Where to invest in Tampa?

Question

Where to invest in Tampa? I am always asked this question as the broker of Graystone Investment Group and have spoken with many investors who suggest investing in downtown Tampa's outer ring. As downtown Tampa keeps expanding with channel sides remodel, sporting teams growing, and great new features to Tampa on the outer ring, including armature works and more, properties in those areas are increasing, and investors are buying them up. With many investors in this forum, would you have any suggestions for other places to invest in Tampa?

Joseph Stern · Answer

@Nadia Daggett Hey Nadia, I have personally invested mostly in west tampa 33607 and 33609. 33609 includes the plant high school district which is sought after and both zip codes are right next to Raymond James stadium, Yankees stadium, midtown, international mall, the airport, and less than 15 from ybor, hyde park, and downtown. That combined with still relatively decent entry pricing makes for a great chance to renovate properties for Airbnb, rentals, or flips. It is only growing more and is right in the path of progress.

Lucie Tighe · Answer

@Joseph Stern completely agree. I work with couple of investors who recently bought in those areas and renting STR. The numbers look good. I can see great numbers in Apollo Beach area as well. Pinellas comes with a ton of zoning restrictions and not every city permits STR less than 30 days. Pasco county is exploding, and it will soon be just an extension of Hillsborough. Ton of new developments and some big projects planned over there.

Dillon Cook · Answer

@Bob Stevens Be careful about advertising Cleveland so much.  You don't want to be too effective if you're investing there, hah!

Kevin Bartlett · Answer

Have you ever considered a bit south into Southwest Florida in the Cape Coral area?

Lewis Anderson · Answer

In my opinion it really depends on what you want to do. If you want to do short-term rentals you can go with South Tampa, However be mindful of HOAs. Long term rentals I would focus on south Tampa or even go further south to Riverview because places are cheaper and you can get a better home for your buck. Flips it's all about finding the millon dollar homes and than finding a older home next to them. I have seen people buy those tear them down and completely build new homes in there place. Hope that helps.

Nadia Daggett · Answer

Very true! And if you can find a property with good ROI you need to buy quickly before they are taken by the hedge funds. There are very few and hard to find.

Josh Green · Answer

Personally, Pinellas County (clearwater/St Pete) is excellent.  The land here is limited - it's a peninsula surrounded by water.  People, investors, tenants are all going to consider Pinellas first and that's reflected in the demand for property here.  Much like Tampa, St Pete is seeing a lot of business growth and population growth.  Another reason I really like this county is generally speaking, it's just a lot safer/less street by street than Tampa metro.

Another county I think is going to see the biggest growth/change is actually Pasco county - on the north border of Pinellas and Hillsborough.  The amount of infrastructure, new business growth, and new development is tremendous.

Bob Stevens · Answer

Deals in the Cape, hmm. I know that market very well and my buddy owns about 30 mill in the area, He said the craziness has subsided. Lucky to get 5% net caps. Even building new homes are about 375k, but it takes a year and well in a year everyone feels its going to get worse

All the best

Bob Stevens · Answer

You don't, you wait till it goes back down. I know all of the area as I lived 20 minutes away,.  I am now living on the east coast and am renting as I see this area PLS/ Jensen Bech also going to come down. But I am still buying and keeping rentals and flipping them in the Cleveland markets. I am still about to get almost 20% net cap, cash purchase. So I will be ready to jump when things calm down a bit

All the best

PS you missed Tampa area by about 8 years,

Dillon Cook · Answer

Holiday-Port Richey was great for awhile up until 2021ish.  Still not terrible, but prices really evened out during the Great Covid RE Surge of 2020-2022.

It's really about cashflow vs appreciation when deciding on location and investment type.  Tampa Bay is turning more into a "LA" type market and further away from the nice hybrid we had for awhile.

A 4/2 SFR in Wesley Chapel has some amazing appreciation potential.  ie when homebuyers bought new builds between 250-300 and sold for 50-100k more 1 year later - essentially flipping new builds as WC expanded.  However as a long term rental, you'll be bleeding cash flow each month.  Strictly a long term appreciation play since most HOAs there, to my knowledge, won't allow short or mid term rentals.

Where to invest in Tampa?

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