New Member from Ocala, Florida

[Marelyn Valdes]

I currently am buying and holding single family homes in the Ocala (Marion County) and Levy County, Florida areas.  Originally I had rental properties in Tampa, but sold my home and all my rentals and moved to Ocala.  It's a small town just south of Gainesville (Univ. of Florida) and has a very strong rental market with people constantly posting on Facebook sites looking for any rentals in this area.  I buy foreclosed and trashed properties and enjoy fixing them up and usually have a waiting list of renters, so I can pick and choose from the best.  Ocala just added a Fed Ex distribution center and we are located close to the Gulf of Mexico and about an hour from Daytona Beach (and a little over an hour from Orlando and Tampa).  Single family homes have been going up in price, and it's getting harder to find a super cheap bargain - usually with a lot of cosmetic repairs needed.  Since I have been doing the buy and hold for over 30 years, it's easy for me and a great way to make income and minimize taxes with the depreciation.  I tried a couple of sales with me holding the mortgage - NEVER again!  I work with a couple of local realtors, and also buy from Tranzon, Hubzu, Homepath, and others.  The hardest part for me was finding the right people to do rehab and repairs, then I spend my time making friends with most of the employees and managers at Home Depot and Lowes to get a heads up on closeouts and bargains.

[Marelyn Valdes]

Mary, I never bought in Citrus Springs, and most of mine are in NW Ocala (34482) area, which is where I live, some in 34479 and Morriston.  We just got a new Fed Ex hub and there just isn't much rental property around.  Take a look at people begging for rentals up to $1,000 on Facebook Ocala rental pages (I am a member on 3 pages) - list anything under $1,000 and you have a long list of possible tenants to pick and choose from.  I have learned to just post a few pics and description of the rental property about a week before it's available and have people PM me on Facebook.  I can go on their page and get an idea of what they are like - and I also pull their names up on the clerk of court site - nothing like seeing eviction and arrests to put them off my list.  I put in every ad "all adults must be able to pass a background check and have no prior evictions" - gets rid of ones I don't need to waste time checking.  I also do pet friendly with deposit - they are going to sneak them in anyway - and  require pet liability insurance for certain breeds.  If you take pets, you have a lot of people looking for rentals.