Charlotte, North Carolina?
Talk to me about Charlotte, North Carolina.
Where in the city or surrounding area will I find moderately priced property, SFH or attached, duplexes, etc, to buy, rent and hold? ("Area" numbers or zip codes, along with some details, would help me out greatly.)
Thanks in advance for any investing advice.
MC
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Nobody has any advice?
Anyone? Bueller...?
MC
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Good advise above.
I have invested in various areas of Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware. I lived in Howard Co., Md. until 2 yrs. ago, then moved to Virginia. I plan to move to Delaware but might keep Va. home as a 2nd home. I am tired of my properties that are too far away. Tired. Wears you down...slowly and surely. Friends n family get tired of helping. People take advantage of you not being around. Even good people.
What will you do with your Balto. area properties?
Hi webuyhousesmi,
I have a short-term vacation rental (a Minnesota lake property). It does not come close to cash flowing. It still makes sense for me to own and operate it, though. The loss is treated as a business loss, which reduces my W-2 income and allows me to take rental losses from my apartments. Without this business loss, my W2 income would be too high and my rental losses would be suspended. I am also hoping that I will experience appreciation for a future sale of the property. Another nice perk is I can depreciate things like boats (that I offer for rent). It is an incredible amount of work, though.... from advertising, marketing, fielding 100s of inquiries, accepting payments, drafting rental agreements, issuing driving directions, cleaning the property/linens, check-ins & check outs, returning deposits, people not finding the property, people not knowing how to operate a boat, the list goes on and on.
I agree that you get much better "tenants" because of the high prices. We charge $1475/week + tax & optional pontoon rental. People affording these types of places generally do not cause problems.
The trouble is with the cash flow. In order to command these kinds of rents...it has to be a high demand property...which means an expensive property.
We also go well out of our way to personalize their stay at our cottage. We provide a gift package tailored to our guests, etc. I consider this a marketing expense...chances are they will return and I will not have to spend as much in the future on advertising.
There were a couple of threads; at least one of them was in the tax forum, about short-term vacation rentals. You might want to take a look at them...they were from several months ago.
There are also several good books out about pricing your rental and drafting a rental agreement, etc. The important thing to remember is this really is a business/ labor intensive….it is not like an apartment building that will somewhat run itself.
Have you rented your unit? The reason I ask is you need to try to limit your damages, i.e., by getting it rented asap. Once you have it rented (and depending on when her lease ended), then you can file a suit based on what your damages are.
Also, did you have a security deposit? You can deduct the damages from that deposit and that would be what is owed to you.
Make sense?