All Forum Posts by: Clay Lehman

@Matthew Binns good morning!! I am a fellow investor in the Ocala market. I also own a property management company as well as a real estate brokerage. We manage a large portfolio of rentals and work with investors to find rentals in ocala. Not a sales pitch, just saying that we have a lot of exposure to the ocala market.

The ocala market remains red hot. If a house is priced right it will receive multiple offers and sell above list. In the last 60-90 days, it seems like we aren’t getting as many multiple offers, meaning instead of 8-10 or 12 offers we are getting 2 or 3. It could be somewhat of a seasonal phenomenon but it also could indicate that things are cooling off. The next few months will be telling.

Rentals are also still moving very quickly. In the last 6 months, the average days on market for our rentals has been 3 days. We also are able to fill many of our vacancies before we put the house on the market because of the backlog of applicants. I personally use that as more of a gauge of the health of the market because home sales can be deceptive. We had tons of sales in 06 and 07 but they were speculative sales of vacant homes. Rental demand means we have people that need places to live and as that remains strong that tells me the market is still healthy.

Multi family is really tough to find and in my opinion is over bought/over priced. It is such a popular product that people are pricing the listings well above anything that can be justified by the rents. That is just my opinion.

2022 will be an interesting year. There are a number of new projects that have been approved in the last 18-24 months that will start delivering houses sometime in 2022. This will start to test how strong the demand is in the market or said differently if it is strong enough to absorb the new inventory. Interest rates going up will be another factor to observe. I think at least initially the increase in rates might get anyone that was on the fence about buying a home to get off the fence and buy. Overall, I think we will see continued appreciation in 2022 but at a slower pace, which I believe will be good for the market. You can’t see 25% increase in pricing forever.

Welcome to the Ocala market. Good luck and hopefully I will see you around!!!

I have a couple of new builds going in Ocala and I am debating if I should stick with my original strategy of build to rent or if I should take advantage of the crazy high retail sales prices.  Rents will be $1,650ish, sales price around $240,000.  I want to build a long term cash flowing portfolio, but it’s hard to for go a quick hit at a return.  Looking forward to hearing your feedback and the feedback of others who respond.

@Joseph Torres congrats and good luck in finding that first property. I am another vote for the ocala market. I am biased, I live here but I also invest here. Rents are high and relative to the rest of the state median home prices are low. It is growing rapidly with no signs of slowing. Let me know if you want to connect to discuss further.

I agree with @JD Martin, I would probably get the roof inspection to confirm the owner's workmanship.

@Russell Loving Welcome!! Any thoughts on what type of properties you will be targeting?

@Jay Hinrichs

Congrats and good luck. Welcome to the Ocala market, new construction is doing great in this market. If I can be of any service (I’m a fellow realtor, property manager and investor in new construction here in ocala) let me know.

@Erica L.

Hi Erica. I don’t have direct experience with rent to retirement but my property management company, Resolute Property Management, is working with some people who purchased through them. I think overall the experience has been a positive one. The ocala market is definitely healthy and great for rentals. I hope that helps.

@Amritha Puliadi Premnath - good afternoon!! I can’t speak to Naples market but I would be happy to discuss the Ocala market with you. Definitely experiencing strong appreciation and rent increases throughout the market. I have one rental in shores and another under construction. The one I just finished rented in one day at $1,400 (3/2/1 1,200 sq ft). That was rented through Resolute Property Management (full disclosure that is my PM company). Let me know if you would like to connect to discuss further.

@Michael Cortez - full disclosure, i haven’’t worked with a hard money lender myself. I attended a confer event this week where we had a couple of hard money lenders present. I will dig out their info and shoot it to you. Good luck and let me know if me or my Ocala real estate/property management teams can be of any help!!!

@Michael Cortez good morning. The Ocala market is crazy tight. Last month’s numbers showed we have around 30 days inventory. Almost all listings are getting multiple within days of hitting the market. It is difficult to get one of these properties if you are not paying all cash and waiving contingencies.

You may be able to compete if you get a hard money lender that will provide you with the ability to use their money to pay cash. The interest rate is higher, but you could fund the purchase and repairs through hard money and then refinance out with traditional financing once the repairs are complete. There may be higher closing costs in this scenario (because you have the hard money loan and then the refinance) but it can provide you with the opportunity to be make more competitive offers.