All Forum Posts by: Drew C Grossman

Quote from @Steve Mandelbaum:

I was at the property and realized there were some stumps that were grown into a fence and had never been removed.  The tree guys went back today and cut them out.  After Thanksgiving, we will have form boards set.

I ordered the truss' today and am waiting for a wood package quote.  The delivery date is scheduled for 12/15.  The framers are not as busy as last year and my projects are getting more attention.  When building is booming the smaller builders have a tough time competing for attention.

Hi Steve, 

Thank you for sharing your project updates as this is a very informative forum post for the BP community. I’m experience the same thing with our contractors and getting things done much quicker than this time a year ago. I’m curious to what your wood quote came out to? My partner on the build side informed me that there wood costs are expected to come down another 20-30% in the next few weeks/months. 

Good luck on finishing your project as I am excited to see the final product!

Quote from @Jay Hinrichs:

Quote from @Steve Mandelbaum:

This is the same house from last year's build.  This design is all over North Florida.  My front door is angled.  I think in my next revision I am going to change it.

what are you paying to build per sq ft not  including the lot from digout to finish ?
2 years ago in your area we could do these for about 100 a foot or the ones i just finished in Ocala were closer now to 130 to 140 a foot .. but ARV also popped up to 275k when the old ARV was 225k. still thin margins builds all in all.. unless of course your plan is to simply keep them as rentals.

This is very interesting. I am currently building small mutli family project in Ocala for $102 a square foot for pure construction cost. We are closer to $115 sqft all in when including land and utility infrastructure per duplex.We have previously built 12 or so new construction single family homes from Feb 2021 to present day and I’ve noticed that building costs have come down significantly since that period where we have built those. The market has also seemed to stabilize at an after build value of $200-$225 a square foot depending on specific location within Ocala and finishes. The biggest challenge for us was making sure the utility hook up was within range as you have the option for standard water vs well or standard sewer vs septic depending on the specific parcel. How was your experience with this equation of the development? Building mutli family vs single family definitely has added a layer of complexity to the equation regarding utilities. In this case we are keeping as long term rentals however most of the people developing besides us are middle man investors taking risk off the table for the builders from a capital standpoint and then selling the product to the end user like s long term investor.
 

Quote from @Erika Vargas:

Hello! I am an agent and investor in Ocala. I agree the area has grown a ton. The World Equestrian Center recently opened and they are still building. Amazon also opened up it's warehouse and it looks they they will be buying 49 acres in Marion Oaks. 

Hello! So much going on in Marion County. I have  been following Dollar Tree’s development in Marion oaks where they are building a massive addition to there existing distribution center. It will be an automated facility. I also see the north side has been opened up and is starting to be developed from a commercial side. Do you have any updates on when Amazon will be developing in Marion Oaks? I haven’t been able to find much information on this. 

Thanks! 

Quote from @Kelly Bowen:

Hello everyone, my name is Kelly and I am new to this thread.  I was born here in Ocala and am now starting to invest locally as well.  I live part time in California but my heart is here.   I am looking to network and build relationships.  I am still working on making my first deal.  

I do have knowledge about well & septic as it's been the family business for nearly 40 years.  Please let me know if I can help in that area! 

Hi Kelly, awesome to hear you are looking for your first deal! Did you end up finding something that worked for you? I also invest in Ocala and have found this to be a great market for my goals. 

Best of luck!

Quote from @Esther Tama:

Quote from @Cheryl Rathje:

I'm thinking about purchasing single family homes in Jacksonville, Florida Interested in hearing thoughts on this area? Any particular area I should avoid? Thanks, Cheryl

Hi Cheryl! I’m in California looking into Jacksonville now. Any luck in the area? 

Hi Esther, I have grown up and currently live in the Jacksonville area (St John’s County). I absolutely love Jacksonville and am very bullish on the North Florida market however like many other areas of Florida I believe it’s a little to saturated for my investment liking. Present day factoring in the upside and the cash on cash yield in this market just doesn’t seem worth the squeeze for the deals I am looking at. Comparing unlevered returns I think you would be very happy to find 5-6% cash on cash. The price point of entry is relatively high in the areas I would feel comfortable deploying capital i.e St John’s County where the median house price is over 500k+. For these homes (generally speaking) you may get $2,000- $3,000 in rent. Obviously like mentioned above , there are so many different diverse areas of Jacksonville with many price points / rents so it’s really depends on the specific sub market you are in. I think you sacrifice rental rates, desired location, tenant quality, property quality (older homes with higher costs) the lower your budget goes. If price point is not a big factor, than certain areas such as Nocatte, Beach Walk and other new construction neighborhoods in St John’s county could offer you a safe place to park your capital however the cash on cash returns will not be strong as you are competing with owner occupants. I am speaking in generalities as there are outliers to everything. 

