All Forum Posts by: William Jenkins

My niche is developing wireless sites and I develop them for all of the major wireless carriers throughout the Midwest.  I also own a number of them as well with one actually located in AL.  

I would be more than happy to talk to you about it and give you some insight into the business.  Depending on the breath of the property portfolio you are working with there may be some opportunities.  

PM me and we can schedule a time to talk.  

Please be careful buying in this city. There are some good opportunities but as previously stated you need to know the area cold.

@Dalton Ulrich  welcome and congrats on taking the first step....

Here is my opinion on the market here in St. Louis.  The metro area is pretty saturated with investors, flippers and traditional buyers which makes it tough to find a good deal (at least by my standards).

I would look for rentals out in your area.  In the more rural areas like Union you will find that there is usually less tenant turnover.  I have also noticed a number of distressed properties coming on market in those areas.  I am not sure why that is, but it seems like it has been a trend over the last year or so.  Perhaps banks are finally clearing the rural properties off their books.

If you plan on staying in that area long term, I would focus on becoming a big fish in that small pond.          

BPOs have dried up and the fees have gone down to a point where they are not worth while. REOs are down as well and asset managers have driven down the profitability of those as well. They will both come back eventually. I would suggest trying to position yourself to take advantage of it when it does but I wouldn't expect to jump into it now and make any money.

Also, don't expect to just walk into P&Z and get a special use permit to use the property as a 2 family when it is zoned single family.  I have literally been to hundreds of different P&Z meetings in jurisdictions all over the country, and I can tell you that your chance of getting that approved is about 1 in 1,000,000.  Only exception would be in a tiny town where you know the mayor and or council members. 

Attorney disclaimer aside like mentioned.....  

I would not buy this property assuming it is a 2 family.  This sounds to me like someone tricked out their garage for their own personal use.  Two separate meters means absolutely nothing. 

There are only 2 things that would allow the renovated garage to be habitable:

1.  It is allowed via the current zoning (i.e. multifamily zoning and property meets all building codes, setbacks, etc.)

2.  It was built and occupied as a 2 family before the current zoning went into effect which would make it a legal non-conforming use.  I highly doubt this is the case unless this is an extremely old renovated garage in an extremely old area of town.    

From you brief description I would doubt it meets any of the above.  If it doesn't work with the 1 unit only, I would walk away. 

Here is my opinion.... Now is not a good time to buy from a market timing perspective.  Are there still good deals out there?  Yes, but they are few and far between and you have to get very creative to make them work.  I have made some great deals over the last year but they were also in a niche space that most people do not play in.   

If you are in the flipping game then I would strongly consider lightening up on exposure and inventory.  If you are in the rental game, then I would suggest keeping some powder dry for future buying opportunities. 

Unfortunately I see some of the same signs of overheating that I did in 2006.  I have not yet seen a group of restaurant workers pool their money to do a $1M flip in Florida like last time, but I don't think we are far off.     

If you are not that experienced I would first suggest finding a qualified broker to represent you. Buying raw ground is not for novices. There are so many factors to consider that you really need to know what you are doing. What's the zoning, future land use plan, utilities, septic percolation test, water availability, access rights, etc. etc. etc. The list goes on and on. I don't want to discourage you buy make sure you go in with your eyes wide open.

I have to say that I agree with Ben. Don't try to make things work that won't. There is an obvious rush towards real estate again and I personally think we are at the later stages of the up cycle. I am seeing the same silly things that I did in 2006-2007 and it won't end well for many. If a good deal comes along I am ready to pull the trigger, otherwise I am in hibernation until the market becomes more favorable on the buy side. You make your money buying by the way.

When you say renewing the lease, do you mean that the tower and lease already exists and that it has expired?  If that is truly the case then you are in a unique situation and you need to very carefully consider your options.  

Who owns the tower and who are the tenants on the tower?