June 24, 2025 • 23 mins
In this episode, Scott Curry shares the tough lessons from his first rental property—where things went wrong and how he turned it around.
We break down what he learned, what he's doing differently now, and why he’s focused on 5-bedroom homes with land.
Scott talks about the pros and cons of buying larger properties, how he manages tenant responsibilities like lawn care, and why land has become a key part of his strategy.
We also dive into his journey of buying raw land and transforming it into a profitable RV park—from acquisition costs to setup, income, expenses, and how to know if a piece of land has potential. potential.
https://rentalincomepodcast.com/episode527
Thanks To Our Sponsors:
Ridge Lending Group - Making investment Mortgage process simple and stress-free.
MidSouth HomeBuyers – Turnkey Rentals In Memphis & Little Rock. Instant Cash Flow On Day One. (Priced between $100,000 to low $200's)
We break down what he learned, what he's doing differently now, and why he’s focused on 5-bedroom homes with land.
Scott talks about the pros and cons of buying larger properties, how he manages tenant responsibilities like lawn care, and why land has become a key part of his strategy.
We also dive into his journey of buying raw land and transforming it into a profitable RV park—from acquisition costs to setup, income, expenses, and how to know if a piece of land has potential. potential.
https://rentalincomepodcast.com/episode527
Thanks To Our Sponsors:
Ridge Lending Group - Making investment Mortgage process simple and stress-free.
MidSouth HomeBuyers – Turnkey Rentals In Memphis & Little Rock. Instant Cash Flow On Day One. (Priced between $100,000 to low $200's)
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The inspiring interviews with today is Top Landlords, This is
the Rental Income Podcast and now.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Damnly Scott, the first time you bought a rental property
things didn't work out that great. What happened?
Speaker 3 (00:15):
Yeah, I bought a condo in Scottsdale, Arizona, right at
the height of the market in two thousand and eight,
and it was an apartment building where they were converting
them into condos, and my father bought one and I
bought one, and unfortunately the market crashed right after and
(00:39):
I had to deal with negative cash flow for about
ten years. And then when I finally sold it, I
think I lost maybe about fifteen to twenty thousand.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
And you were also losing money every month. How much
were you losing?
Speaker 3 (00:55):
I was probably losing about in the range of two
to three hun hundred every month for a total of
ten years.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
On the podcast today, we're going to figure out why
Scott's first deal went so bad and how he lost
so much money, what he learned from that, and what
he's doing today to make sure that his rentals are profitable.
I also want to talk to Scott about something he's
doing that's a little bit unique. He bought some vacant
land and he lets people park their RVs on the
(01:24):
land and he's making pretty good money doing that. So
on the show today, we're going to learn more about that.
Joining us on the podcast today from Georgia is Scott Curry.
We'll take a quick break to thank our sponsors. We'll
come right back and we'll talk to Scott. Are you
thinking about investing in rental properties but maybe you don't
know where to start. My friends at mid South home
(01:47):
Buyers make it simple. For over twenty three years, they've
been selling fully renovated, turnkey rental properties in Memphis and
Little Rock. We're talking new roofs, plumbing, electric, kitchens, bathroom.
Everything is brand new and done right. And here's the
best part. Every property comes with a well qualified tenant
(02:08):
in place before you close. That means you get cash
flow from day one. Plus Midsouth continues to professionally manage
the property for you after the sale, and they back
it up with two powerful guarantees. You get a one
year total maintenance warranty and a lifetime occupancy guarantee. Personally,
(02:28):
I've bought five properties from them and I couldn't be happier.
If you want to talk to someone that's been through
the process. Feel free to reach out to me. I'm
happy to answer any questions. Or if you're ready to
get started, just go to midsouthhome Buyers dot com. That's
midsouthhome Buyers dot com. It's a lot of work to
find a really good rental property, and when you actually
(02:49):
find that property, you want to make sure you're working
with a lender that can get that loan closed. The
lender that I recommend is jay Ley Ridge from Ridge
Lending Group nationwide lender, and her specialty is helping investors
finance rental properties. She has a ton of loan programs
and she can find something customized to you for your situation.
(03:11):
If you want to find out more or you're ready
to get started today, just go to Ridge Lendinggroup dot com.
