All Forum Posts by: Katie McCaskey

I can recommend Jay Shafer's design workshop, which is held around the country. I attended in D.C. last year and got to see Boneyard Studios, a tiny home community there. All of those homes were on wheels and residents have worked around permit issues by vacating them for a certain period of time each year.

Austin has a tiny home community in development for people experiencing homelessness. I'm watching that with interest:

http://mlf.org/community-first/

Overall, I think this trend will continue because more people are seeking to downsize for cost savings, environmental benefits, etc. Reuse of existing small structures -- as @Shari mentions, older places -- is more appealing, at least to me.

Can anyone speak about the "mentorship" available at HomeVestors?

I recently read an article about them in Personal Real Estate Investor magazine and it made me curious. Is this just a ploy to sell franchises, or a part of the business model?

Thank you, everyone.

I'm new to this site and pleased with your willingness to take the time to share your thoughts.

:)

General question: What are your thoughts on the ideal distance between where you live and your first investment where you're managing tenants?

I'm guessing most will say buy something you can see every day. However, what if you lived in a small market that was already saturated (more rentals than demand)? How far is "reasonable" to manage a SFH?

45 minutes away? 2 hrs away, for a major market?

Thanks for your thoughts.

I like them in my yard but haven't planted any on a rental property-yet.

On a similar note here is a link to research that trees in general raise rents by $5/month and trees on the property line add $21/month. Seems like a reason to beautify with low-maintenance evergreens, at least! :cool:

http://www.good.is/post/plant-a-tree-boost-your-property-value

I like Equity Trust because they have a library of information on their site and the paperwork is straight-forward. There might be cheaper options but I trust them.