All Forum Posts by: Jared Trindade

Quote from @Sam Leon:

I have a unique situation where I have a property (SFR) that I am in the middle of rehabbing, and got called away on a family emergency overseas and need to be away for a while (probably till May 2023) before I can get back to working on it. Meanwhile the property is locked up.

The property has been vacant for a bit after the bank foreclosed on it, so the neighbors all know it's vacant.

While rehabbing I started talking to the neighbors and had their contact information to contact me in case of emergency.

I was told that for over a week now a vehicle would come and park on my driveway.  This is not a case of someone parked there and leave the car.  There are several people in the car, they come and stay inside the car and sleep in the car overnight, then drive away in the morning.  So far one neighbor told me they did that 5 nights in a row.  They always throw trash out and leave a mess and another neighbor would go over and clean up the trash.  The neighbors are not comfortable with going over to ask them to leave because there are multiple adults in the car.

What would be the best way to navigate this issue to stop it from getting worse...they may try breaking in and turn into squatters next.

If I was there I could call the police...but I am not.  My guess is even if the police get involved it is not a one off thing, they may leave and come back two days later.

Would appreciate ideas...are there security patrol I can pay for that can say make ten trips over ten evenings to get rid of them, if they get told to leave multiple times it may deter them from coming back?

I already have signs at the property - NO PARKING signs, THIS PROPERTY IS UNDER 24 HOUR SURVEILLANCE signs, BEWARE OF BAD DOGS signs, so those are not doing anything.

 My understanding is that you can also typically call the non-emergency police line, and request a patrol car to visit that area at night to check it out. I've heard of many people asking the police to patrol a vacant house area while they are away, and my firm has even asked police to do it for us when we had a vacant house listed that got broken into. They were out there the next night. This could be an option for you to get some security out there in the form of police rather than relying on your neighbors or hiring security. 

You can even call police and request patrols in your neighborhood if you simply see people performing moving infractions. A no trespass sign, and police patrols should help deter issues with drive-way sleepers. 

Also you could expressly give your neighbors (any that you really trust, probably the one who is cleaning the trash up for you) permission to call the police when this occurs for you. You can always give anonymous tips! 

Hope this may help!

Quote from @Doreen Caroll:

Starting the investment journey.

 Welcome to BP! Hope you find some useful information here! I see you put Asheville in your location so I want to drop a post I did for you on the Asheville Real Estate Market recently. https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

Give that a read, and would love some feed back from you if you find any value there!

Cheers!

Quote from @Max Moncur:

Hi everyone, I’m hoping to network with people who have experience investing outside of their own real estate market/state. I unfortunately don’t have any friends or family doing this so I’m finally taking the BP podcast’s advice to use the forums.

I’ve been saving for almost 2 years now to hopefully house hack here in Sacramento but haven’t been happy with the numbers. I’ve begun looking at opportunities out of state and would be stoked to be able to talk to people with experience doing the same. I’d appreciate any time to ask questions and learn. Thanks in advance!

I am a licensed agent in NC, I work exclusively with investors and many people who hailed from BP, and are out of state or country. That said, I work with many CA investors who like NC due to pricing, taxes, and it being landlord friendly. If you ever want to chat about NC, let me know!

As for my advice to you; it comes down to the team. The team you build is super critical, someone mentioned trust which is a good way to put it. Trust is important, but having an excellent team with checks & balances in place eliminates the need for trust to be the sole determining factor. You can trust someone who does good work because of the work, or you can trust them because they spoke knowledgeably. That's two different forms of trust, one is in an entity the other in a proven result of work. 

So in other words, find a team that does the right type of work. They need to align with your motives, values, and investing strategy as well as your personal style that you present. A good team will tell you no, just as many times as they tell you yes, and will turn down the opportunity to make money sometimes, by giving you the honest feedback you need, strengthening your relationship. Inherently building trust, by proven quality of good work. 

So to identify these players you will need, you have to network (BP is a great tool for this), and typically once you find one person that you really connect with, whether they are an agent or not - if they have experience - they will have referrals. There's also nothing stopping someone from googling PMs/GCs/Agents in a market and calling/emailing as many of them as you want to speak about potentially working together, thus giving you a chance to vet them. As a rule of thumb though, if you connect with a agent in a market you are interested in - that meets your needs (it's so important not to settle for a ragtag agent)- they will have referrals they can pass to you for personal vetting. 

It's nice to think we can trust everyone at their word, but at the end of the day it's what they prove they are willing to do for you. So network, give opportunity for people you think are up to the task to work for you and earn future business from you. That's where you'll begin to trust the process, the team, and out of state investing will no longer be a daunting idea, but rather welcomed because all the pieces are in place. Teamwork makes the dreamwork!

Hope there was some value in this, 

Cheers!