That's our Idge Lendinggroup dot com n MLS four two
zero five six. Scott, let's talk about your first rental
and figure out what went wrong and why that didn't
work out, and then we'll get into your portfolio today.
(03:32):
So tell me about that first property you bought.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
I was around two thousand and seven or eight, and
the market was really frothy. There was people that were,
you know, making great sums of money in short periods
of time, specifically in the Scottsdale like Phoenix area, and
(03:58):
that's where my father in law was and he was
in the process of buying some condos there. So I
went with my father and checked it out, and the
cash flow was not good, but you know, I got
kind of sucked into the excitement of how much condos
(04:21):
were appreciating, and I ended up buying one, and my
father ended up buying one as well.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
All right, so the going into it, you never are
I guess you weren't looking at this is going to
make me money monthly. You were thinking, I'm going to
buy this, it's going to appreciate and I'm going to
make one hunder grand or whatever number you had in mind.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
Interestingly enough, like a year earlier, I had bought some
vacant land and I held that for like six months
and made like, I don't know, thirty thousand, kind of
just expected it to just do the same thing again, right,
and make even more money. So I was really not
(05:08):
concentrating at all on the prospect or possibility that I
would be holding on to it for a really long time.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Right, Okay, So losing money, so you said you were
losing two or three hundred dollars a month, that wasn't
really a big deal because you thought, I'm going to
get this huge payoff six months or a year from
now exactly.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
That was really not in my universe that right, this
would be a long term hold at all.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Right, Okay, So like all the things that you would
look at today when you're going to buy a rental property,
like checking out the neighborhood, you know, making sure that
this is a property that that's gonna cover all the expenses,
that wasn't even something that was remotely something you were
looking at.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
I mean, I always put eyes on any property I buy,
so I at least did that to where I looked
at like the floor plans, and I kind of chose
the one that I wanted, and I did walk the
neighborhood in it and drove around it. I did that
at least just because I wanted to make sure it
had good resale. But I really wasn't doing it for
(06:20):
the purpose of, you know, how a renter might perceive
the property, or how much more I could get if
maybe I got an extra bedroom or something.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
I think That's an interesting lesson and something that people
should really consider is that in two thousand and eight,
two thousand and seven, when people were buying rental properties,
they weren't really analyzing them, and I think that's how
people got in trouble, where they get if you had
(06:51):
focused more on cash flow. I get the impression that
maybe this property would have turned out differently.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Yeah, or maybe I would have focused in a different
area where I knew I could get good cash flow
along with maybe conservative appreciation. But it was not in
my mindset at all that this would be a long
term hold and that I might get burned and have
to keep it for years and years, which I ultimately
(07:21):
had to keep it for about ten years. And then
I when I sold it, it wasn't as much of
a loss if I had sold it in two thousand
and eight.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Right, because it was still a loss, right, Okay, all right,
So you got out of that property, and then how
long did it take you before you decided I'm going
to try this again.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
It was probably a good ten years.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
It wasn't really.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Okay or more.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Yeah, So walk me through how this happened. I think
this is an interesting story. So you were living in California. Yeah,
and you just id that you wanted to move somewhere,
but you weren't really sure where you wanted to move to.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
So we had been looking and leave California for a while,
and with the pandemic and the lockdowns and just how
California is in regards to cash flowing rentals there is
super difficult, and I just ultimately wanted to raise my
kids in another area. So we purchased a travel trailer
(08:31):
and then we crisscrossed the US in looking for areas
just to live, not necessarily to do a rental portfolio,
and we ultimately just decided on Georgia, kind of near
the Georgia Tennessee border, and we bought a house which
(08:52):
we actually we're not super happy with, but thought, you
know what, we could rent this house out and it
would cash flow decently until we basically would buy our
dream house.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Okay, wow, all right, so you you sold your house
in California, you bought an RV and you just traveled
the country and just said we're gonna explore different areas
and stumble on a place that we want to live.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Yeah, we were traveling for about three months. Family of
five and like a twenty seven foot travel trailer, so
it was pretty tight and uncomfortable. But when I look
back on it, it actually had was one of the
best things I could have ever done as far as
spending time with my kids and just enjoying that moment
(09:43):
in time with my family. And yeah, it it worked
out great. We ultimately found you know where we live now.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
All right, So you found this town in Georgia, you
decided you wanted to live there, and you bought your
first house, and then did you start buying rental properties
after that?
