Where to Invest in Real Estate in Charlotte?
As a property manager in Charlotte with investor clients, we are often asked where the best places are to buy local investment properties.
When I was a young real estate investor in 2004, I bought my first two investment properties on the same day from HUD. Both were relatively cheap and I figured they’d be easy to cash flow. I admittedly did not really know what I was doing.
One was a condo in a relatively contained area. The other was a house in what could be labeled a “war zone”.
I hated this house. If I was smarter, I would have outsourced the property management. One of the main issues is that it would just get broken into a lot. So every time it was vacant, I was praying that I didn’t have to have the windows and doors repaired again. The house was really old and somehow the utility bills were really high, which added to the vacancy pain.
One day I was stopping by the house and noticed a man with a shopping cart full of old window screens walking in the neighborhood. I didn’t give it much thought (like I said, it wasn’t a great area) until I reached the house and noticed something a little off about the (formerly) screened-in porch. I ran back to my car to find the guy with my screens.
He was still on the street. I pulled up behind him in my car and he kept walking. I got out and walked quickly to catch up to him.
“Excuse me, sir? I think you may have something that belongs to me.”
No response. He kept walking away at his measured pace.
“Yeah, I’m sure of it- those seem to be the window screens from my house up the block. Mind if I take those back?”
He stopped, turned around, grunted, and then lunged at me with a knife. Fortunately, he missed due to my cat-like reflexes (OK, not true) and the fact that he was drunk and slow (thank God!). He then kept walking away.
I followed him in my car and called the police. He smartly cut across a field and was never seen again.
As I left the scene with my tail between my legs, there was nothing left to do but go back to the house and re-shoot the front porch pictures. Then I logged into my computer and changed the rental ad copy from “Awesome House with Screened-In Porch!” to “Awesome House with Open-Air Porch!”.
Oh, how I hate(d) that house!
Fast forward approximately 13 years… the Charlotte press started fawning over this “new” area of Charlotte that was having all of this awesome new development. Price values were skyrocketing; it was the next big thing. As I clicked through to read further, the area they were referring to was very familiar… No way… The smart money wanted to be in the vicinity of “that house”.
A popular calculation is that 66 people are moving to Charlotte every day. The Charlotte-Metro population is set to go up 50% in the next ten years. And all of these newcomers need a place to live.
As a real estate investor, the short-term prognosis on where to buy in Charlotte is a crapshoot; an efficient market should have already built this into the current prices. However, due to population forecasts, the long-term prognosis of where to invest is much surer. “That house” (or any house in the city of Charlotte) will probably be a good investment you’ll love if it’s held long enough.
Happy Landlording!
Learn MoreThe Rental Bachelorette: What is She Looking For?
“I would just want someone who is genuine and makes me laugh and is my best friend and ultimately someone who is going to love me as much as I love them.”
Former Bachelorette JoJo Fletcher
JoJo apparently found that “someone” in the arms of NFL quarterback Aaron Rodger’s brother, Jordan, in the last season of the Bachelorette (so says the cover of a tabloid magazine next to Harris Teeter’s cash register). Good for her!
Many people have differing ideas on what women want from prospective male suitors. I’ve seen some lists as short as:
- Rich
- Good-looking
This list is written for the rich, good-looking guys typically by the less rich, less good-looking, jaded guys.
And there are some deeper lists written for the less affluent, average-looking guys (who might buy magazines with articles like this). This “Top Ten” list is courtesy of www.topyaps.com:
- Not being desperate or clingy
- Being a friend first
- Manners & hygiene
- Respecting her space
- Chivalry
- Sincerity & loyalty
- The ability to protect
- Sense of humor
- Intelligence
- Honesty
Wow! That’s a much tougher list to mull over. At first glance, it seems like I’ve blown it in the past by actually following items #1 and #4 by “not caring” and “being distant.” But I digress…
As a Charlotte property manager, this is a question we get often from potential tenants:
“Before I spend $75.00 on a non-refundable rental application, what are you looking for?”
The three things we are looking for in potential tenants for our properties:
- Pay rent on time: #1 criteria
- Maintain the property: change air filters, mow the lawn, make reasonable repairs on your own, etc.
- Get along with the neighbors (and property manager!)
If tenants can do these 3 things, we will like them a lot and the tenancy should go very smoothly.
Tenants do not need to be rich or good-looking, but we’re always impressed with chivalry and a sense of humor.
Happy Landlording!
Brett Furniss is a property manager at BDF Realty (Charlotte Residential Property Management), the trusted real estate advisor for Charlotte landlords & Home of $100 Flat Fee Property Management. BDF Realty utilizes their innovative Pod System for exceptional customer service in residential property management, home repairs, and home sales for single-family homes, Uptown condos, and town homes in the Charlotte-Metro Area. Contact Us Today!
Learn MoreLove, Kindness & Gratitude: Setting the Tone in Property Management
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” I John 4:7-8
Man, it’s nice when people are nice.
We have a tenant, Monica, who just goes out of her way to be easy to work with. If we need her to do something for us, she does it. There is no complaining, back biting, or procrastination. Communication with her is a joy. And she is soooo nice and gracious. When we perform repairs (aka our job), she is so gracious and thankful. Her rent is always on time. She and her family go out of their way to perform maintenance to the house. And at the end of her positive and funny e-mails, she always includes the Bible verse above.
We have another client, Mike, who goes out of his way to compliment us for working on his home; once again, for just doing our job. Small things don’t escape his notice. His level of graciousness is astounding. Truthfully, we should be thanking Mike much more than he thanks us. We made a good amount of money working for Mike: we helped him buy houses, repair them, manage them, and finally, sell them. These are all things we collect fees for. But he would let us know how much he appreciated our efforts, even if the work was imperfect at times.
