All Forum Posts by: Erica Muller

Hi @Jay S.! I have sold over 200 vacation rentals here in Orlando and here is what I can tell you on this. . . DON'T SELF MANAGE FROM AFAR!!! I'm not trying to be negative but this market is absolutely cut throat and people are not dependable. People in Florida are very flakey so if you're using an app like Handy for cleanings, for example, you can be certain that at least 8 out of the 10 times they won't show up and you'll be in panic mode because you have a guest coming in and the house is trashed. If you don't want to hire a management company to manage and book it, you can find what's called a "caretaker" who will do everything for you except for book it. I have clients who have done this but they are incredibly hands on and don't have any other job. If you buy the right property in the right location you can expect about a 6 cap WITH property management. That's not bad for a vacation rental. If you never use the place and keep it rented at least 48 weeks annually you can do better than that but I am conservative with numbers. 

@John S. I can ask around for you. I own mobile home parks but they're in GA however, I live in Orlando. I have rehab teams here that do work on properties to flip. I can find out if they would work on mobile homes for you. 

Welcome @JC VanLiere! And congrats on all your success at such a young age! I specialize in vacation rental investments here in Orlando, FL and would be happy to share with you all the ins and outs of how they work as an investment. I also have a spreadsheet that I think you will find very helpful when analyzing these properties. 

I do own mobile home parks in GA, not in Atlanta but in other areas and they are also very lucrative. I would also suggest looking into those as well! 

For the price it's not a very good deal. The NOI isn't high enough to support the price. The issue an appraiser with have with that from a short term rental perspective is how long have they been doing it? Do they have at least two years of STR history to support both busy and slow seasons to prove those numbers are accurate? Also the community doesn't seem to have any amenities which for luxury short term rentals is a must. Those will be hard to do anything else with other than airbnb for people traveling in town on short stays. I would NOT waste the money on making the interiors nicer with better furniture. The only way this is a deal is if they come down dramatically on price. If you want a successful STR community you need to think in terms of amenities. That is what rents to higher ticket STR renters. Also the furnishings are never factored into the value of the property. Keep that in mind. Everything you put into furniture will just be depreciated and you can most likely write the depreciation off at best but it doesn't add value in the bank's eyes. Short term rentals are incredibly lucrative when done right.

@Ahmed Souissi if you want a 9 cap you need to be looking into multi family property. You won't find that on residential unless it's something at least 40% under market value right now and that's hard to get your hands on. I work direct to loan servicing companies that send me their assets to sell and even those are coming in at 20-30% under before adding on any type of sales commission. 

I personally invest in mobile home parks and my parks get about a 11-13 cap which I am very happy with. 

Hi @Eduardo C. 

The hottest area right now to buy and hold is called Horizons West. Their growth projections are blowing every other area in Orlando out of the water. They just put in a Wal-Mart and a super plaza with a movie theater is being developed. I analyzed all of the properties there and to be honest, the roi on something in a lower end area is much higher right now but the long term equity potential in this area is much higher. Their rental market is strong, the rents are really high and the quality of tenants is A level. The issue is finding something cheap enough for it to make sense both on the hold and the exit. I found one small little community in the outskirts that is getting a 6% roi along with the equity growth and benefitting from being in this school zone. I'd be happy to send you the info if you shoot me a direct message. 

Also, as for short term rental, you can only do that in Kissimmee, Davenport and Clermont (in small sections there) and it's very lucrative. For the numbers to make sense though, you need to be looking at 5+ bedroom homes in specific communities. I have a spreadsheet on this as well. I can also get that over to you. 

Hi @Ahmed Souissi. I just got five properties in from a loan servicing company I work with. They are all well under market value and prime to flip. All off market so they can't be found anywhere else. Shoot me a direct message and I'll send you the list after I get into them this week and inspect them. 

Hi @David Lowe! I have a spreadsheet for analyzing vacation rentals. Shoot me a message and I'll get it over to you. It's incredibly helpful. 

@Terri Mooney I own a park in GA. It's a cash cow but I do all long term rentals. Being that I sell vacation rentals here in Orlando and see how much goes into management, I think it's a huge project to do STR on a mobile home park but if you have a way of getting the marketing dialed in and someone to oversee the park I'm sure it will work out. Personally I think they're a lot less maintenance as long term rentals. I just got rid of my two lot renters that were renting homes out in my park because the other tenants complained about them. It's going to be really hard to run background checks on every short term renter and the concern most of the tenants have living there is that you're going to be renting it out to criminals or drug dealers etc. Make sure the park you're leasing the land from is 100% okay with it because the second their tenants start to complain they will evict you and to move a home is very expensive.

Hi @Edward Noseworthy ! I am a multifamily investor. Would love to connect.