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (10:02):
So then it took a good six months to find
another to find our quote unquote dream house, which ended
up not being our dream house. So I ended up
airbing being that house, and I do Airbnb or I
sometimes do long term rental depending on the season on
that property. And then maybe about another six months later,
(10:29):
I purchased, you know, a property that was always intended
to be a rental property, and that was a five bedroom,
three bath house that is actually still rented to the
same person that I rented it to about four years ago.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Awesome. So tell me about your portfolio. What does your
portfolio look like today?
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Well, basically, every year, or sometimes a little bit less,
I would buy a house, and I ultimately got up
to about four houses that I was renting out. They
were all quite large, and they were getting close to
like the one percent rules, so I was pretty happy
with that. But then in doing research with different podcasts
(11:16):
and such, I saw that mobile home and RV parks
you could make a better profit as far as cash flow,
and I ended up buying some land and developing some
land into what I thought was going to be four
(11:37):
mobile home pads. I ultimately decided to convert that property
into eight RV pads where I don't own the RVs.
I just have full time RV owners that parked their
vehicles on there.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Interesting. Okay, let's talk about the RVs in a minute,
but before we get into that, let's talk about the
single families that you bought. So you mentioned that these
are bigger houses. A lot of times with rentals, people
prefer smaller houses just because there's less square footage, less maintenance.
(12:16):
But it sounds like you're having pretty good luck with
a bigger house.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
It was interesting, like it was kind of a pocket
listing the first house from a realtor that I was
using and I kind of just crunched the numbers and
they seem to work. And it was never kind of
on my radar that, you know, a larger house may
or may not be a good investment. It just seemed
like a good deal and I and it did cash
(12:45):
flow quite well, so I just pulled the trigger on that.
And then I ultimately stumbled into the next rental because
it was the next door neighbor that was selling that house,
and I thought it would be nice to have two
rentals right next to each other.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
But then ultimately, like.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
Doing research on different podcasts, I found that that the
larger houses can be good because the tenants tend to
stay quite a while because the family, you know, the
family size, they're not looking to level up any higher
than you know, a five bedroom, so they stay awhile.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
So all all your properties are five bedrooms.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Close to yeah, like four or five bedrooms.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Yeah, I mean five bedroom houses are I think they're
difficult to find, man, I just I don't see a
lot of five bedrooms. So if you get a family
in there, like it's almost like it's it's hard for
them to find another five bedrooms, so they might stay
for a really long time.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
Yeah, it's been pretty true to that, you know idea,
and you know most of them do stay a while,
but you know, sometimes they don't.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
And but like you said, they're not there's not very
many of them.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
I'm I'm usually the only five bedroom within you know,
twenty or thirty mile radius when I you know, do
my research and see what else.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
You know, what are the competitors I have?
Speaker 2 (14:10):
So is it kind of a rural area that you're in.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Yes, And though I'm like.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
Maybe about twenty to fifteen miles to Chattanooga, Tennessee, which is,
you know, a decent sized city, so I'm not really
you know, out in the boonies so to speak. But
you know, each property does have between like one acre
and another property has eighteen acres, so they are larger properties,
(14:39):
but they aren't too far from a major city.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
How do you deal with the lawn now? Are you
do you take care of that or do you have
your tenants take care of the lawn.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
So my Airbnb I take care of it, but on
the other properties, I do have the tenants take care
of that. Specifically on the one acre properties. I will
tell you though, like when tenants are about to leave.
They tend to defer and not do you know, the
lawn and the picking up the leaves like they should,
(15:12):
so that when they leave it, you know, there's usually
quite a bit of work for me.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
To do and on on just a regular week that
you haven't had trouble with them keeping up in the
grass like that. They haven't let it go for maybe
a little bit longer than they should have.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
No, they tend to be pretty good. And then if
I do see that it's getting out of hand, I
will send them a text and ask that they take
care of it, and I have it specifically listed in
the lease that they do take care of it. But
you know, like I mentioned before, when they get towards
the end of the lease and they're not going to renew,
they do tend to skip.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
Now let's talk about your RV park. So this is
not mobile homes that these are r vs that people
are parking if they're going to stay somewhere for over
a period of time.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
Yeah, So I'm not interested in doing a traditional RV
park where people are coming and going all the time
because I have a full time job. So my idea was, well,
if people are staying long term, which a lot of
RV parks do not allow people to stay long term.
