South Florida Duplex

[Juan Carlos Castillo]

As I look into buying my first piece of property this year, I'm hoping to get a duplex in the Palm Beach or Broward County area but am struggling to find any duplexes on Zillow.

How much can I expect to pay for a duplex in South Florida? Will it normally be more than a regular house?

[David Collier Jr]

@Juan Carlos Castillo

I own a duplex here in Broward. Step one choose a single target area, maybe two. You can't cast a wide net here in Broward as one mile can mean B+ to D neighborhoods. If you are using the MLS as a lead source my advice is to find an area or two and get yourself to a point where you can instantly tell at first glance if a deal makes sense. I say that because any true "deal" that comes into your inbox (get onto an auto email with your criteria from your Realtor) will be gone within 24 hours. Get it under contract and negotiate later. You won't have time to go see a true "deal" on the MLS.

For my first purchase I made a full price offer site unseen within an hour of the property coming onto the market because I knew it was a deal based on my understanding of my target area. Don't pay attention to what the current or sellers estimated rents are. Most times they are too low or estimated too high. Get to a point where you know exactly what the units should rent for based on location and size. Use sites like zillow, Hot Pads and Pad Hopper to learn market rents.

I also did some "driving for dollars" mailing owners of properties of interest. I had success with that as well but the properties weren't exactly what I was looking for. But it does work! Do not get analysis paralysis but also don't jump into a deal just to get it done. Run properties through the BP calculators religiously to sharpen your tools. I ran more than I can count. Eventually you will be able to run the numbers in your head or quickly on paper. 

Lot of areas here in Broward that are up and coming so do some research and hop in the car. Hope this helps.