All Forum Posts by: Derek Robinson

I use Iron Creek Properties in Asheville.  I use to have 6 single family homes and Cory does an awesome job. They are small enough were you get a personal touch, but large enough to utilized technology and compete with the bigger companies.  I'm not sure how big of a muiltfamily he would manage though.

I think Asheville is all hype.  There are some businesses that have come in, but nothing that brings in high wages or even that many number of jobs.  I've been here for 11 years.  I used to be a smallish town with a lot of charm and character, plus it's in the mountains with is a big draw.  This got national attention for whatever reason, and it snowballed since then.  I feel like Asheville was 'talked' about just as much as Boone years ago (not much).  But once we got put on one publication's list of 'top place to blah blah blah', then more publications and media outlets caught on.  Once word got out, people with cash came in to buy everything they can at inflated prices, remodeling and reselling to others with cash and so on.

I purchased most things 4 to 5 years ago and I've slowly started unloading in Asheville in the past year or two.  I have a few mulitfamilys that do well that I'll hold a bit longer, but I've unloaded most single family homes. 

@Chris Harjes why do you think rents have stayed stagnant?  I've noticed the same thing and it blows my mind.  In the 5 years I've had rentals in Asheville, supply has gotten lower and lower and we are apparently in a housing 'crisis'.  Yet, most of my properties are 3 bed/1 bath 1,000 sqft close to town and I can't seem to break $1,200/month.  I used two different property management companies and both talk about demand being high and how they can get more per month than I can on my own....they start out at $1300 or so, but always end up at $1200.  These are simple but clean houses with nice features.  I have friends that rent moldy garbage and still pay $1200.

@JOHN DALEY You really just have to go down and drive the areas.  There will be three streets with junk houses and people just hanging around all day (not working), then two streets that have well kept houses, clean yards, and people that have lived there for years and are committed to the area.  Then the next street will be crap again.  I can say to avoid Una and Saxon all together.  When the market starts improving around the downtown, prices rise, and neighborhoods start turning around, I feel like Saxon and Una will be where all the druggies and trash will congregate.  I can't give you a technical reason why, I just feel like it's isolated from any new construction, train tracks run through in all directions, and there are fewer nice streets houses in the midst of the crap.

There is a CREIA yahoo group you can join where people post deals all the time, I'd jump on that.

@JOHN DALEY, not exactly an answer to your questions, but...If you live in Asheville and are looking to invest outside of your market, I would suggest Greenville/Spartanburg.  I have a small apartment building, three houses, and some trailers in Spartanburg that do really well.  You have to be careful because some areas are garbage, but you can find a decent house in a good neighborhood for $25k to $45k that will rent for $550 to $650.  I've have good luck with long term tenants that pay on time, stay long term, and do not damage property.  If you have a little more money or want nicer property, Greenville has some decent deals as well.

In my experience, anything 30 to 40 mins outside of Asheville is blowing up right now and "deals" are hard to come by.  There are a lot of investors in the Asheville market from out of town that are just looking for places to park their money.  They are cash buyers and will pay market price, because it's yielding a higher return than putting it in a money market.  It's hard to compete with that!

Howdy! I live in Asheville and am a full time investor. I used to invest in Asheville a few years ago but now I go to cheaper markets (Spartanburg, SC, Hickory/Lenoir) because I find deals harder and harder to find in the area. I do mostly long term rentals and have SFH and multifamily. Buying my first short term rental in Boone this week. Let me know if you have any questions or need a sounding board for a deal.

I would do it beforehand. I've purchased four MHPs and I find it's much easier to go ahead and form the LLC and have the closing attorney close it under your new entity. you can make the name of the LLC something generic, just in case you don't close on this deal, you can use the LLC for the next deal.

I inherited a section 8 tenant on a SFH I purchased. Out of my 20+ units, they are one of the easiest tenants. they've been there 4 years prior to me buying the house and I've had it for a year. Not a single request for anything and when I purchased, it was the cleanest rental I've ever seen. A few months after purchase, I put in a request to raise rent from 495 to 550 and it was approved within days, no cost to the tenant. I've never taken and existing unit and converted it to section 8, but sounds like other posters have had issue. I suppose it's a matter of the individual office and the quality of their staff.

Most wholesalers I know either don't have the capital to invest themselves, or hand pick the best deals for themselves and they wholesale the leads they come across but aren't as interested in.  For example, I know a guy that only buys multifamily, but comes across good single family deals all the time.

I'm surprised by the people that turn to Wholesalers instead of realtors.  Some want a quick sale, some just absolutely hate realtors.  Sometimes a house is distressed to the point where banks won't lend so they can only work with cash buyers, throwing realtors in the mix just slows down progress on finding a qualified buyer.

The market I invest in is pretty cool, so a house will sell for 60 or 70k, but it will be on the market for 6 months.  If a seller wants cash in less than a month, wholesaling for 40k will get the job done.

Whatever the reasons, did doesn't matter from an investors perspective.  You just need to know what a good deal looks like.  Network with as many wholesalers as you can and good deals will more than likely come your way.

I opened an operated a co-working space last year.  I'm in a highly populated area where the work from home population is very high.  Before I opened I had tons of people chomping at the bit to get in.  Im in a downtown area with tons  of walkable restaurants, bars, etc and heavily populated residential.  All local news outlets covered the opening, I did a mailing campaign, social media ads, etc.  The space was beautiful and we had all the amenities anyone would need.  Yet, I couldn't break even in the first year.  The level of interest dropped severely once people had to pay for it.  I'd get a lot of people asking to use the space for free or at a large discount.  There are a few other co-working space on other parts of town, most of which still have some co-working, but have made a transition to single offices and suites for small companies.  There are others in NC that have shut their doors after 3 to 5 years.  In my personal experience, most spaces still open are those with trust funds or other businesses that keep co-working open just for the fun of it.  Not to rain on your parade, just giving you my personal experience.  It seems to be an idea the people (20s and 30s) love in theory, but aren't willing to pay for when they can do most of their work from home and coffee shops.