I could kind of set myself apart from all the
(16:25):
other RV parks and I don't end up having to
have somebody physically there, and I don't have to show
up and explain to people where they're supposed to park,
and so it works out really great because I don't
get much turnover. I request that people stay for at
least six.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Months or more.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
And you think, my pedestals that have the electric and
stuff don't get damaged by people backing into them as
often because people are staying for long periods of time.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
So you have to supply. I guess you give the
election and then you have like a water hookup too.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
So I'm also kind of a little bit out in
the boonies as well, so I don't have sewer hookups.
So I had to install septic tanks, which can be
a little expensive, but you can recoup that investment pretty fast.
But I have sewer water electric, which I separately meter
for each individual spot, which is kind of the more
(17:27):
expensive utility to pay for. So I decided to put
that into the tenants responsibility, and then I am responsible
for the water, and then I have fiber Wi Fi
that people can just log into.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
What was involved in getting that set up? So you
bought land that I assume was just land. Did you
have to put in roads and get the utilities brought in?
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Like?
Speaker 2 (17:55):
What was involved in getting that set up?
Speaker 1 (17:59):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (17:59):
So the key to this situation was to find an
area that that didn't have really any zoning rules or restrictions.
So this area was kind of the Wild West when
it came to zoning, which has its drawbacks too, because
there's a mechanic that's you know, got some pretty large
(18:21):
vehicles and such that's a neighbor of mine, So anybody
can do anything they want in this area. But yes,
I had to bring in some roads, but it's only
like two point two acres. This is the land that
I bought, so it wasn't too bad as far as
roads were concerned, but they definitely aren't expensive. Then I
(18:42):
had to dig trenching for the water and the electric
to go into, and then I also had to put
in a few septic tanks as well, So you know,
ultimately I purchased the land for about thirty five thousand,
and then I put about one hundred and twenty thousand
into the roads and utilities and pads and everything all.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Right, so you're all in like right around one fifty
one sixty somewhere around there exactly. And then how much
rent does it bring in every month?
Speaker 3 (19:16):
So each pad is around five hundred dollars, and my
utilities that I pay ends up being and the maintenance
as far as mowing that such might be about two
hundred dollars. And I typically keep about seven spots are
(19:36):
continuously rented.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
So what is that like thirty thirty five hundred a month?
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Five hundred a month that is a pretty good return.
Is there is there any management at all? Like, is
there anything that you have to do? You know, maybe
are there any any of her problems between tenants or
anything you need to get involved with.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
So my rules list has sort of evolved. Before somebody
moves on, I have them sign a two page list
of rules, and as different things have come up, like
you know, dogs that consistently bark or you know, just
random things that evolve, I kind of add that to
(20:25):
the list. And usually there's like one particular tenet that's
pretty sensitive that maybe lives there full time and doesn't work,
that will kind of keep me updated on noises or
disturbances that I need to be aware of, and then
I just email that person directly and let them know
that they're in violation of the rules that they signed, and.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Normally they're pretty good about correcting that.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
So if someone is looking to do something like this,
buy some land and turn it into an RV park,
what are some characteristics to look for inland?
Speaker 3 (21:04):
Just really make sure you do your research on the
zoning because it's usually pretty rare that an area has
no zoning. So usually there will be zoning and you'll
have to make sure that you don't have to get
some kind of variants in order to put it in,
because that's going to create issues where neighbors are going
(21:25):
to have input on what you put there, and the
possibly stemy your ability to put the RV part there.
Another thing that's important is finding really good contractors and
people that can help you put in all those roads
and utilities. And then, depending on your availability, you might
(21:51):
want to structure it the way I did, where it's
full time so you're not having to hire someone or
to be there on a regular basis, to have sort
of like weekenders come, so to speak.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Is it hard to find people with RVs? Like, how
do you advertise?
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Primarily it's Facebook and.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
That's free, and I get a lot of people on Facebook.
Actually right now have a waiting list because I've already
rented out all the spots and people just keep on
messaging me. And I keep the advertisement up on Facebook
because I would like to build up kind of a
(22:38):
waiting list, so to speak, and I just keep that
list there for once something becomes available.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
If anybody wants to reach out to Scott, I've got
his contact information on the website. You can find it
at Rental Incomepodcast dot com slash episode five twenty seven.
