Orlando Florida Real Estate Newbie found BP!

[Account Closed]

Hi everyone!

My name is John Lindenblad and I am excited to meet all of you! I have lived in Orlando, Florida area most of my life. I spent a few years as a starving actor in LA and NYC before returning to the University of Florida in Gainesville to obtain a Masters in Entrepreneurship and then I operated my own LLC for a few years (now defunct). I am new to real estate but I currently have a large amount of free time so I am applying it to reading, listening, and watching everything I can on real estate with the goal of applying my education and background to the field! My goal is to learn as much as I can over the coming months and looking forward to seeing you all on the forums=).

Respectfully,

John Lindenblad

[Levi Bennett]

@Padma Mody Hi there, well.. I thoguht about starting a forum about it.. but I noticed that @Brandon Turner is always recommending newbies to get started with multi-family, like.. a duplex or whatever, but.. here in Central Florida, they are far and few between, and believe me.. there are investors lined up for the ones that are available (and not available).. 

but, in regard to buy and hold strategies, Orlando specifically has several unique real estate qualities to it that make it different to almost all other cities.. primarily, (and this is still underrated I feel like) ..this is the top tourist destination on Planet Earth.. that alone is enough to create some interesting markets, and indeed there are. The short term rental market is the strongest anywhere I've heard of. Literally millions of people visit here every year, and it's so much more cost effective to rent a house instead of a hotel, and the short term friendly zoning south of Disney makes this an incredible market to get into. With the rise of popularity and credibility of AirBnB, Homeaway and Flipkey, this market is surging. 

In addition, the long term rental market is also strong here. Most apartment complexes currently have a several month waiting list for a 1 bedroom, yet 1 bedroom condos remain incredibly cheap in Orange County, particularly around Universal.. so.. the opportunity is real around here, but, you have to begin with what makes Orlando-metro unique, because it severely alters the landscape compared to other (typical?) markets around the US. 

Flips are as good as anywhere, but it's also popular here, and a LOT of people do it already, and I've heard a few sources say that it's become very competitive here. 

Anyway,. I hope this makes a little sense. One more bonus: Outside of Texas, this is the fastest growing metropolitan area in the South (part of the reason I think rentals are so strong here)... there are literally thousands of new homes going up in new construction, and overall.. the real estate market is excellent here. There is opportunity everywhere, but it's not necessarily in multi-family.. that's my thought anyway. 

Hope this helps.