All Forum Posts by: Troy Gandee

Hey @Dylan Haines! Welcome to the forums. Thank you for your service, as well. Charleston is a great market for real estate. It's getting a little tight with all of the transplants, but that will create opportunity! You're definitely in the right place to start learning about the industry.

There are some great VA products out there that you should consider taking advantage of. You will likely qualify since you're serving. That's a cheap way to get started. Just be weary of the restrictions that those VA products have.

Feel free to send me a DM if you need any help!

-Troy

Hi @Elliot Adkins. Welcome to BP and the world of real estate investing. I'm fairly new at investing myself. I've been a Realtor and investor for about 3 years. Charleston and HHI are great markets, yet comparatively expensive for the South. Feel free to shoot me a message if you have any questions or concerns. This is an awesome community and you're definitely in the right place to start learning about the industry from others that are doing it!

@James Kampmeyer Hi, James. I'm a Realtor and investor in the Charleston area. You should definitely talk to your lender first and get a "pre-approval or a pre-qualification". They will let you know what amount you can comfortably afford and which loan products you're eligible for. You can even send them property details of a home that's similar to what you would like and they can run a kind of mock loan scenario for you. More often than not, you will NEED a pre-approval letter from a lender before the seller will even accept your offer anyways. Once you get an offer accepted, then you (or your Realtor) will send everything to the lender and they will begin the process of underwriting and approving the loan. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions. I work in those areas.

@Jay Hinrichs I'm a Realtor. I represent a lot of first-timers that are looking in PC. I'll keep an eye out there for you. You can send me the property info in a message. My girlfriend and I might be buying something as a residence soon.

@Jay Hinrichs I'm glad you are. Our inventory is too thin. We need more new structures.

@Jay Hinrichs I absolutely agree. That's why Park Circle exploded in the last few years. I'm a millennial and it's so hard for us to get a decent house in a desirable neighborhood. A lot of us are finding ourselves in rougher neighborhoods because we're poor, too haha.

@Russ Scheider and @Jay Hinrichs I've got two in the Dorchester Terrace neighborhood on the neck. The area is really rough, but it's getting better. You've got to be a little brave to  deal with some of the bad eggs. I've been in the process of dealing with barking dogs behind one property for months now. One of the residents of that property was shot in the driveway three years ago, so the police keep encouraging me not to engage that neighbor directly, which has made the entire process very lengthy. It's really like any other D area, but Charleston is so geographically small that the area will start to change relatively soon.

@Edward Hann is correct. There is a lot of inventory here in SC. SC is also pretty friendly for mobile homes. I would certainly recommend speaking to him!

@Menon Whitsitt You could have a difficult time trying to utilize any of the land for mobile homes. I agree with @Russ Scheider and @John Semanchuk about the flood insurance. I think Awendaw and McClellanville are trying to reduce their mobile home presence near 17 in anticipation for expansion. There are tons of lots available up and down that stretch of road, too. Most of those lots are HUGE. If you could offer a smaller lot, it may contract well to some of the bigger ones.  If you keep it as a rental, consider that the whole area should be growing in the next few years. Not only would you be getting rental income, but the property should appreciate. It would just be kind of a long term flip! I'm a Realtor. I'd be happy to pull some comps and email them to you. 

Hi Aimee,

That is a difficult situation. If you were planing on being a buy and hold investor, I would say that the $450 is great cash flow as long as the assessments aren't too steep. But, since you live farther away and don't have the infrastructure, it can be quite difficult to manage and maintain it. If you have a fixed-rate mortgage, it may not really be a big deal, but it is a little unsettling that things could change with your current mortgage. If you were thinking about selling, right now is a great time to do it. Things are flying off the market in the Charleston market. I'm a Realtor and I would be happy to help you. If you want to DM me the address of the condo and your email, I can pull some comps to send to you. You can at least see what the current value of the property should be if it were on the market now.

Thanks!

Troy Franklin Gandee