I think back to how our relationships started. It would be easy to say that they were “good folks” and that they get along with everyone (they probably do!). But why?
They set a positive tone with us early. Early conversations were easy, paperwork was complete and accurate, and meetings were punctual. They were easy going about details as we got to know each other. They got the things they needed from us, but their requests were made in a graceful and kind manner.
Property management can be a difficult business. At the face of it, a property manager is the middle man between two parties with divergent interests, the owners and tenants. Both would prefer that the other party pay for anything that breaks. The owners want the rules of the lease followed precisely to protect their investments, while the tenants want to use the house as they see fit. The property manager is hired by owners and is tasked with protecting their investments, but can’t get it done well without tenant involvement and buy-in. It’s a balancing act that produces many colorful (and costly) stories of when the relationship breaks down.
But Monica and Mike also show that it can be a rewarding business with warm relationships.
As the property manager, our job is to always set the tone early with kindness, love, and gratitude. The tenants need to feel this from us, their point of contact, from the moment of their first inquiry. Even if we wind up having to reject a tenant application, we can do it kindly. But if we wait for the clients to set the tone, it might not happen. And it needs to.
So set the tone early! This will allow landlords to reap the benefits of a mutually fulfilling partnership and make property management a joy.
Thank you to our clients (Monica, Mike & many others) who make coming to work a pleasure.
Happy Landlording!
Brett Furniss is a property manager at BDF Realty (Charlotte Residential Property Management), the trusted real estate advisor for Charlotte landlords & Home of $100 Flat Fee Property Management. BDF Realty utilizes their innovative Pod System for exceptional customer service in residential property management, home repairs, and home sales for single-family homes, Uptown condos, and town homes in the Charlotte-Metro Area. Contact Us Today!
Learn MoreCharlotte Property Management Monthly: Incentives: Knowing Why the Chicken Crossed the Road & Why Fees are Good
Q. Why did the chicken cross the road?
A. There was bird feed there
B. A coyote was chasing him
C. He saw a hot “chick” on the median
D. To get to the other side
Answer D is the response that makes this a legendary “joke” (somehow…). Answer D is also very incomplete. Everything happens for a reason; no one does things without some type of incentive being involved. I mean, the chicken wouldn’t care about getting to the other side if he didn’t have a reason to do so. What was its motivation? What was the incentive the chicken was pursuing? A, B, or C answers make much more sense to me in answering the “why” question! They address the chicken’s needs:
A. Hunger
B. Safety
C. Love (or lust)
In business, incentives usually mean money. If 90%+ of businesses fail for lack of cash flow (lack of money incentives), then the ones that survive make sure they are getting enough cash incentives from their customers. Obviously, this isn’t a one way street; the businesses are offering enough value in return so these payments are a win-win deal.
So now that is established, what can incentives tell you about a company? Some charge for certain services, some don’t. Why not just take the free services when they’re offered? Cheaper, especially in tough economies, seems like the best way to go. Right?
Well, incentives can be telling; company pricing and their fees can tell you what they believe they do well and what they don’t. So, in terms of getting great results, paying fees can be very important! Fees motivate companies to do what you want them to do.
Reading into incentives (aka company pricing) is interesting and generally informative. Let’s look at examples of this from real estate and other businesses:
1. When a tech company sells pricy software and then offers free support with it, I’d expect the software to be good and the support to have long hold times. If support costs extra money monthly and can be cancelled at any time, the support will probably be pretty good.
2. If you ask a friend to pet sit Fluffy as a free favor to you, your friend will probably be late and leave early; unfortunately, most friends will do the minimum required! If you hire the most expensive pet sitter in town, chances are Fluffy will be treated like Benji on a movie set.
3. If property management companies don’t charge you to sell homes under management, they are probably not going to actively seek to sell your home to the tenant.
4. If you offer your real estate agent 7% commission, they will probably be incented to work harder to sell your home. Many people will try to get their agent down to 5%, which is a complete misread of how incentives work.
5. If a property management company charges a huge sign-up fee, but very little for procuring a tenant and managing the property, chances are they will be very motivated to sign you up. They may be less motivated to procure the tenant and manage the property.
Generally-speaking, incentives (pricing) are an effective measure of the value that will be received for different services. A $5 chocolate bar should be better than a $1 bar. If you offer to pay one friend $50 to mow your loan and ask another to do it for free, guess which one you will see firing up his push mower first in your front yard?
So fees are good for consumers! If you don’t make sure you are utilizing proper incentives for service providers, you’ll never know when (or if) the chicken will actually cross the road.
Brett Furniss is the President & Owner of BDF Realty (“Charlotte’s Most Innovative Property Management & Investment Company”), and Rent-To-Sell Realty (“When You Need a New Solution to Sell Your Home”) which specialize in rent-to-own (lease options) and rent-to-sell homes. His newest book, A Real Estate Agent’s Complete Guide to Representing Rent-To-Own (Lease Option) Tenants (Delight Clients, Fill Vacant Homes, and Earn $2,250* Upfront! (*Minimum!)
Learn MoreCharlotte Property Management Weekly: Which is Better? Colts or Saints? Sale, Rental, Rent-To-Own, or a Combination?
Super Bowl time is here which means there will be rampant speculation about which team is better. Most people from Indianapolis don’t think there is anyway Peyton Manning will let them lose, while New Orleans fans think that destiny is on their side. Of course, no one knows exactly who is right, but that doesn’t stop them from arguing about it non-stop for two weeks.
Learn MoreRental Pricing by Bernie Madoff
“When I used to rent my property out, we had tenants in it paying $1,495/month. You have it listed for $1,195/month. What’s wrong with you?”
First of all, if things were so rosy in $1,495/month self-management land, I don’t think you would be talking to a property manager. But I already digress…
Learn More