New to real estate investment. Questions concerning potential properties in OrlandoFL

[Jason Bogert]

So my girlfriend and I have been tasked to locate a property in Florida to purchase. Background info is my girlfriend and her family have done some smaller real estate deals in Columbia, SC (They own 5 or 6 rooms in an apartment/condo) and now her dad wants her to try and find an investment property in Florida. My girlfriend is eyeing Orlando because of Disney. Part of the reason for this choice is her and her family love Disney and would like to use this property every so often for trips there (though I think this is more of a secondary concern).

I kinda fell into this scenario so I have no prior experience in real estate but I'm trying to help out in anyway I can. I believe the total amount for investment is 600,000 but the girlfriend wants to look for places 400 and below. She has been speaking with a realtor in Florida who has been sending us potential properties around the area. Some of them are condos, some of them are condo-hotels and some are a mix of individual properties/condos. I'm not too sold on the condo-hotel idea as the ones we looked at have a 40-45% revenue split which I don't think offset the benefits (property maintenance, advertising, etc.). There was another area we looked into which seemed to have both condos to rent as well as individual properties so you seem to have more flexibility on what exactly you want to purchase and how you want to use it. Basically, I'm trying to to find out exactly what questions we should be asking and if anyone has any experience with real estate properties in Florida in general. Here are some of the questions we've sent to the realtor already, mainly concerning the condo-hotels:


1.) Any information on vacancy rates? Is there seasonal trend? What has the trend been the last 5-10 years?

2.) What are the current rental rates? How has this price fluctuated in the past 5-10 years?

3.) Does there seem to be any preference in the rental market towards a certain area on the resort? Maybe properties closer to certain activities/restaurants/etc.?

4.) What do we need to know about property taxes in Florida? What's the rate?

5.) Can we get access to the condo's profit and loss statement, buget and balance sheet? In particular what has the cost of insurance been and how it is being budgeted going forward?

6.) Are there any new or proposed buildings that would be comparable/competitive with this building?


She answered with sort of general answers for a lot of them, so wasn't super helpful initially so want to have good follow up questions.
Any advice would help. Thank you.

[Shawn McCormick]

Hi @Jason Bogert I don't want to step on any toes and I'm sure your agent is doing the best she can. You have some great questions, but there are many of my own that I would need to know about how you plan to use the property STR, LTR, how often will you use it personally, what your expectations are, timeline and much more. This won't be a get rich quick scenario, but you can do well here.

Perhaps having a call could clear up some of these questions you have and we could dive deeper into what is important to you, areas that you want to look a little closer at and (depending on how you use it) where to stay away from. Unfortuantely, there aren't blanket answers for most of your questions, it will come down to individual properties (tax rates, p&l being available, vacancy rates etc) Those are all a case by case. 

Best of luck, reach out if you want to dive a little deeper.