Owner to Build Duplex in FL

[Jordan Pellegrino]

Hello all,

I am new here and just wanted to request some feedback as this will be my and my wife's first foray into real estate investing. My wife and I were gifted a .25 acre lot to build on in Lehigh Acres by her parents with the idea to build a duplex as we have no interest in living there. It will be an owner-to-build project as my FIL built a duplex owner around 5 years ago on an adjacent lot and is willing to assist us in our build. We have all of our plans and have begun applying for permits (though that is taking much longer than expected due to Ian backup). 

I am estimating a build cost of around $200k - $250k on the high end due to the savings we will be getting from my FIL and our labor. We should be able to pay cash for the entire build given the timeline the build will require. We should be able to rent out each side $2k-$2.5k/month. Comparable properties are valued in the range of $450k-$500k in the area. 

One of my concerns I have heard about but haven't found any clear parameters on was in FL waiting 1 yr from receiving the COO to put in renters, on a second property. If anyone could corroborate how quickly we'd be able to get renters in there that would be appreciated. Overall, this plan we have makes sense to me on paper but wanted to put it out there to see if anyone has any thoughts. Feel free to constructively poke holes in anything I may not be thinking of.

[Jordan Pellegrino]

Thank you both for your thoughts. Just to clear a few things, I am not an OOS investor as I reside in Bonita Springs.

I do agree that my range is probably a bit high there, thank you for your reference number.

And yes, have full faith that my FIL will be able to meet all compliance standards.