All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

Will do! I'd rather avoid more repeat performances.  :)

Howdy y'all! Doing it yourself is seeming like a better idea at the moment, with two unusually bad results from local contractors in the past few months. I've also had quite a few good ones, and am happy to share their info on request (you have to do it through a colleage request message though to be able to send the contact info). For now, I'd like to warn against the two below in case you're considering hiring someone. 

The first is Asa Bleier (Broad River Builders)

 I hired Asa Bleier (Broad River builders) for two small rehab projects based on a recommendation from a friend, and agreed on a labor rate for his work as a general contractor. He then hired a basic laborer to do the actual work, gave the laborer poor directions, and charged me his full contractor rate plus a 10% management fee, for unskilled labor. The result was a higher bill for less work than I have ever paid in the eight rehab projects I have done in Asheville in the past two years. Worse yet, I had to pull my own crew off of other jobs to redo painting, flooring and other work that was unacceptable quality, even for rental houses. I discussed these problems extensively with Asa and gave him multiple chances to remedy the situation, which resulted in talk, talk and more talk. He is very good at talking, and very convincing. However the actual results of his labor are shoddy and overpriced. We're still picking up the pieces of his mess, but between the overcharge and the re-done work, we estimate that hiring him was a $6500 mistake.

The second in Plumbsmart Technologies.

 Don (the owner) makes a great impression when you talk to him- but when it came time to do the work, he sent an inexperienced plumber's assistant who made fatal changes to the bathroom plan that resulted in failed inspections. He also misrouted several major lines requiring re-doing of carpentry work and an extra hole in the roof. We called him repeatedly to notify him of problems, but even when he eventually called back, he rarely visited the jobsite, provided no supervision to his laborer, and ended up costing us about $1800 in extra labor, in addition to a full month of lost rent due to delaying other contractors repeatedly due to failed inspections.

I'd rather learn from other people's mistakes, so hopefully you can learn from mine and save yourselves some headache, and some cash  :)

Welcome Keith! Finding good cash flow is not too hard since rents are so high and interest rates are so low. It's hard competing with the rabid flippers and wholesalers that are taking over the market here- so I usually try to buy stuff they're not as interested in for various reasons. Contractors are in very short supply here, so expect unusually severe cost overruns and time delays due to them being scattered and thus hard to pin down for job completion. Other that those two caveats it's a great market IMO. I have seven properties I've bought in the past two years, and my only regret is that I've run out of my six slots to do Fannie-Mae backed cash-out refinances.  :(  So now I'm reduced to commercial loans, which are far less attractive, especially long term. 

Thanks Amy!

Double the congratulations from Ron, and a preemptive welcome to Asheville.

I was in a similar situation last year and just asked the tenants what they thought- they said I could give them a free month's rent and that would be worth the hassle for them finding a new place and moving. I actually offered them more, since moving is a PIA. Might be worth a try. 

Thanks Chris!

Mahalia Kennedy with Appalachian Realty is excellent- fairly new on the scene, but backed up by some 20+ year investors who mentor her, and the only realtor I've ever worked with who returns calls and emails and hasn't yet made a major mistake on a contract. 

I think the responses that a 3/2 for $80k is unlikely are accurate- but you don't need a 3/2 to make money in AVL. I have a 490 sq ft 1/1 with 6'6" ceilings in a subprime location 15 minutes from town that rents for $750. I did go big on the rehab, putting in about $40k (darn near enough to build the structure from scratch) but I paid $90k for it and the house next door, which needed less work. I got lucky on the refi and only ended up with $36k of my money in the project, with around $5k per year in cash flow using the .7 rule, which seems accurate so far. I did buy this last year before the boom, and finding a repeat seems like it would be darn near impossible (but it isn't). However even if I paid $110k instead for the combo now, I'd still have good cash flow. 

    I've been diligently searching, finding and buying more since, 8 total, some slightly better than the above, and am running out of cash- so I'm happy to keep you in mind if I find a deal I can't afford to close- especially if you have cash or hard money. I'm also open to providing 9% interest on any money you want to invest passively, backed with a deed of trust, a 760 credit score and solid 1099 income. Also game to teach in exchange for financial partnership, since I like what I do and feel like I've learned a lot so far in my relatively short time investing. 

  As to the location, if you know the Spartanburg area market well there seem to be some pretty good deals there, with way less competition. Buying in AVL is no joke. Even the houses I find under rocks have two or three other investors lined up to place bids and snag them from me- and they usually succeed, which is fine by me- I like seeing a happy seller getting the most for their house  :)

Chris

I use it often for students who have no credit (or sometimes even bad credit) but good references and a lump of cash from this year's student loans. Seems to be working out so far, but I haven't been doing it long. It makes me feel safe, and the cash is certainly nice to have in hand for the next purchase contract I sign

Thanks!  I'll try those folks. Leeanne at ASB has been great so far, but I'm still trying now to use my last three Freddy-Mac backed loans since they're so much cheaper- then I'll go hog-wild with commercial loans.  :)

Chris