All Forum Posts by: James Mabe

Tobacco Rd, Kristin Dr, Rollins Dr. area of Greenville.  It's an otherwise healthy area with several new chain restaurants and a nice movie theater.  It certainly is a D area.  Never considered those properties, forget about the Ghost Town comment, for all I know they could be at 97% occupancy!  A quick zillow search showed only a couple of For Rent's in there.  The big flood of 1999 disrupted our market.  However, thanks to ECU and Vidant Health, Greenville is a growing town.  Winterville is growing too, anything North of the Tar River is still considered rural.  Greenville has really sucked up population from the surrounding rural eastern counties.  

@Chris Martin yeah, I see the data and I hate to argue with numbers.  But, I just don't get those 2018 numbers.  It appears that the market rents seem to have peaked in 2017.  However, vacancies are still down and rents have increased for me this year.  One thing I didn't think of, we have a lot of apartment buildings in D areas, one area in particular with several hundred units.  Maybe that has skewed the numbers a bit.  And that area is a ghost town!

I live here in Greenville, and I would say that rents have been trending up.  In fact, the rental rates have caught some property managers off guard and they are slowly raising rates.  I just switched to Russell PM because I took my eye off the ball with another PM, just lazy on my part.  Russell manages over 1000 units here in Greenville and they gave me a print out of all neighborhoods Market Rate and the Actual Rate they are rented for.  You can clearly see most landlords are on top of it and some, like myself, are leaving money on the table.  Lot of multi-family being built here, so that's something to keep an eye on.  

Your best bet would be to contact the PM's there that actually manage the short term rentals. The good ones can give you the break down of rental revenue vs. actual costs. Here in NC, there are a lot of SFR's and duplexes on the beach, not as commercial as Myrtle Beach. The rental income generated the closer you get to beachfront is exponential. One outer banks property manager told me if you could make your money back, expenses included, in 16 weeks, the rest would be positive. I know that sounds like a lot of vacancy. I will say that rental income seems to be up the past 3 years.

Hi folks, been a while. I have a paid off duplex worth 125k+. I want to place a loan on it to tap 80% LTV to give me 100k. I would in turn use that 100k to put down 25% on 4 SFR's or townhouses. What's the most efficient way for me to accomplish this. 1st bank I talked to said they would do 75% LTV because it was an investment, then came back and said only 70% because it was a duplex, that was at 5.75%. I pounded the pavement thinking I could do better, but now my head is spinning! Heloc's sound cool because of the flexibility, but it seems institutions don't want to give LOC's on investment props. Great credit, zero non-mortgage debt, only 2 mortgages. Point me in the right direction BP!

I'd go with vinyl planks.  The edges on laminate eventually peel up, and if it gets wet, that just speeds up the process. 

Because they can't. Many Americans will be lifelong renters. Especially with college debt, auto debt, credit card debt, video game debt, cell phone debt, personal residence debt, etc. Get on the right side of debt.

@Account Closed Sure, I would rather be the bank, but I'm not there, yet. If this is the cash is king argument, that has been covered many times on BP. I would say $ on the sidelines is risky. Markets tank, they go up. We're all speculating on something. If the market tanks, do I just stare at that $100,000 house I paid cash for, and now its empty? We are all just trying to get our $ to work for us, you know ROI. The point I was making about debt = money has to do with fractional bank lending and how $ is created out of thin air. I didn't right the rules and I'm sure the dance will end someday. Until then I will keep healthy reserves and keep building. Do you like money market accounts or CD's?

Debt = Money  This is a debt-based economy.  If you want $, you have to leverage.  For assets that pay you, of course. 

I would suggest anything that you can pay cash for, it doesn't matter.  Utility is the main thing.  We have 3 kids so my wife has an 08 Honda Odyssey.  I have a 05 Nissan Murano.  I have wanted a 4 door truck for a long time.  Prices are outrageous for pickups.  I put a $100+ hitch on my Murano and bought a utility trailer from Lowe's for $1000.  Best decision I ever made.  I've probably used it 30 times this summer.  Now when my Nissan dies, I'll just look for a used SUV.  Most are rated to pull 3500 lbs.  Plenty for me.  I have never had a car payment my entire life, and I never will.