All Forum Posts by: Pat Lulewicz

I'd recommend knowing what strategy you want to pursue and if its a viable option in the city that you're looking at. Example - you're not going to do office towers in Wilmington, but you will in Charlotte. On the flip side, it would be more lucrative and generally more affordable to run a STR business out of Wilmington than Charlotte.

Once you know the strategy you want to pursue - long term rentals, STRs, wholesaling, retail, self storage, etc - you can see if that market is conducive to that type of opportunity and your lifestyle...remember, you're also going to have a new, full-time job. Keep the big picture in mind of lifestyle and the long-game of investing over 70 years, and not just the next 24 months so that you don't cap yourself and your potential, or start to hate real estate because you get frustrated.

American Modern Insurance

@Ellen Womack if its in the Triangle, I'm happy to connect you with my attorney that handles these. Very reasonable price/service. The DIY method is to post a notice on their door that they have 10 days to pay rent (req'd by state law). If they don't, on day 11 you can get the necessary eviction docs from the county website and fill those out. Once filled out and mailed to the appropriate parties, and once the county receives them, they'll schedule a hearing. You are not told when that hearing is; you have to call to confirm the date, time and room #. At the hearing, you present your case and so does your tenant if they show. The judge will make a ruling at that time. If its in your favor, they'll set a date and time for the sheriff to come and give you possession back.

Would you quit claim the property into a new entity between y'all and the new partner? People will bring up the due-on-sale clause, especially these days when your lender can turn the capital around and get around 200 bps higher on new debt; your thoughts there? Because of the "sale" at the point of quit claim (since there's a new member involved and its not 1-for-1), have you consulted a CPA to discuss the tax effects? Depends on the answers above, but I'd also ask about basis and depreciation but that's a whole other can of worms.

Hey @Shahaf Seginer - taxes are the easy one. Just bookmark these 2 websites and use them to look up owners or properties. If you're outside these 2 counties, just google "COUNT NAME Property Search" and you should get 90% of the way there.

https://taxcama.guilfordcounty...

http://tellus.co.forsyth.nc.us...

When you search a property, there's a tab in the top right that says "Tax Bill" and will open a new tab in your browser. That will show you current and historical tax info so you can track how the property assessed value has moved and the tax with it. It will also show you if the owner has paid their taxes this year.

Insurance is a bit more tricky and has SO many variables based on ownership, age, structure, roof, price, size, etc. I would find an insurance agent that you've used before or will decide to use moving forward (so that they don't work for free and get tossed to the curb), give them 5-10 properties to quote for you that VARY in age, size and price so you can get a baseline of how much insurance will cost. From there, you can figure out a decent rule of thumb like $expense/$1,000 of property value or something similar.

LOVE new location. Wednesday instead of Thursday??

Looking for slightly older homes, and particularly ones without HOAs (or at least very minimal ones), will definitely help the projection numbers. You'll usually see a lower price point however that can come at the expense of deferred maintenance or other cosmetic repairs. If you're going to live in first, may not be the worst situation to do few little updates monthly until you're ready to move-out. Just have to be patient (marathon) on the selection and search process and fast (sprint) when the right home comes up with making a competitive offer and getting the financing lined up.

I figure a lot of your returns projections are spreadsheet-based. In my experience, newer homes in great neighborhoods may not: 1) have the type or frequency of vacancy that the spreadsheet projects out (4% vacancy assumption means the house is vacant 2 weeks a year...generally see renters stay in a home over a year, so your vacancy is drastically down), and 2) Newer homes can generally come with less expenses and capex; the tenants also treat A or B+ class homes better so there's just a lot less wear and tear which is usually reflected in your maintenance/repairs being lower than budgeted.

If you go the Airbnb route, just drop HOA'd communities from your search criteria. This will generally result in older homes however your returns will, generally, be much higher.

Beautiful home. Love a good brick ranch. Did y'all ever consider experimenting with airbnb in this great of a location? Obviously it would require more $ in to furnish, but a family-style and size home like this feels like it could be conducive.

If they are in fair or re-usable condition, call a non-profit like Goodwill and they can come pic them up for you + you get a tax write-off. Don't forget to get documentation for the items and FV

Incredible opportunity around Raleigh. So many rentals are unaffordable. Studios are in the $800s and 1 BRs are over $1,000 in most cases. Best to find a property that has 1 bathroom/resident to minimize the headache and arguments. Alternatively, build in the cost of a cleaner coming to handle common area when running your numbers...helps the arguments over hair on the bathroom vanity + great marketing of amenities you offer (and makes your home clean for you if/while you're living in it on the tenants' dime).

Just be conscious of the tenant base/mix, especially if you're living there. A night nurse might seem like a great idea since they'll be at work a lot and less stress on the property but if they sleep during the day and you have a conference call you need to talk on or have a pet, this can cause rifts in the relationship and viability of the tenant quickly.

Otherwise, just make sure to do full background/credit checks and leases on the front-end, be a friend/roommate whenever you can, and a landlord ONLY WHEN NEEDED.