All Forum Posts by: Chad Gray

Posting here to see if there are any developers in the Raleigh / Durham area who may be able to help out with a couple questions.

I am under contract to purchase a vacant piece of land in downtown Durham which is currently zoned OI (Office and Institutional). It was my understanding that this zoning could be used for residential purposes if it fits the surrounding area, however I was told this may not be the case.

There was once a house on the property but it was torn down a while ago. The street that the property is on is all single family residential homes with the same OI zoning.

I was hoping to close within a month or so with the intent of eventually building either a SFH or a duplex.

Does anyone have any insight if OI zoning does indeed exclude small residential uses? If it does, what would be the likelihood I could get approval for a rezoning request to residential considering the street the property is on is essentially all historical residential.

I appreciate any help / input.

I would strongly recommend not doing your first flip out of state. If you’re looking for lower price points that’ll mean lower margins and less wiggle room to make mistakes. Not ideal for your first project. Why not look in the tertiary market of the large metros or cities further out? If you don’t have the funds to flip in Raleigh or Charlotte then I would look to smaller cities that still have demand like Fayetteville high point Greenville Goldsboro me and etc. Just my two cents. I live in Raleigh and invest through out wake county feel free to shoot me a message if you’d like. 

You don't need a mentor to get started. Read books, listen to podcasts, watch youtube videos, and network at REI events. You can join a mentorship which are a dime a dozen now a days but the majority do not provide any real value that you can't obtain for free by doing what I listed above. If you have specific questions most people will be happy to help, but asking someone who is likely busy as is to mentor somebody they don't know for nothing in return won't go very far.

You're going to have to be much more specific than that to get a worthwhile response. There are pros and cons to each city. Are you evaluating all of Raleigh, or just North Raleigh? Do you want cash flow? Appreciation? Turn key or fixer upper? There are many other cities and towns that make up the triangle, are you looking at those as well or strictly Raleigh and Durham?

 Hey Xavier, feel free to shoot me a message. I live and do some investing in Raleigh. I know a few agents I can get you in touch with depending what you are looking for.

If you're moving to Las Vegas for works and you're new to REI I would recommend looking there for your first property or two, there's plenty of opportunity in Las Vegas.

Based on your question and the criteria it would have to be KC, you're not going to find properties in Raleigh that meet your criteria under 250K. If you look at some of the tertiary markets to Raleigh like Garner, Knightdale, Zebulon, Wendell, Clayton, Fuquay etc. you could probably find something closer to what you are looking for, but not in Raleigh. If you have more specific question about Raleigh, feel free to shoot me a message, but I would recommend touching base with @Steven May, sounds like he can help you out.

Hey Zach,

I'm a local investor in Raleigh as well. I would recommend joining NC Real Estate Investors Association, linked below. They put on a number of events and meetups throughout the month, I go to a number of these myself and are a great networking opportunity. There's also a lot of facebook groups regarding Raleigh & NC RE investing and offmarket properties. Feel free to shoot me a message and I can send some of those over.

Regarding duplexes you're right, they're few and far between and the ones that do get listed will demand a premium and likely not make a good first time investment property. If you're purely focused on duplexes I would broaden your search to Garner, Knightdale, Durham, Zebulon etc. Even if you go the off market route for duplexes in Raleigh, most owners aren't dumb they know the market, it will still be very tough to find a decent deal on a duplex in Raleigh.

https://www.ncreia.com/

Hey Greg,

I live and invest in the RDU area. If you have any area specific questions feel free to shoot me a message.

Hey Raquel, posting on here is a good place to start. I would also recommend joining facebook groups. The ones that I am a part of are North Carolina Off-Market Properties, North Carolina Off Market Properties, Carolina House Flip and Wholesale Real Estate Group, and North Carolina Real Estate Deals - Buy, Sell, Invest. Some are private so you will have to request to join, but once you are accepted post in there what kind of properties you are looking for a long with your email address, wholesalers will be happy to add you to their buyers list. Outside of this, going to as many local real estate meetups and networking with other investors / wholesalers would be a good way to get on additional buyers lists.