I'd like to thank our sponsors for me today's episode
Possible Midsouth home Buyers. If you're looking for instant cash
flow on day one, check out midsouthhome Buyers dot com.
(23:08):
And if you're looking to finance a rental property, whether
you're just getting started or you want to add to
your portfolio, check out Ridge Lendinggroup dot com NMLS four
two zero five six. Thank you so much for checking
out the podcast today. Make sure you hit that follow button.
I put out a new episode every single Tuesday. And
(23:30):
if you're following the show, you'll get notified when the
next episode comes out. My name is Dan Lane and
this has been the Rental Income podcast
The inspiring interviews with today is Top Landlords, This is
the Rental Income Podcast and now.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Damnly Scott, the first time you bought a rental property
things didn't work out that great. What happened?
Speaker 3 (00:15):
Yeah, I bought a condo in Scottsdale, Arizona, right at
the height of the market in two thousand and eight,
and it was an apartment building where they were converting
them into condos, and my father bought one and I
bought one, and unfortunately the market crashed right after and
(00:39):
I had to deal with negative cash flow for about
ten years. And then when I finally sold it, I
think I lost maybe about fifteen to twenty thousand.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
And you were also losing money every month. How much
were you losing?
Speaker 3 (00:55):
I was probably losing about in the range of two
to three hun hundred every month for a total of
ten years.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
On the podcast today, we're going to figure out why
Scott's first deal went so bad and how he lost
so much money, what he learned from that, and what
he's doing today to make sure that his rentals are profitable.
I also want to talk to Scott about something he's
doing that's a little bit unique. He bought some vacant
land and he lets people park their RVs on the
(01:24):
land and he's making pretty good money doing that. So
on the show today, we're going to learn more about that.
Joining us on the podcast today from Georgia is Scott Curry.
We'll take a quick break to thank our sponsors. We'll
come right back and we'll talk to Scott. Are you
thinking about investing in rental properties but maybe you don't
know where to start. My friends at mid South home
(01:47):
Buyers make it simple. For over twenty three years, they've
been selling fully renovated, turnkey rental properties in Memphis and
Little Rock. We're talking new roofs, plumbing, electric, kitchens, bathroom.
Everything is brand new and done right. And here's the
best part. Every property comes with a well qualified tenant
(02:08):
in place before you close. That means you get cash
flow from day one. Plus Midsouth continues to professionally manage
the property for you after the sale, and they back
it up with two powerful guarantees. You get a one
year total maintenance warranty and a lifetime occupancy guarantee. Personally,
(02:28):
I've bought five properties from them and I couldn't be happier.
If you want to talk to someone that's been through
the process. Feel free to reach out to me. I'm
happy to answer any questions. Or if you're ready to
get started, just go to midsouthhome Buyers dot com. That's
midsouthhome Buyers dot com. It's a lot of work to
find a really good rental property, and when you actually
(02:49):
find that property, you want to make sure you're working
with a lender that can get that loan closed. The
lender that I recommend is jay Ley Ridge from Ridge
Lending Group nationwide lender, and her specialty is helping investors
finance rental properties. She has a ton of loan programs
and she can find something customized to you for your situation.
(03:11):
If you want to find out more or you're ready
to get started today, just go to Ridge Lendinggroup dot com.
That's our Idge Lendinggroup dot com n MLS four two
zero five six. Scott, let's talk about your first rental
and figure out what went wrong and why that didn't
work out, and then we'll get into your portfolio today.
