

I do a lot of prison mentorship in my free time and am certified to speak in prisons in both Florida and Georgia.

If you look at it statistically, most of the reoffenders are guys who had a relatively short sentence and haven't outgrown that period of their lives. Many of the people you speak with that have violent crimes, while terrible, are not what you expect. Their whole lives didn't lead them to the point that locked them up. Many were in a situation, a very sorry moment, where they made a poor decision.

If it's someone that has multiple and repeated offenses, that's another topic. If it's an individual who made a bad decision 10 or 20 years ago, had a decent disciplinary record while incarcerated (it's impossible to stay out of every incident of you're incarcerated for any amount of time), and have stabilized their life with a family, you're probably going to be dealing with a normal guy who made a poor decision in his past.

There are so many of us who could have been incarcerated along the way but we just didn't get caught... Obviously, I'm not equating that to a murder.

Like all things, take the circumstances into account and look at who he is today. We have all become different than we were 20 years ago. I know I have.

@Scott Anderson

I didn't intend to imply that you weren't, I just wanted to give a resource.

Best of luck!

@Orlando Ortiz I have an 800+ credit score. Going through refi now and was given 2.325% for a 30 year fixed and offered 1.75% for a 15. Year with 1 point (if I recall correctly)

Considering*