All Forum Posts by: Josh Buchanan

@Frank Rolfe, thank you for the detailed feedback. I will be investing in some of your materials as I continue to progress in this area.  I try to educate myself as thoroughly as possible before diving in. In addition to reading, podcasts, etc I try to keep tabs on the local market as well. I ride through parks often to see there condition, call to check lot rents at various parks in the area, and keep up with used mobile home sales and park sales. 

Interested to know the best/most beneficial books on mobile home investing you have read. I live in rural western NC and mobile homes in and out of parks make up a large % of the housing. I’m interested in branching out into this area and would like to read as much as possible to gain some further insight. Smaller multi family units are hard to come by so I think mobile hikes may be a good alternative. 

In John Schaub's book, Building Wealth One House at a Time, he goes over how he implemented a similar system that also factored in tenant complaints/service calls. It is a great book on SFH investing.

@Laura Yates

If you have the time and resources for Air Bnb,it can be very successful. It seems that everyone who isn’t moving to WNC wants to visit the area. I don’t know about regulations in the Asheville city limits, but most other areas don’t have any restrictions. 

I would take @Rodrigo Afanador up on his offer. Wealth of knowledge on the WNC market. Check out the Carolina Real Estate Investors Assoc in Ashevilleas well. Good networking opportunity. Definitely a sellers market, but there are deals to be found, especially in the smaller surrounding markets. The rental market is strong even 1 hour outside Asheville. 

Can anyone suggest a good website to screen tenants that I can pay for after collecting the fee from the applicant?. I have some tenants that are not up to date with technology, and the sites I have used require the applicant to pay and verify identity through email. Looking for standard credit bureau, background check, eviction history. Thank you.

Sorry, the #'s did not line up well when I posted. I currently have 1 duplex and 2 SFH. 2 local, 1 out of state. Both are far enough away that I would be using property management. The immediate cash on cash is much better on the duplexes(despite those WI property taxes), which I'm sure I should place much more emphasis on than potential appreciation and rent increase, since that is uncertain.

I am evaluating 2 long term rental purchase options. One is in a growing market(Triad, NC) 8 single family homes 60-90k value each, priced 15-20% below market value. Rents are below market, older homes, decent areas, will need updating to increase to market rent. 2nd option is 4 duplexes in a small town(pop 2000) in northern WI. I have one rental there already. These units are mostly updated, renting at market values, so the immediate cash flow is much stronger($1100 vs $600), but they are priced at 90-95% of value & do not have the appreciation potential of the larger market. I feel like the growing market is the better play, but since they are long term buy and holds am I putting too much emphasis on appreciation. Let's assume financing costs are similar, here is an overview. Thoughts on these 2 options are appreciated. 

I’m looking for a similar loan to purchase 7-8 long term rentals from an individual. I’ll let you know if I find a good option. 

25% cash down issue solved, now what are my options? Issue I have run into is that several of the properties are around $60k sales price and my total loan is less than $500k. Both of these have been deal breakers with several companies.