All Forum Posts by: Adam Benmbark

@Ryan Mino I wish I had those plans when I was right out of college.  Right now duplexes are harder to find deals.  There is a lot of competition amongst investors.  You left out a third option.  Buy a single family home and rent out a bedroom.  House hack!  Ideally find a home that has a separate entrance along with two bathrooms.  My last two open houses have contained garage conversion master bedrooms where they added a bedroom, bathroom, and side entrance where the garage used to be.  Not sure if I'm allowed to drop you the addresses on this part of the forums.  Anyway, congrats on being smart enough to be thinking in this direction at your age!

Hey @Marco Morkous, I’m a real estate agent in St. Petersburg/Clearwater, FL. It is totally ok to have multiple agents in different cities. In fact, on the agreement that you sign with an agent it has a line for location. Most of the time I write in Florida. Sometimes if I know my clients are looking in different areas I will make it more specific such as St. Petersburg. On one occasion I even made it property specific with someone I met at an open house.

I’m happy to help whoever I can and don’t ever want someone to feel trapped. When working with investors who have several agents bird-dogging I write the agreement to be something like, “If I bring you a property, or if you bring a property to me then we would be exclusive.” Meaning, if another agent brought you a deal you would be free to work with them. I don’t think being greedy and locking people down is the way to go in this business. Bottom line, it’s a negotiable contract.

Let me know if you have any questions. I’m happy to help.

Hey congratulations Thomas!  Duplexes that aren't overpriced are hard to find right now here in St. Petersburg.

@Cory Schneider

Hey Cory, I have been working with another buyer that had the exact same goals so I know that market very well. I have some properties that fit that criteria already to go see. These properties are all $250k and under. What is your budget?

@Ali Taghikhani. Sounds like a good general plan. There are some details that you’ll have to hammer out. At $50k (20%) down and $25k rehab you’re looking at a purchasing a $250,000 quad-plex which will most likely put you in a low rent area until you are ready to refi into your new home. At least that’s the case here in St. Petersburg/Tampa/Clearwater area. I’m a local realtor here and I’ve worked with a lot of investors. You might do just as well with a duplex and have a nicer property in a better area with that budget. Message me if you have any other questions. I love your plan!

Hey Tim, each municipality has it's own regulations regarding lease periods.  I've been shopping with several clients that are seeking to do the exact same thing you are and it involves getting on the phone with each municipality or searching for the information on their website.

Keep at it and you will find what you are looking for.  Let me know if I can help you in any way!

@ Eric Sipe

Hey Eric, I'm a realtor in St. Pete and Victor is spot on. A big reason that you don't want to stay in an FHA loan is that you will pay PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance) for the life of the loan. With a conventional loan you only pay PMI until you have 20% equity in the property.

The down side is that refinancing costs thousands of dollars in fees that you can never recover.  Another solution is to start out with a hard money lender or private money lender for that one year.   Yes there are also costs associated with that type of financing too.  I suggest you compare the two and see what would save you the most money in your situation.

Always feel free to reach out for more details or clarification!  Congratulations on taking your first steps towards financial freedom!

I may be able to find an investor to buy the property and then do a lease to own with you.  That's one idea.  Let me know if you want me to look into that further because I'm mainly an agent that works with investors.  I know a lot of them and their problem isn't funding... it's finding deals.

Hey Chris, I'm in St. Pete, if you private message me your contact info I can send you properties as they come onto the market as well as sending you off-market/pocket listings.

Hey Robert, I’m a Realtor in St. Pete and I have a great cleaning service I could recommend.  Unfortunately, sharing the contact details on the forum is against the rules.  Private message me.