All Forum Posts by: Luka Milicevic

This is not an STR nightmare....this is real estate.

I had a tenant die of an overdose in a long term rental. These things happen and you don't have control over them.

300k under market and not selling is not bc of the death. Something else is a factor here.

@Erica Calella

Post the review so we can see and help out.

It sounds like it was truly a negative experience. I would more so worry about fixing the actual issue than dealing with the emotional aspect of it. 

Deal with it by not letting it happen again is how I would do it....

@Christopher Hall I'll be honest, I'm not as familiar with Robertson county as I am with Davidson when it comes to STR revenue.

Just thinking in broad terms and comparing to Davidson, I'm not so sure you would net that amount. 

Property mgt for STRs runs 18-20%. All of your expenses go up as well. 

If you're wanting to be "hands off" the LTR way is the way to go in your case. I don't think it would be worth it for you given your location and how well your LTR is going. 

Now....if you were actually in Nashville and asked the same question I would stop reading at the first sentence and tell you YES you should convert to an STR.

Keep in mind the above is coming from someone not familiar with Robertson co STRs so don't take this as gospel. If I were you, I'd get on Airbnb/Vrbo and check at what similar listings are running each night. I'd also connect with someone local that is doing what you're considering and ask them about their success in the space and if they have any advice for you. 

@Ryan Earl

I would do the following:

-Search "we buy houses (your city)" and have a few of the investors come out and give you an offer

-Get an offer from opendoor and offerpad.

-Interview realtors to find a good one and then have them meet you at the property to give you an accurate assessment of potential sales price and fixes/upgrades needed to get you to that price. 

You have all the information you need now to make a decision.

With all the above mentioned steps you are under NO OBLIGATION to accept anything that is presented to you. 

It's not hard to find a millionaire that has never used debt. 

Someone that is 65 years old and has a net worth of $1m is not an extraordinary feat.

Live on less than you make and invest in tax deferred retirement savings. There are a LOT of people that have done that successfully with relative ease. 

Now.....having a net worth of $10m+ at any age and never having used leverage is a different story.

The term "millionaire" is relative. You can have a net worth of $1m and 90m and be in the same category of "millionaire" So, it all depends on who you choose to interview

@Marco Torres

Welcome to the forums. 

I'm in the Nashville market. I'm curious what they mean by over saturated? Over saturated how? Too many rental units? Too many houses? Too many investors? Too many lenders?

As a recent college graduate, I'm going to assume that you're not able to throw money around and put massive down payments on homes. 

I would suggest looking into a low down loan, preferably conventional over FHA. You will have mortgage insurance, but at least you'll be in a house with a low down payment.

From there, I would house hack - rent as many rooms in the house as you are able to. 

Boom - you just got your start. 

In terms of areas, I would look west towards Bellevue, Pegram, Dickson. SOuth as far as Columbia. Get yourself in the more affordable areas and get your house hack going

Your logic is ENTIRELY sound. 

The only point I would maybe add is that in this type of environment only big box landlords and property owners can compete

On the first interview on the BP podcast with Grant Cardone, he specifically said he wants to invest in Blue states because of all the above mentioned items you listed....but that's Grant Cardone he can afford to take on the extra burden that comes with crushing regulation. Myself being a small fish in the pond, I personally can't invest under such conditions. 

All of the red tape that comes with investing in a blue state simply creates more and bigger monopolies. That is the same rhetoric that I have heard time and again from people that have moved from CA to TN. They have all run businesses there and complained that they could no longer compete with the larger companies due to the cost of regulation. 

Nashville started to increase regulations and requirements on new construction housing starting in 2017. Everyone was complaining about it in my local real estate meet ups saying how expensive the new requirements were (Sidewalks, underground utilities, updated IRC, the list goes ON).

I spoke to the largest developer I know and he said he welcomed all of the changes. His exact words "it gets rid of my competition"

 When you post online about "unlimited funds" the sharks smell blood in the water.

I will say that running out of state flips is VERY hard. Your best bet is going to be running them close to where you are. Closer than 4 hours if possible. I know CA is a very competitive landscape so getting started in that market is going to be challenging. 

To answer the actual question....

If I had unlimited funds and lived in LA what I would do

1-Move as far away from LA as I could

2-Invest in US treasuries. 

@Eron Reynolds

Welcome to the forums. What specific questions do you have? What areas are you looking into? What type of housing? 

@Brendan VanDalinda

Welcome to the forums! you're in the right place. 

1-This might be a phone call to explain the history of Nashville's STR laws/changes, but here is somewhat of a summary. Pre 2016 it was the wild west - no regs at all. With the discovery of Nashville many investors moved into STRs and so the growing number of units called for the regulation of the industry as a whole. During that time, there were a lot of investors that avoided the market due to uncertainty in future regulations and changes.

Fast forward to present day. Metro has seemed to "settle" and has found a middle ground on STR regs and not much has changed over the past few years. We seem to have found a happy balance. The current regs pretty much don't allow NOO STRs to be operated in any residential zoning. The only way to legally operate one is a true owner occupant, and even that has some restrictions. There are only certain zone codes where STRs are permitted as a non owner occupant. Somewhat difficult to search for, but you just have to know how and where to look.

I can go on for days on the topic but just know that it can be done. 

In terms of market insight...I'd recommend going downtown to see for yourself. Go on a random Tuesday and you'll see a FLOOD of people. The airport expansion is one of Middle TNs largest projects at the moment (private and public) and after the project started, planning realized it wasn't big enough. BNA airport has crushed expectations on travel numbers...and no not including the "post covid" revenge travel. 

2 - I can recommend a few. They handle management turn key-advertising, maintenance calls, cleaning, restocking, etc. They typically don't do furnishing, but have designers they recommend. I have one too that does turn key furnishings and is way less expensive than the big box folks. If you're local, I recommend at least considering furnishing your unit by yourself. 

3 - Me...of course :-). There actually aren't many realtors out there that know STR regs or how to even search for those types of properties. You really do have to screen here before deciding. I know of at least 4 instances where investors purchased properties with agent representation that had intentions of doing an STR only to be denied a permit by the city after closing.

Let me know if you have any other questions.