Quote from @John Tran:

Hey everyone,

first post here in the forum. nice meeting you guys here

 Welcome to BP, pretty great community here! If you are a newer investor, be careful not to get analysis paralysis as BP will have a lot of people talking about a lot of high level stuff in the forums that will have you constantly google searching things to understand them if you aren't familiar with the topics at hand. 

Learn what you can, but don't get bogged down by the need to learn everything first. 

Focus on your team, strategy, and markets to participate in. Learn how to do the numbers and run comps, and use BP to ask for advice and opinions, and to network with a massive community. 

Hope some of that helps! Best of luck, and always love to connect and chat further if you like.

Cheers!

Quote from @Kara Matson:

I'm a first time homebuyer trying to add multiple touches to my starter home. We have minimal resources as far as money goes, but we have a relatively long list of upgrades (window treatments, hardware, light fixtures, paint, etc). Right now we're just kind of doing upgrades along and along. What would be the best option to just get a lump sum of money to put into the house and just take care of everything all at once? I've heard a lot about HELOCS but just trying to see what other options are out there. 

 Step one would be to get a quote for all the work that you need done, sourcing some different contractors or subcontractors can be a great way to save some money in the long run as well. Once you have the total 'bill' and know how much you need for that lump sum of cash, then you can start pursuing different options of funding those projects. I would get that done first, needing a $5k loan is a bit different than a $45k loan or a $180k loan for repairs. 

I know that doesn't answer the question but hope it helps. 

Cheers!

Quote from @Marci Mayes:

Your post brought back a lot of memories. I grew up in Rocky Mount. I'm one of the many who left. I still get back to visit friends and family at least once a year. Most rentals inside the city limits will bring lots of headaches because of the increase in crime over the years. For anyone considering investing in the area, I would stay on the west side of I-95. As Raleigh continues to grow, I think this area may in the path of progress and see better appreciation than other areas around Rocky Mount . . . and No, it's not rocky . . .

Thank you for your comment, I appreciate your insight! My girlfriend grew up in Rocky Mount, and I have spent plenty of time up that way and still frequent up there a few times a year. I think I agree with your conclusion. Rocky Mount also supports a pretty quick drive to very rural areas, which are what I personally would shoot for, some of those neighborhoods to the SE side could be good looks. Thanks again for contributing!

Not rocky that's for sure! Haha!

Quote from @Alli Breighner:

Hi Preston! I'd love to connect and offer advice where I can.

Feel free to shoot me a DM if you're interested!

Easy Street Capital comes highly recommended by many. Glad you dropped by!

Cheers!

Quote from @Preston Stull:

Good Afternoon, 

Me and some guys I know have formed an LLC (4 members all between 24-25 years old and graduated from college and are working) and are wanting to buy and hold (rent out) multi-family (plexs's) and single family homes. We have found several homes that are ready for rent but are under 100k and we are having trouble finding ways to break into the market as our local credit union wants 2-3 years of trends and LLC income before doing a loan like that with us. Any advice or recommendations for newcomers into real estate? We have looked into DSCR loans but the 20-25% down payments are a little high for our first property when they're wanting homes 150k+. Not sure if we should look into just approaching the homeowners themselves instead of going through a bank and relator or if we just need to save up cash to be able to do a DSCR loan or if we just need to put the loan in one of our names personally. Any advice is much appreciated.

Have you guys looked into HML loans for your projects? They are high interest short term loans, may give you more options to work with when it comes to locking up some deals. You'll have to move quicker and Refi out of that loan, but may be a good starting point. If you and your group can come up with ~$30,000 in cash you should be able to make cash to close for ~$100k homes. Keep in mind HML lenders have specific requirements to meet, and you will have to meet them in order to lend on a deal. 

There are a lot of great HML lenders in every market. Depending on where you are located I may could get some referrals your way. 

If you have looked into HMLs and do not see a viable option through those at this time, then you may need to lean more towards creative financing, or doing some whole selling until enough capital is built up to do some more of your project goals, that's an active measure. Alternatively you can all agree to wait until you can afford to meet some more of the higher down payments on those properties. 

You have options to use, and networking will likely be your best bet to find someone who can lend for you. 

If you want to connect and chat further, please let me know!

Cheers!

How Rocky is it really?

Rocky Mount is a fairly medium sized municipality positioned just a bit east of Raleigh, supporting a population of around 54,000 and employing about 22.9k people (~ -6.65% growth year over year- oof).

Rocky Mount's annual population growth rate is sitting around -0.58% which is not a highlight, -1.7% growth since the 2020 Consensus has been recorded. Persons over 65 account for 18.8% of the population. Median age of 41, 21.3 min average commute to work, and a bit over 4,000 veterans locally. Rocky Mount is the 21st largest city in NC, and the 824th largest in the US. 

