All Forum Posts by: Christopher Sarmiento

I'm on the same boat as you @Andrea D. I'm looking for a multi unit to house hack in that market. You can do a 5% down if it's 4units or less and you plan on making a unit your primary, depends on what banks you go through. My lender did tell that fannie mae freddie mac aren't lending too much on the investment side at the moment, so that might skew things up. Also be aware that a lot of investment properties are getting eaten up by cash offers and sellers might not be too keen with conventional financing at the moment, since they have that option. Another thing to take note of are the areas around St Pete. Some require a 30 day min stay and might affect your short term rental ideas. 

@Brian Garrett Thank for that advise. Yea this enclosed space was surround by these shutter windows already. So I was weighing that option. I might just convert it to a bedroom with a lot of windows for light. I wanna use this duplex as a short term rental and live in the other unit. 

@Carlin Randolph @Jackson Babcock Thanks for these gems! I'll reach out to some and my Real Estate agent to get a better understanding on what comps go depending on room. I want to use these units as Short Term so I can always add space for sleep. I'm just thinking exist strategy if and when I sell. What the underwrites look at when valuing the house. 

Question for the Forums,

I’m currently on the attack to purchase a duplex and each  unit has an enclosed back porches. I’m trying to decide what would the best route be and create the best value/forced appreciation.

• Converting that extra space into a Florida room or create a second bedroom and make it a 2/1. Because a Florida room would make it more attractive.

• What if I just make it a little bit of both? Bedroom with a lot of Windows surrounding it.

• Do I have to add central A/c? or can I just put a wall or door A/c unit in the enclosed space to add the forced appreciation.

Thank you for any advise!

So my goal is to buy a House to Airbnb/ House Hack around St. Pete Florida. I do plan to live in the house and use the kitchen and living room as a communal space. My question to the BP community is how functional/ profitable is this move with COVID going on. I am vaccinated and I plan on having the cleaning crew go in after each guest. I’d invest in a HEPA filter and whatever else I can buy as an automatic cleaning agent.

Or is House hacking with AirBnb not a thing with the current pandemic? Just want to get peoples thoughts and wonder where I can get more resources for this.

@Patricia Corsetti PM'ed!

Thank you for the advise @Brandon M. ill make sure to be mindful when doing my research and planning.

Trying to network early/ get advice from people in the St Petersburg/ Tampa area. So I'm planning to move to St Petersburg once I get my official confirmation from Bay Pines VA Hospital. I'm trying to move over there May or June 2021. I'm an ICU Nurse here in Gainesville Fl and I'm trying to leave this college town to explore a new area.

I've been super disciplined the last 2 years here and I want a fresh start, but also continue my real estate journey over in St Pete. I moved back in with my parents and postponed my dating life so I can pursue financial independence or put me on the right track for it. This journey led me to learning how to become a private seller on Amazon and learning as much as I could on REI. I currently have a SFH that I manage and makes me $297 cash-on-cash and a Duplex that makes me $450 cash-on-cash. I manage one side of that duplex and the other I have a PM since it's section 8. I'll ultimately have a PM manage them all if it becomes more of a hassle. I'm trying to find a BRRR deal in my area so I can cross that off my list before I move to St Pete. So I'm on the hunt for a deal right now.

I’m debating to rent a place near the bay pines or pinellas park for a year which is around $1375+ a month so I can easily explore the town and be social for a bit. Or get a townhouse, condo, single family, or even multi family at a good location over there. I’m interested in meeting with Real estate agents that focus on investments. If the location and price is good/ future rent or airbnb rents look good i’m willing to have conversations on purchasing a place sooner. I like the option of airbnbing the place while I wait for my official start date.

I’m up for suggestions or ideas! Just thought I'd post a brainstorming session of mine.

@Nick Harvey That's what I was thinking, Thank you!

I have a question to ask the forums!

So I bought a duplex January 2020 in a C neighborhood. I got it for 137K and rehabbed it to make it livable. It’s not worth about 170k. It’s a concrete block home that’s a 2/1. The surrounding homes in the neighborhood are owned by investors that rent the units out, about 12 duplexes and 10 owners. I have a section 8 tenant in one unit and a regular tenant in the other. I get about $850 per unit and I have a property manager that manages the section 8 tenant.

I was inadvertently giving the treasurers job for the HOA in that neighborhood since the lady that sold her duplex to me was this 92 y/o. So far the transition was ok, I've automated the street light payment to be taken out from our HOA bank account and writing checks to the lawn guy sine he doesn't have any virtual accounts. We don't charge people much, just a one-time payment of 0.002 x's the total of their recent value of the house a year. It's just enough to keep the front clean and streetlights on.

We have 2 people that have been refusing to pay the HOA fees that I've heard of, and I don't think there's anything we can do about it, or I don't know what we can do about it.

I was wondering if there's a way to transfer the HOA responsibilities to a company? To maintain the area/ make sure people are paying their dues, or if they have a better way of doing this.

Hey @Theodor Kim!

First off, congrats on your personal journey with REI. I'm semi new to REI investing and started reading and listening to Bigger pockets 2017, didn't pull the trigger until April 2019 to get my first SFH. I'm currently closing on a duplex that I will rehab and get rented out too in Gainesville FL.

Since your goal is to have a multi family, acquiring a triplex or fourplex, an FHA loan with just 3.5% down will help a lot. You can even investigate the 203K loan within it to help with your rehab and wrap it in your loan, if the numbers work for you. Just keep in mind the additional Private mortgage insurance, you'd need to refinance your loan in order to get the PMI out. This is also beneficial if you needed to do some light rehab anyway. You'd get chance at another appraisal and hopefully some loan pay down from your tenants that help reach 20% equity to get that PMI out.

I know some banks, depending on your credit score, will offer their version of the FHA loan requiring 3% down. Might be advantageous for you if you don't want to refinance your loan since there product allows for the PMI to drop once you hit 20% equity. These are great options for someone to get a primary residence loan to afford a multifamily house. Just make sure you crunch the numbers and add all the fees. Remember you must pay fees (closing costs) and some points, depending on your bank, when you refinance. Just keep that I mind. My lender told me to calculate 4-5% of asking price for your home for closing costs.

I would also figure out my target price ranges for these SFHs or MFHs. Then figure out the rent that will come in. Once your have those numbers it should be easier filtering through sites like Zillow. You can also find a property manager and ask them how much they would rent those units for, to get accurate numbers. 

Hopefully this helps! Sometimes you just need to find a decent deal first and work it through before things start clicking. Use it as training wheels that will prepare you for the next one.