With all this being said, I would check out Ocala where they are certain pockets with exceptional cash on cash, 12-15%+ unlevered returns. In this market you can buy brand new construction for 200k-250k and these properties will rent from $1,500-$2,000 to give you a general idea. Managing new construction homes is also a lot easier than older homes and you can get top end of rents.With this healthy cash flow you do not sacrifice appreciation as this market has more run way to increase IMO then alot of other areas in Florida because the median home price is much much lower. The cost of insurance is very reasonable as I pay about $600 annually for my new construction homes. As we just got out of hurricane season, Ocala is in a great geographic location inland and is mostly high and dry which is why insurance is much much lower. Taxes are also very lien and I feel that Marion County utilizes you’re tax dollars to really invest in all the infrastructure popping up in these areas. This area is growing like a weed but still off the national radar as everyone typically wants to invest in the places they know first (Disney/Orlando, Tampa/St Pete, South Florida/beaches, or Jacksonville). The Ocala market is not nearly as saturated and I am finding great deals in this very market present day. I’m in the process of building a handful of duplex(s) which are the best deals I have come across in the past 18 months. Ocala strategic position reaches 34million people. This is a 40% greater population reach than the I-4 corridor that connects Tampa to Orlando to Daytona. 

Hope this helps and good luck with your investing. 

Hi Michael,

Its awesome to see your post from 6 years ago as this market was not on my radar yet! Fast forward to now, I own a handful of residential and commercial properties in Ocala and am currently working on acquiring a few small multi family properties in the area with my partners. 

How did things work out on your end? Did you end up moving forward on opportunities in this market? I would love to pick your brain! I work with a handful of investors in Ocala specifically and am eager to connect if you still interested in this market. 

Hi Brittany, I have worked/invested directly in Orlando, Jacksonville, Tampa and Ocala. Out of all of these areas I am most bullish on Ocala/Marion County from an equity and cash flow standpoint as I believe it offers the most upside with the least risk. I would recommend looking into the area and do your own research as there is a lot happening out there but its still not as saturated as these other markets I mentioned above and still has very strong rents. I currently have a handful of new constructions rentals and a self storage building in Ocala and am planning to acquire more. With a budget of 225-250k you can get a nice single family new construction property between 1000-1300Sqft with rents $1700-$2000 respectively. New construction Duplex/Triplex/Quadraplex will range from 400-700k in Ocala and the same product will be more expensive in Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa ect however you can still find a small older duplex that will need work in the 250k range in the outskirt areas. With that being said the rents and appreciation expectations will be a lot lower than being in a better location IMO.

Please reach out with any questions and best of luck with your move fro Colorado! When will you be moving down?

Looking for a tax / CPA recommendations who are comfortable with areas like Florida to deal with business / personal returns and tax planning advice.

Earlier this month my partners and I purchased our first self storage facility and we are in the process of turning it around now! We had a question related to entry system (gate ect…) and I figured this forum could provide some experienced insight.

The backstory.

The facility is a 28 unit 6000sqft building in a secondary market that has very healthy demand. The reason I say this is because I know the facilities around us are at full occupancy for the same size unit that makeup our facility. There are 4 facility’s within 3 mile range and they are all much bigger

50,000 sqft+. The product they offer vs ours will be very comparable however they have automatic gate for the entry of their customers and we currently do not.

Question.

Our facility currently just has a chain link swing gate locked with a chain and padlock. We feel the current set up is not the most attractive, efficient and secure to either the owner or future customers. We also feel that an automatic gate of some sorts will not make financial sense for the size of the property. What others ways do you think we can problem solve this? We would love to have transparency to our facility on who is entering and exiting and also give the customer a better experience on how they enter the property which would would allow us to achieve higher rates .

Any input is greatly appreciated! Best of luck to everyone out there in the storage game.

Thank you everyone for the advice on this thread. I have gotten my first self storage property under contract in Florida and we are excited to execute our business plan! This is a value add play which we plan to refinance out (Brrrr) once rents and NOI are stabilized.