Volusia County Ranks #3 Most Affordable Beach Town

[Krista Goodrich]

Hey BP Fam!

It's me, Krista Goodrich, vacation rental guru and real estate warrior here in Daytona Beach. I am so happy to say that Volusia County (think Daytona Beach) ranked #3 in this year's most affordable beach towns per a recent (June 2020) Realtor.com article. 

You may be wondering why this makes me happy, right? I mean, don't people want to live in upscale places like Park City, Scottsdale, Miami or San Diego? Sure, those places are great, but as an investor don't you wish you bought there BEFORE they were great? Imagine that ROI!

When I started investing in Daytona Beach seven years ago, people thought I was crazy and they couldn't see the vision. Homes here are certainly dated, the nightlife pretty lackluster (except my new brewery on Main Street is great lol) and other Florida cities are more "trendy." Those things are all true. And all reasons why I continue to invest in Daytona Beach and surrounding areas. I mean, where else can you get a house minutes from the beach in the 300's, 200s and yes, even, $100k range?

Now 18 houses later with a portfolio of vacation rentals, long-term rentals and one commercial property, I continue to buy Volusia. We still have a long way to go here in Daytona and the ride so far has been amazing...and while we don't know what the market in general will do, I see a lot of reasons why Daytona is primed for continued growth:

1. We just, after 17 looooonnnngggg years, got a new pro-active and pro-growth City Manager. He is gung-ho and ready to rock...this is great for our town.

2. With Orlando expanding and every beach town south of us extremely more expensive than here, it seems to me we have one way to grow.

3. We have a labor shortage (who doesn't, right) but our town runs on tourism and there are not a lot of high-paying jobs so our rental market is, and always has been since I've been here, on fire.

4. Have you checked out our weather? Beautifully perfect for 10 months out of the year, August can be warm and Jan a little cold but it sure beats the heck out of shoveling snow or never being cool. I think we have the greatest weather in the world.

5. Elon Musk-our coast is simply the best place on the planet for the growing space industry.

That all being said, I'd love to hear from others on great places to invest in Vacation Rentals in areas where you can adventure travel-so ski/mountain towns, fun cities and even the desert...or anything with awesome hiking as I don't get to do that a lot in Florida (but we do get to surf and fish a lot so it evens out).  

Until then, happy investing!

[Chad Shultz]

Kudos to all those investing in the Ormond Beach / Daytona Beach areas. It sure is a great place for real estate. While it is difficult to find "investor" type properties here lately, I am sure it is difficult in most places too. I have recently acquired my 24th project property since 2017. I have done most of these as upscale fix-n-flips, but I did keep one that is two separate single family homes on one parcel, so it is a cash machine - like a duplex. I was able to get in and out of eight properties last year with two so far this year. Looking back, I don't think all of this activity would have been possible in most other markets. When I started my trip down the investment road, I was "all-in" with $34k on my first project, with a partner. We made a profit of about $46k net between us. There are not too many places you can get started like that and consistently repeat it. Ormond Beach and Daytona will likely continue to grow and show consistent ROI for those who take advantage of it going forward.