All Forum Posts by: Chris London

One of my goals as a PM is to have as many qualified applicants as possible to choose from.

I prescreen with e-mail. I respond quickly and politely. For the well-qualifed applicants, they are likely deciding between a few places. Treating them with respect during the process may be the difference between my rental and someone else's. I also schedule showings back to back in 15 min intervals. If I end up w/ a no-show it's not as big a deal and also having potential applicants see other people viewing the property helps get applications in quickly. Asking someone to pay before they see the property is just one more reason a well-qualified applicant will look somewhere else.

@Joe Splitrock the houses I have listed are all sold by listing agents working for Zillow, so Zillow owns the homes.

Most importantly, as a residential PM/investor in this area, there are only 1or 2 houses on that list that would be cash flow positive after expense for an investor or that I as an investor would even consider based on appreciation. However, there is 1 property on there that's 74 DOM in Raleigh on the border of Cary (you don't get much better). It's not too far from the new Fenton and the reconstruction of downtown Cary. It's too expensive for my wallet at $389K but I'd think some investor would send an offer below what Z paid and see what happens. *I have no connection to any of these properties.

In the North Carolina Triangle, listed below are all the homes currently owned by Zillow over 25 days on market (which is most of them) in ascending price order.

If I were an opportunist who knew that Zillow wanted to get out of their inventory right now I would consider writing some aggressive offers and see what sticks.

@Mike Gerson in NC you as the landlord can initiate a landlord assistance request through the HOPE program. Application and phone # here.

@Brian Hepler the short answer is not easily

Large Landlords (500+ units) can connect directly with one of the 3 major credit bureaus through a subscription service.

Small Landlords (less than 500 units) would need to both sign up for Experian's Rent Bureau service and allow rental payments to flow through this service to you (you will need to wait for payments). This would allow you to achieve what you are looking for but with hurdles for you. For any landlords looking at flagging a tenant's credit history for non-payment (I realize this was not your specific question), you would do this through a collection agency but the reason so many don't is that you will be lucky to see a small portion of your total funds due after paying the collection agency.

The name of the company on the bill is: Grizzly Tree & Home Services. When I google them I see they post lots of images of tree work and one pic of a floor install. I wonder if they are licensed plumbers and if some of the billable hours was their guy learning how to do this job on your dime?

@Rohini Parab Most of the cities you mention depending on how you assign cap-x, repairs, and vacancy you should be able to find turnkey properties off the MLS that leave you slightly cash flow positive each month and over the past year have I personally seen 20%+ property appreciation increases. With the high number of out-of-state people moving here for tech/pharma jobs rents have skyrocketed as well increasing as much as 20% YoY.

Cary/Apex: IMO the best cities for long-term appreciation with the strong development plans for their downtown areas. Many investors don't like these cities due to the higher prices of starter homes ($310K + for a 3/2 ranch house) but at $1800+ rent I think you'll find the best long-term buy-and-hold plays here.

Durham: no question South Durham is the ideal central location for residential neighborhood homes near RTP. Check out Central Durham if you are looking to flip something from the 1950s with deferred maintenance and downtown Durham if you want to transform something old into a trendy urban home.

Chapel Hill: Beautiful city and if you're moving here a must-see but you'll pay at least 1% more in property tax than the other cities and that can add up to at least $250 more per month in expense than you would be paying in any of the other cities and for this reason, I don't look here for investments.

Raleigh: NC State (34K students) if you are looking to get involved in student housing.

Holly Springs/ Fuquay Varina/ Knightdale/ Clayton/ Wake Forest: Some of the most popular cities on the outskirts of the Triangle to invest in. Prices are a little more affordable and with the building of new highways, there are big bets that rapid appreciation is to follow. Personally, I prefer to invest closer to the heart of the Triangle while the prices are still somewhat affordable and may eventually look out here in the future. An SFH in Cary/Apex is really only $25K or so more than an apples-to-apples home in some of these cities and with a 20% down payment that really only translates to another $5K downpayment.

For anyone that wants to learn more about the Triangle, I suggest signing up to get news from WRAL TechWire. Great daily information about the job market as well as occasional info about the housing market and how the two relate.

@Joel Patterson, I have half an answer for you, hopefully, someone replies with a better answer.

The type of crew an investor is looking for that is going to go into a rehab property and flip it using hourly laborers and already have a supply of inexpensive parts (flooring, paint, appliance, vanities, etc) all for a low price (labor and parts) and do at least a mediocre job is a pretty rare bird and the few that exist are given a steady supply of work by local investors that keep them busy year-round. At least here in Raleigh/Durham that is the case.

There of course are a lot of high-end remodeling companies in the area, however, companies like Wake Remodeling are going to expect to redo your kitchen alone for $50K+. So, that doesn't work for an investor.

I think the best route to go for a local flip is to GC the job yourself and piece out the work. I (as well as others on this forum) could suggest some great flooring, painting, handyman, electricians, etc. I'm also often surprised at how much more painters will do besides paint. Many will move walls around or re-do a bathroom shower for you.

Hope this is helpful.

@Katherine Sommer While I think on the national level (CA, NY, NJ, WA, OR, CT, NoVa) there are going to be some speed bumps in the road kicked off by a few global crises' (Great Britain's fuel shortage, China/Evergrande, inflation, end of forbearance). I think, currently anyway, that investors are shifting/protecting their wealth by buying in better-insulated cities like Raleigh/Durham, Charlotte, Greensboro, Austin, Dallas, Columbus, Indy, and anywhere else where there is job growth, population growth, property values are undervalued/affordable and they can find either cash flow or appreciation.

So, to answer your question, I think the strategy is to continue to buy in these markets when the numbers make sense and not sit on the sidelines waiting. Personally, I'll be looking for deals between Thanksgiving and Christmas when people are moving because they have to and not because they want to and there are fewer potential buyers to compete with.