New (Almost) Investor in Orlando, FL

[Frank Nabors]

Hello everyone,

I've been an avid reader and listener of BiggerPockets for probably 8 months now trying to soak in as much information as I can before making the plunge into real estate. I have a couple months of college left and I have about $20k so far I've been able to bank with the intention of investing. I am incredibly lucky to have parents who support my real estate goals (including allowing me to live at home to save as much as possible) but they themselves are not investors. They have, however, always promoted buying property over renting. 

They have started looking at industrial real estate as an investment because, 1) We use a rented shop as part of our business and 2) The monthly rent of this is getting almost to how much a mortgage on a building big enough for paying tenants would be. Personally for myself, I the residential is the way to start building my portfolio.

That being said, I have a few ideas I would love advice on. 

1) I initially was set on a multi-family property and house hacking that

-The biggest problem I see is there doesn't seem to be many of these types for sale in a price range that would allow me to start off at this 

2) Single family house hacking seems like a good option for this area

-Every so often, I see houses in good neighborhoods I am familiar in go for far less than what seems to be the market price. Even in renovation cases, I am confident in my skill-sets and can do any sort of renovations needed short of structural (which I would want to avoid anyway).

3) ????? I have looked at the BRRRR method as well but I still need to do more research into it.

I have found a local REI meetup I am going to attend to get advice for what works locally but I would love to hear what advice can be had.

[Matt Leber]

@Frank Nabors you are correct that it is difficult right now in the Orlando market to find small multi family properties, as inventory is low and competition is very high. We know a few people that have gone the single family househack route and it can definitely work in this area. Most of them are single professionals who buy a house below market value in a B type neighborhood and rent out the rooms to other single co-workers. They do it successfully and live for free. My wife and I are sort of house hacking our own primary home in Lake Nona, renting out our spare bedroom to a friend of mine to help reduce our mortgage expenses. We are pretty low maintenance so we don’t mind sharing the space.

If you are fairly rooted in Orlando for a good amount of time, it makes sense to buy something where the numbers work as a buy and hold rental and where you wouldn’t mind living for the long haul. That way you can cover your expenses with the househack, or if you decide to move out you have a good performing rental property. The key is to keep your lifestyle inflation to a minimum and not buy too expensive of a property.

I would think BRRR would be more attractive in surrounding counties (Polk, Brevard, Osceola), where you can find more below market properties and there is less competition. Although, I'm sure there are plenty of investors actively BRRRing in Orange County as well. Just have to have a good system in place to find deals and make offers, with a financing plan in mind.