(03:32):
So tell me about that first property you bought.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
I was around two thousand and seven or eight, and
the market was really frothy. There was people that were,
you know, making great sums of money in short periods
of time, specifically in the Scottsdale like Phoenix area, and
(03:58):
that's where my father in law was and he was
in the process of buying some condos there. So I
went with my father and checked it out, and the
cash flow was not good, but you know, I got
kind of sucked into the excitement of how much condos
(04:21):
were appreciating, and I ended up buying one, and my
father ended up buying one as well.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
All right, so the going into it, you never are
I guess you weren't looking at this is going to
make me money monthly. You were thinking, I'm going to
buy this, it's going to appreciate and I'm going to
make one hunder grand or whatever number you had in mind.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
Interestingly enough, like a year earlier, I had bought some
vacant land and I held that for like six months
and made like, I don't know, thirty thousand, kind of
just expected it to just do the same thing again, right,
and make even more money. So I was really not
(05:08):
concentrating at all on the prospect or possibility that I
would be holding on to it for a really long time.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Right, Okay, So losing money, so you said you were
losing two or three hundred dollars a month, that wasn't
really a big deal because you thought, I'm going to
get this huge payoff six months or a year from
now exactly.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
That was really not in my universe that right, this
would be a long term hold at all.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Right, Okay, So like all the things that you would
look at today when you're going to buy a rental property,
like checking out the neighborhood, you know, making sure that
this is a property that that's gonna cover all the expenses,
that wasn't even something that was remotely something you were
looking at.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
I mean, I always put eyes on any property I buy,
so I at least did that to where I looked
at like the floor plans, and I kind of chose
the one that I wanted, and I did walk the
neighborhood in it and drove around it. I did that
at least just because I wanted to make sure it
had good resale. But I really wasn't doing it for
(06:20):
the purpose of, you know, how a renter might perceive
the property, or how much more I could get if
maybe I got an extra bedroom or something.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
I think That's an interesting lesson and something that people
should really consider is that in two thousand and eight,
two thousand and seven, when people were buying rental properties,
they weren't really analyzing them, and I think that's how
people got in trouble, where they get if you had
(06:51):
focused more on cash flow. I get the impression that
maybe this property would have turned out differently.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Yeah, or maybe I would have focused in a different
area where I knew I could get good cash flow
along with maybe conservative appreciation. But it was not in
my mindset at all that this would be a long
term hold and that I might get burned and have
to keep it for years and years, which I ultimately
(07:21):
had to keep it for about ten years. And then
I when I sold it, it wasn't as much of
a loss if I had sold it in two thousand
and eight.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Right, because it was still a loss, right, Okay, all right,
So you got out of that property, and then how
long did it take you before you decided I'm going
to try this again.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
It was probably a good ten years.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
It wasn't really.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Okay or more.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Yeah, So walk me through how this happened. I think
this is an interesting story. So you were living in California. Yeah,
and you just id that you wanted to move somewhere,
but you weren't really sure where you wanted to move to.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
So we had been looking and leave California for a while,
and with the pandemic and the lockdowns and just how
California is in regards to cash flowing rentals there is
super difficult, and I just ultimately wanted to raise my
kids in another area. So we purchased a travel trailer
(08:31):
and then we crisscrossed the US in looking for areas
just to live, not necessarily to do a rental portfolio,
and we ultimately just decided on Georgia, kind of near
the Georgia Tennessee border, and we bought a house which
(08:52):
we actually we're not super happy with, but thought, you
know what, we could rent this house out and it
would cash flow decently until we basically would buy our
dream house.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Okay, wow, all right, so you you sold your house
in California, you bought an RV and you just traveled
the country and just said we're gonna explore different areas
and stumble on a place that we want to live.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Yeah, we were traveling for about three months. Family of
five and like a twenty seven foot travel trailer, so
it was pretty tight and uncomfortable. But when I look
back on it, it actually had was one of the
best things I could have ever done as far as
spending time with my kids and just enjoying that moment
(09:43):
in time with my family. And yeah, it it worked
out great. We ultimately found you know where we live now.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
All right, So you found this town in Georgia, you
decided you wanted to live there, and you bought your
first house, and then did you start buying rental properties
after that?
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (10:02):
So then it took a good six months to find
another to find our quote unquote dream house, which ended
up not being our dream house. So I ended up
airbing being that house, and I do Airbnb or I
sometimes do long term rental depending on the season on
that property. And then maybe about another six months later,
(10:29):
I purchased, you know, a property that was always intended
to be a rental property, and that was a five bedroom,
three bath house that is actually still rented to the
same person that I rented it to about four years ago.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Awesome. So tell me about your portfolio. What does your
portfolio look like today?
