All Forum Posts by: John Underwood

I don't use a PM. I use Homeaway.com I have a House cleaner that I text. I have wifi thermostats. I have a lockbox for the keys. I have handyman that I text if I need something fixed.

Why would I want to pay someone 25% of rent. PM doesn't have to pay property tax, insurance mortgage, maintenance, cleaning, repairs etc. 

My property is an hour away and I don't need to be there to rent or maintain it.

Why would I want to pay someone 25% when that money needs to go towards owning and maintaining property?

Mason,

I have several that I have used.

There are for the greater Greenville, SC area.

Are you looking for a General Contractor?

I also keep a list of people that my local Real Estate club recommend so that when I need them I have them at the ready. (Upstate CREIA) 

We also have a free Yahoo group that you can sign up for to ask for referrals of contractors.

Message me with your email address and I can send you a list.

Is the strip of land big enough for a house to be built there?

Does the neighborhood support the cost of building a new house?

Is the property accessible via a road (not land locked)?

If you answer no to any of the questions above I would steer clear of it as you have limited things you can do with it and very limited people that would even be interested in it.

If you can answer yes to all 3 then it is worth researching further.

South Carolina 

a Tax deed would have a cloud on the title and would then need a quiet title action to remove cloud. I would try and get $4000.00 because a QT would cost about this much and take 6 months or longer.

I have gotten a couple of 2 bedroom 1 bath houses for as little as $1200.00 each.

Both had a tenant that quickly became my tenant.

One house has central HVAC in it.

I'm also accumulating rentals.

Most of mine come from tax lien sales. SC pays up to 12% backed by real estate. The state guarantees that you will receive your interest OR you will own the property. In SC a check with your investment plus interest shows up in the mailbox or a deed to the property shows up in the mailbox. This is one of the lowest risk Realestate investments you can make guaranteed by state law.

Only want the Interest you say? Then just buy liens against nice properties. If you did hit the lottery you would have no problem unloading it for a healthy profit.

Want inexpensive rental properties research the 30k to 100 FMV properties to have a better chance.

I have 16 houses that are all rented and all were bought for pennies on the dollar via tax auction.

I plan to retire in a couple years but don't know if I could stop buying houses at tax sale. It is too much fun and too lucrative.

Wow, 25% in PM fees. I'd be shopping for a new PM.

You could use Homeaway.com to manage bookings and collect payments then line up your own cleaner and handyman and fire your expensive PM company.

You might also find someone who is local to your rental that is already on Homeaway.com and see if you could work out a deal where they run the homeaway rental for you and then you could be totally hands off.

In my area VRBO and Homeaway is King. I looked at ArBNB, but not much usage in my vacation rental area. It looks like it is primarily used for renting a room in my location.

I also keep a fresh CL add always up to date.

That is fantastic Steve. Glad to hear you got him to start paying.