All Forum Posts by: Lisa Hoover

Hi Ive lived in so many great places in the USA Phoenix, Scottsdale, Los Angeles, Eden NC, Asheville NC, Charlotte, NC Columbia SC so cities with population ranges from 18,000 to 10 million and I love so charlotte great temps year round ( 70F today Jan 19, 2017). extremely affordable, best schools but... it is the SOUTH with all of its plus and minuses. I'm retiring to Oregon, getting too crowded here !! but it's been a decent place to live since 1985 and real estate investing is a dream here. Cary is even nicer but much more expensive.

Hi If you are in Saudi Arabia... your social circle must be all on-line?? virtual??

I think you should use those skills absolutely ! Maybe find one through an estate sale? Be careful, stay out of rough areas (yes i'm everybody's Mom) Best of all.. go thru a Realtor and a find a a foreclosure or HUD you like... any chance you could be owner occupied?? ( i.e. if you are renting now) If so move-in fix it up and move-out a week before your new renter or buyer moves in. I know custom builders in town that do that on $750,000 homes!! IF. ITS A FLIP: There are lots of Realtors here that will list the property for you in MLS for a $300 Flat Fee and provide a rented superkey lockbox on the front door to make it easy to show. Use lots of LIGHT & don't skimp on quality of pictures!! Write an HGTV kind of blurb about "the gleaming hardwoods" and "welcome home to your quiet sanctuary of relaxation" or the opposite "a great home meant for entertaining friends and located in the middle of the bustling area of blah" Inside & outside the house, leave flyers with photos and YOUR CONTACT INFO!! Contact ANY lender (ask the flat fee realtor for some names) and ask them to print up some example financial flyers for u with purchase prices with downpayments and monthly payments ( 1st time home buyers want to know "what's the cost to get in" and "what's the cost per mo". depending on your price point for buying i've seen some great foreclosures in raintree ( i bought one! and it doubled in value and if i were a carpenter profits would have been 2.75x vs 2x. : ) example : i see one now (hobby--i'm retired) a great 1story condo like asking 140 in there that a family is selling as an estate sale -- and it was the original owner from 1985 so ZERO updating but it's in perfect shape... just needs updating... NICELY Updated properties right now can add $50k to your list price. Or maybe partner with an investor (50:50-- they do the down payment and buy materials and you do the work!) Every transaction you do will introduce you to so many people , ideas and opportunities , I used to tell my Agents that every 1 transaction should bring you 4 more. I'm retired so if you need any tips, heaven knows i've probably seen it before and like to help especially beginner investors be successful. So CHOOSE the areas of town YOU think are great (and the closer to you the better) and set up automatic searches on zillow and some easy to use RECompany sites so you know the minute a troubled home comes up in your area. If you define those things you won't be running all over town evaluating properties-- there are great deals right in your own backyard. : ) You are welcome to send a colleague request. I can answer just about anytime if you don't mind texting. Best Regards, Lisa

Hi Josh, I love AZ and the areas you mentioned. PHX is a sister city to Charlotte NC so our price points and RE are similar. Yes even SFHs in subdivisions will have HOAs. as does EVERY CONDO/TH complex. Before you decide-- find out EXACTLY what the HOA covers. In condos/th here, the norm is to cover all yard work, landscaping, EXTERIOR MAINTENANCE (love that!) and often water/sewer!! There should also be a pool, clubhouse, a fancy front entrance etc. I'm ok with paying $180 a month for all of that. For my houses, i pay from $40 a month in a golf course community to $200 a month in a really nice plain subdivision and all i get for those is fancy front entrance, community pool and clubhouse. And every 7 years i get to pay $4500 for exterior maintenance and every 18-20 a new roof $5000 (i'm a buy n hold investor). and yardwork here if i want to include it in the rent = $180 a month for 9 mos of the year. So i used to never buy condos, but as RE increase in price here... the condo price points and full coverage HOAs are looking pretty good to me. ( yes i know about the infrequent added project collections-- but those too are usually spread out payments over at least a year).

