Multi-Family Housing In Orlando

[Chris Lloyd]

I recently moved to the Orlando area and will be starting my investing journey with a few business partners over the next few months.  Being new to the area, does anyone have any suggestions as to what parts of town we should begin our search?  We will be looking for 6-12 unit buildings in C+/B areas.  

[Andrew Davis]

Hey @Chris Lloyd welcome to BP and Orlando!

@David Pupo will be a great resource for you.

What you'll find in Central Florida is that your property type criteria will determine the location of your investments, and not the other way around.  There are very few small multi-family properties in this area.  

I lived in southern California and Portland, OR prior to moving to Orlando, and I was really surprised by the lack of small multi-family here.  There have been very few government restrictions on development in Central Florida, no geographic restrictions (except for the ocean/bay) and thus land has historically been very cheap, so it has made more financial sense for developers to focus on single family.

I just ran a quick MLS search for multi-family, and there are only a couple dozen 6-12 units on the market for all of mid florida (Tampa to Daytona, Ocala to Port Charlotte).

Not to discourage you at all, you just may want to take the prevailing property types into account as you're formulating your strategy.

Since you're new to BP, here are a few tips to help you get the most out of the site:

Start here. You'll get a wealth of REI knowledge and learn how to take full advantage of Bigger Pockets (including how to connect with other local investors).

Listen to the podcasts , get active on the forums & set up key word alerts to be notified when people are discussing topics you're interested in.

Check out the webinars, they are very informative, and there’s usually a new one every week.

I'm an agent & investor in the Orlando area, so reach out anytime.