All Forum Posts by: James Rodgers

@Robert Auhll

Hi Rick,

I am surprised you do not have more responses already. There are more seasoned than I local investors on this site, but I must give you the warm welcome you deserve from Birmingham. I can also just give free insight as to the ins and outs of Bham.

I will tell you from experience you can sign a contract with a seller, off market, then assign it to an end buyer for the fee you specify. 

I am halfway through my license coursework and will be happy to help you later this year. 

Michaela,

Love that idea. I guess I was just thinking it had to be zoned residential to do AirBNB. Not the case?

How do you market for a commercial tenant? I feel knowledgeable about how to get a resident, very unknowledgable about the other. I would think I'd need to be comfortable with a few months of vacancy possibly until I landed the ideal tenant.

Tomorrow I am meeting the owner of a duplex to walk through and determine the rehab needed. It is located in an extremely high-traffic location in a very trendy and well-established neighborhood. It is an interesting location because in one direction down the street from this property are residential properties (SFRs, small apartments). Down the street in the other direction are very popular businesses (mostly bars, restaurants and coffee shops). It is kind-of the dividing property, you could say. 

Via tax records I initially spoke with the previous owner. He told me that he thinks this duplex has been zoned for commercial use. It appears to have been vacant for a long time. I was initially not excited to hear that because my intent was to rent both sides to tenants ( I actually want to put a regular, annual lease tenant in one side and AirBNB the other). That has been my only mindset up to this point. 

There are so many options, the aforementioned being the only one I have spent time educating myself about. If it is zoned commercially, I could rehab it then rent out to businesses, or list with a commercial agent to sell. If zoned residential I could either do my existing plan or convert to a SFH and flip it.

What would be the effort required, financially and otherwise, to get it zoned residential again for my original intended use?

And lastly, looking at the situation, would you pursue commercial or residential use of this property, and why?

Thanks!!

Brent Cate. PM me for his contact. 

I will be interested and I know others will be too.

Here ya go.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/311/topics/221342-seeking-birmingham-alabama-turnkey-advice-investors-only?page=2

Frank Steele Jones at Regency Title. He's incredible. Works with investors. Has flipped 30+ houses himself. Tell him I sent you :)