Rocky Mount has been the recent target of a few infrastructure improvements and outside investments. They are working on a new roundabout "Specifically, this project calls for a roundabout to be constructed to replace what is a busy intersection for Benvenue with the exit from eastbound U.S. 64 and with the entrance for eastbound U.S. 64 … The intersection also includes Battle Park Lane, which provides access to the adjacent Battle Park."

The city has also received an $800,000 grant to utilize in the revitalization of Downtown Rocky Mount. It's intent it to encourage private sector investors, improve entertainment, eateries, and foot/bike travel. It's part of a larger $1.26M plan they want to enact, and are currently trying to source the rest of the funding. 

Rocky Mount was also selected by Golden Leaf for a large investment. "The Golden LEAF Board of Directors awarded $445,582 in funding to support projects through the Open Grants Program and $1,382,782.18 to support rural broadband to community anchor institutions through MCNC. The Golden LEAF Board approved $127,534 in funding for the NC Rural Center to administer the Rural Internship Initiative as part of the Golden LEAF Scholarship Program. The Golden LEAF Board also awarded $1,365,000 in funding for projects through the Flood Mitigation Program."  https://www.neusenews.com/inde... This comes out to a total of a $3.3M investment from Golden Leaf.

The $1,365,000 in funding for flood mitigation will be spent revamping the sewers and water systems.

It should also be noted that since 2006, Golden Lead has donated around $1,000,000 to Nash Community College.

Rocky Mount's largest school is North Carolina Wesleyan College  with around 1,700 enrolled students. Not a large bustling college town by any means. 

Let's talk crime, then numbers. Rocky Mount sits at a 8 out 100 on the crime index (with 100 being the safest), violent crime is twice as high as the state average, property crime is on par with state averages. Crime seems to be rather localized, as the crime rate is significantly higher in density in certain locations. 

The median home value is around $114,000, median sale price is a moving target, somewhere near $200,000. Average DOM around 61 with average homes getting 5% under list and pending in 26 days, and hot homes are getting an average of at list and pending in 10 days. Some homes are getting multiple offers, not as much traction as other places, but I'd consider it "somewhat" Competitive for the deals that are going.

About a 50% owner occupied ratio. SFH 66% MFH 27%. Poverty rate is around 18.9%, there is a real need for affordable housing in this market. Lots of renters out here, market rent for a 3 bed is ~$1,300-$1,700/mo depending on location. Conflicting data suggests is may be able to get more towards city-center with a nice house, upwards of ~$2,000. ~$600-$800 for a 1 bed, a nice place with great location may get more towards $900. 

Rocky Mount has a cost of living ranked as 39/50th most expensive in NC, which means as far as NC is concerned it is extremely agreeable in pricing. People in Rocky Mount get to enjoy some of the cheaper side of NC. Being a skip down the road to Raleigh is a major plus. 

To conclude, Rocky Mount is no shining star, but as with almost every where, there is still opportunity to be found. A savvy investor may find value in affordable housing rentals, or flipping in some of the select neighborhoods where it is profitable to do so. A negative population growth for years, is not exactly exciting to see, however it is clear that they are trying to revamp and update parts of their city/systems that are outdated. Hopefully money continues to keep coming in to Rocky Mount from outside investors. Investors may also like to check out local areas nearby to Rocky Mount- Nashville, Tarboro, Wilson. Rocky Mount needs to see some employment opportunities to come their way, Edgecombe County still remains the highest unemployment in the state. "Edgecombe County had the highest unemployment rate at 7.3 percent ... Among the metro areas, Rocky Mount had the highest rate at 5.9 percent." https://www.commerce.nc.gov/ne...

As always looking for questions, comments, concerns, and any feedback. It's impossible to know everything about a market, so any value add information is expressly desired, and I appreciate it! I'm looking to connect with more people on here, so please reach out!

For more reading and sources:

https://rockymountnc.gov/

https://www.rockymounttelegram...

https://www.rockymounttelegram...

https://www.neusenews.com/inde...

https://www.redfin.com/city/14...

https://www.realtor.com/reales...

https://www.census.gov/quickfa...

https://censusreporter.org/pro...

https://worldpopulationreview....

https://datausa.io/profile/geo...

https://datausa.io/profile/uni...

https://www.neighborhoodscout....

https://livingcost.org/cost/un...

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/se...

https://www.forbes.com/places/...

https://www.commerce.nc.gov/ne...

Quote from @Matt Moreland:

@Jared Trindade! I have been the agent on just over 1mm sqft in industrial warehouse space over the last 5 years or so. Never done anything specifically related to converting industrial/warehouse space into self-storage but have certainly discussed it with clients who were playing with the idea or who have converted warehouse space into other higher margin-use spaces.

Would love to chat and hear more about what you're thinking and what your clients are looking to do. I have personally invested in a little over 20,000 square feet in industrial/warehouse space so my experience from the investor perspective is more limited than from the agent side, but more than happy to help any way possible.

Cheers!
Matt Moreland

 Would love to chat, let's connect! Thanks!