Dear Kyung,  Beautiful calculations and I think you could go up on rent and I really like Gerald's idea of adding internet basic cable.

4 leases right? not 1 lease w/4 people.

HERE'S My strategy and why.

I don't have the time or money to work with low end properties (under $90) because of the tenant quality, the damages they cause and cleanup of high turnover, chasing them for rent, and often not in the safest areas.

$110-120,000 is at my bottom.

Luckily i'm in Charlotte, NC and i can get condos/townhomes on the golf course at $110k.

I ALWAYS hunt for the lowest priced props in the BEST areas-period.

FOR CONDOS/TH I cap HOAs at $250 max. and that has to include water/sewer for over $200 ( most here are about $180).

Recently I've purchased nice townhomes here in the best areas and

increased MY  CASH FLOW 

PROFIT by $500 a month !!!! by renting as "furnished"

I put in a nice USED : sofa, dining room table-chairs tv, internet, silverware, toaster, bed frames w/ mattresses and lots of pads and covers to seal them!

Maybe you could add a used w/d?

College kids can be profitable, but i'd screen , get deposits, do inspections every 3 months min.  AT UNCC, the kids used to grill on the decks of their condos and big fires were COMMON. Eventually this beautiful new entire complex was bulldozed.

I think i'd do Japanese style w/microwave and hot plate--no stove!! and no grills allowed.  TRY for non-smokers.  Never Carpet-  go with laminate flooring.   MOUNT A FIRE EXTINGUISHER somewhere!

My 18 yr old is just getting comfortable with using a washing machine-- so no way most of these kids even know how to use an oven or burners.  Let them bring their own dorm-size refrig.  Tell them you spray for bugs for up to 30 days after they move-in and after that you charge them --explaining that they have to keep the TRASH OUT, decent housekeeping is expected.

If possible-- maybe market as an all GRAD student condo?

Also if there is a fireplace or gas heat install CO and smoke of course. 

 HERES A TIP!!!

I cannot believe how IDENTICAL A CO MONITOR LOOKS LIKE A SMOKE DETECTOR.

Recently i had to return 

several to Home Depot --the pkg said  Fire&Smoke and I was trying to buy all  10 CO&SMOKE COMBOS.

Got the wrong ones. 

I went back to my policy of SEPARATE CO detectors (no combos)

I take a magic marker and draw faint BLACK STRIPES across the CO.

I draw faint RED STRIPES across the fire/smoke. AND I TEACH EVERY TENANT (3minutes) the difference in these 2 monitors.

They take the batteries out immediately of any chirping detector and beat it with a broom whatever to stop the chirping.

Fine. It's a $25 detector.

But the black gray stripes mean DEATH and open all doors and windows and I MUST BE NOTIFIED IMMEDIATELY anytime of day or night or they are in DANGER of DYING.

I must do a REPAIR.

They follow that mini-class. You'll find you have to think FOR THEM.

If there is a dishwasher-know in advance they think ALL SOAP IS CREATED EQUAL and every new tenant you get is going to use laundry or liquid soap to suds up and flood the kitchen  via a dishwasher.

So lots to do even when you so carefully choose the right investment by the numbers---all these PREVENTABLE expenses can nix your best calculated proforma.

Best Regards to you-- it's fun, exciting, never boring and can be extremely profitable : )

oh wait. you are saying you bought that???

where???

If i get you a flight to Charlotte, ???

do you want to supervise a few refurbs?

This is beautiful.

you couldn't have purchased anything that turned out nicer!! Beautiful!!

In Charlotte, the local HUD office offers free training and they openly share "the formula". I went to my first training session there back in 2000 and "the formula" is still the same 16 years later. Here, tho one caveat has been... an owner-occupied bid beats an investor bid, which always seemed to be a noble call to me.

Oh excellent point.. I bet he has to extreme!