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Well, basically, every year, or sometimes a little bit less,
I would buy a house, and I ultimately got up
to about four houses that I was renting out. They
were all quite large, and they were getting close to
like the one percent rules, so I was pretty happy
with that. But then in doing research with different podcasts
(11:16):
and such, I saw that mobile home and RV parks
you could make a better profit as far as cash flow,
and I ended up buying some land and developing some
land into what I thought was going to be four
(11:37):
mobile home pads. I ultimately decided to convert that property
into eight RV pads where I don't own the RVs.
I just have full time RV owners that parked their
vehicles on there.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Interesting. Okay, let's talk about the RVs in a minute,
but before we get into that, let's talk about the
single families that you bought. So you mentioned that these
are bigger houses. A lot of times with rentals, people
prefer smaller houses just because there's less square footage, less maintenance.
(12:16):
But it sounds like you're having pretty good luck with
a bigger house.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
It was interesting, like it was kind of a pocket
listing the first house from a realtor that I was
using and I kind of just crunched the numbers and
they seem to work. And it was never kind of
on my radar that, you know, a larger house may
or may not be a good investment. It just seemed
like a good deal and I and it did cash
(12:45):
flow quite well, so I just pulled the trigger on that.
And then I ultimately stumbled into the next rental because
it was the next door neighbor that was selling that house,
and I thought it would be nice to have two
rentals right next to each other.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
But then ultimately, like.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
Doing research on different podcasts, I found that that the
larger houses can be good because the tenants tend to
stay quite a while because the family, you know, the
family size, they're not looking to level up any higher
than you know, a five bedroom, so they stay awhile.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
So all all your properties are five bedrooms.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Close to yeah, like four or five bedrooms.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Yeah, I mean five bedroom houses are I think they're
difficult to find, man, I just I don't see a
lot of five bedrooms. So if you get a family
in there, like it's almost like it's it's hard for
them to find another five bedrooms, so they might stay
for a really long time.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
Yeah, it's been pretty true to that, you know idea,
and you know most of them do stay a while,
but you know, sometimes they don't.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
And but like you said, they're not there's not very
many of them.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
I'm I'm usually the only five bedroom within you know,
twenty or thirty mile radius when I you know, do
my research and see what else.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
You know, what are the competitors I have?
Speaker 2 (14:10):
So is it kind of a rural area that you're in.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Yes, And though I'm like.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
Maybe about twenty to fifteen miles to Chattanooga, Tennessee, which is,
you know, a decent sized city, so I'm not really
you know, out in the boonies so to speak. But
you know, each property does have between like one acre
and another property has eighteen acres, so they are larger properties,
(14:39):
but they aren't too far from a major city.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
How do you deal with the lawn now? Are you
do you take care of that or do you have
your tenants take care of the lawn.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
So my Airbnb I take care of it, but on
the other properties, I do have the tenants take care
of that. Specifically on the one acre properties. I will
tell you though, like when tenants are about to leave.
They tend to defer and not do you know, the
lawn and the picking up the leaves like they should,
(15:12):
so that when they leave it, you know, there's usually
quite a bit of work for me.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
To do and on on just a regular week that
you haven't had trouble with them keeping up in the
grass like that. They haven't let it go for maybe
a little bit longer than they should have.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
No, they tend to be pretty good. And then if
I do see that it's getting out of hand, I
will send them a text and ask that they take
care of it, and I have it specifically listed in
the lease that they do take care of it. But
you know, like I mentioned before, when they get towards
the end of the lease and they're not going to renew,
they do tend to skip.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
Now let's talk about your RV park. So this is
not mobile homes that these are r vs that people
are parking if they're going to stay somewhere for over
a period of time.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
Yeah, So I'm not interested in doing a traditional RV
park where people are coming and going all the time
because I have a full time job. So my idea was, well,
if people are staying long term, which a lot of
RV parks do not allow people to stay long term.
I could kind of set myself apart from all the
(16:25):
other RV parks and I don't end up having to
have somebody physically there, and I don't have to show
up and explain to people where they're supposed to park,
and so it works out really great because I don't
get much turnover. I request that people stay for at
least six.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Months or more.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
And you think, my pedestals that have the electric and
stuff don't get damaged by people backing into them as
often because people are staying for long periods of time.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
So you have to supply. I guess you give the
election and then you have like a water hookup too.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
So I'm also kind of a little bit out in
the boonies as well, so I don't have sewer hookups.
So I had to install septic tanks, which can be
a little expensive, but you can recoup that investment pretty fast.
