All Forum Posts by: David O.

Short term vacation rental apartments and houses is big business here on Miami Beach. I personally do it with several of my own properties, as well as properties that I manage for family and friends and we enjoy consistent, healthy returns year after year!!

Here on South Beach, a lot of buildings operate as condo-hotels. While you can make great returns by acquiring the right unit at a good price, it is very difficult to find under market value units from all the competition around. Also, like mentioned earlier, the HOA fees on these buildings are very high and vacancies can destroy your cash flow if not done correctly.

I am a Miami Beach real estate investor and the prices are skyrocketing here!! Miami as a whole is a very unique real estate market, but Miami Beach is great during a seller's market due to all the international demand and foreigners paying top dollar. Finding the deals are the hardest, but with the right marketing and partners you can be successful in your investing pursuits in Miami!!

Personally in my experience, I have had more success and quality of tenants when sourced from Homeaway / VRBO as opposed to AirBnB. But these platforms are great if your unit / building is zoned for short-term rentals. In high season here on South Beach, I get way more requests than I can handle for all my units that I manage. It's great as international buyers bring top dollar and owners get a great return on their investment. 

@Andrew Powell-Sampellegrini  You can use money from abroad, but it needs to be structured very carefully with a real estate attorney well versed in international / corporate finance and real estate. I have worked with a great lawyer in Miami that I know helps international . foreign real estate investors. These lawyers are worth their weight in gold. PM me and I will send you his information. 

You need to find yourself a good realtor / broker that can identify all your criteria to find you the good deals. The Miami market can be pretty tricky to navigate. 

Congrats on the success, but don't let it go to your head. The Miami Beach real estate market is getting more competitive and tougher every year. Be open to learning as much as possible and keep networking with your fellow real estate investors. 

I am actually having the opposite problem now. While the Miami real estate market is extremely competitive, I have aligned myself with a trusted broker who I have closed 5 deals with in the last year. She continues to give me extremely good off market listings (especially the hard South Beach multifamily listings) but right now I have no liquidity or money to pursue them. I am looking for Miami real estate investors with me to partner in either a debt or equity structured arrangement that will be beneficial to both parties.

I own several vacation rental properties in the heart of South Beach and have made very good returns on my investments by short-terming them on the major listing rental websites. I also manage properties for my family and friends and have their units occupied with high premium rents. The costs of units in South Beach is so high, you need to be able to find areas in South Beach legally zoned for short-terming...While more work intensive, there are definitely higher returns to be made!!

@Wendy Lavana

 It's definitely getting harder and hard to find deals in Miami because there is a lot of local competition combined with the international demand. However, I was lucky in finding some great off-market deals by introducing myself and being persistent with a respected local broker. Once they know you mean business they will give you the deals to retain you as a loyal customer.