Welcome to another Rookie Reply, where Ashley and Tony answer questions from the BiggerPockets Forums and Real Estate Rookie Facebook group.
Ashley:
Welcome to another episode of Rookie Reply. Today’s show is packed with lessons from surprise tax hikes that can eat into your cashflow to short-term rental refund disputes, and also some title mix ups that could cause serious headaches during a sale.
Tony:
Recovering three rookie investor scenarios that all highlight one thing. Real estate is a long game and it pays to know what you’re getting into before you close that deal. Look, if you’ve ever second guessed your numbers, your title structure, or how to handle guest demanding refunds, you’ll want to stick around.
Ashley:
This is the Real Estate Rookie podcast, and I’m Ashley Kehr,
Tony:
And I am Tony j Robinson. And with that, let’s get into today’s first question. So the first question today comes from the BiggerPockets forums. It says, I bought an investment home in Goose Creek, South Carolina in April of 2024. After analyzing all the numbers, it looked like I would make about 400 bucks per month in cashflow, which I did for about a year until April, 2025. Then my home was reevaluated by the county and assessed at 226,000, which previously guys, it was at 13,600. My taxes jumped from $900 a year to 3,495 per year. That’s a crazy increase. My new mortgage payment increased by $300 per month, leaving me with only $100 per month in cashflow, and that’s before CapEx or vacancies. I can’t increase the rent since the tenant just signed a lease through next July. Should I sell now or what’s the best way to calculate if I’ll take a loss first? I got to say that’s a massive jump here, 13,000 to 226,000 like, oh my goodness. I think first Ash, let’s just talk about what triggers this, and you just did a phenomenal job in our last episode, so I’ll let you run with it, but what could trigger the assessed value changing from one year to the…