But I have sewer water electric, which I separately meter
for each individual spot, which is kind of the more
(17:27):
expensive utility to pay for. So I decided to put
that into the tenants responsibility, and then I am responsible
for the water, and then I have fiber Wi Fi
that people can just log into.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
What was involved in getting that set up? So you
bought land that I assume was just land. Did you
have to put in roads and get the utilities brought in?
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Like?
Speaker 2 (17:55):
What was involved in getting that set up?
Speaker 1 (17:59):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (17:59):
So the key to this situation was to find an
area that that didn't have really any zoning rules or restrictions.
So this area was kind of the Wild West when
it came to zoning, which has its drawbacks too, because
there's a mechanic that's you know, got some pretty large
(18:21):
vehicles and such that's a neighbor of mine, So anybody
can do anything they want in this area. But yes,
I had to bring in some roads, but it's only
like two point two acres. This is the land that
I bought, so it wasn't too bad as far as
roads were concerned, but they definitely aren't expensive. Then I
(18:42):
had to dig trenching for the water and the electric
to go into, and then I also had to put
in a few septic tanks as well, So you know,
ultimately I purchased the land for about thirty five thousand,
and then I put about one hundred and twenty thousand
into the roads and utilities and pads and everything all.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Right, so you're all in like right around one fifty
one sixty somewhere around there exactly. And then how much
rent does it bring in every month?
Speaker 3 (19:16):
So each pad is around five hundred dollars, and my
utilities that I pay ends up being and the maintenance
as far as mowing that such might be about two
hundred dollars. And I typically keep about seven spots are
(19:36):
continuously rented.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
So what is that like thirty thirty five hundred a month?
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Five hundred a month that is a pretty good return.
Is there is there any management at all? Like, is
there anything that you have to do? You know, maybe
are there any any of her problems between tenants or
anything you need to get involved with.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
So my rules list has sort of evolved. Before somebody
moves on, I have them sign a two page list
of rules, and as different things have come up, like
you know, dogs that consistently bark or you know, just
random things that evolve, I kind of add that to
(20:25):
the list. And usually there's like one particular tenet that's
pretty sensitive that maybe lives there full time and doesn't work,
that will kind of keep me updated on noises or
disturbances that I need to be aware of, and then
I just email that person directly and let them know
that they're in violation of the rules that they signed, and.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Normally they're pretty good about correcting that.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
So if someone is looking to do something like this,
buy some land and turn it into an RV park,
what are some characteristics to look for inland?
Speaker 3 (21:04):
Just really make sure you do your research on the
zoning because it's usually pretty rare that an area has
no zoning. So usually there will be zoning and you'll
have to make sure that you don't have to get
some kind of variants in order to put it in,
because that's going to create issues where neighbors are going
(21:25):
to have input on what you put there, and the
possibly stemy your ability to put the RV part there.
Another thing that's important is finding really good contractors and
people that can help you put in all those roads
and utilities. And then, depending on your availability, you might
(21:51):
want to structure it the way I did, where it's
full time so you're not having to hire someone or
to be there on a regular basis, to have sort
of like weekenders come, so to speak.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Is it hard to find people with RVs? Like, how
do you advertise?
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Primarily it's Facebook and.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
That's free, and I get a lot of people on Facebook.
Actually right now have a waiting list because I've already
rented out all the spots and people just keep on
messaging me. And I keep the advertisement up on Facebook
because I would like to build up kind of a
(22:38):
waiting list, so to speak, and I just keep that
list there for once something becomes available.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
If anybody wants to reach out to Scott, I've got
his contact information on the website. You can find it
at Rental Incomepodcast dot com slash episode five twenty seven.
I'd like to thank our sponsors for me today's episode
Possible Midsouth home Buyers. If you're looking for instant cash
flow on day one, check out midsouthhome Buyers dot com.
(23:08):
And if you're looking to finance a rental property, whether
you're just getting started or you want to add to
your portfolio, check out Ridge Lendinggroup dot com NMLS four
two zero five six. Thank you so much for checking
out the podcast today. Make sure you hit that follow button.
I put out a new episode every single Tuesday. And
(23:30):
if you're following the show, you'll get notified when the
next episode comes out. My name is Dan Lane and
this has been the Rental Income podcast
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