All Forum Posts by: James Mansfield

I'm a Realtor / Property manager here in Tampa and work mainly with investors on rental properties and house flips. 

Best advice I can give is understand that where cap rates and interest rates collide in Tampa right now, you will need to have your focus be on appreciation, not cash flow. Best course of action is to plan a renovation program on any property you buy and increase rents. If you're coming to Tampa expecting to be able to buy a property and immediately cash flow, you're in for a surprise.  Your cash flow will go up over time but demand is still crazy high for multifamily properties right now. 

Also get a solid property manager. 

If you need any help, feel free to reach out to me.

Some people will certainly have different opinions, but here is my basic thought.

Agents-We specialize in ON-Market properties....properties on the MLS. That's where we spend our time and money and efforts and it's efficient for us. Sure now and again we'll have something off market, but that's pretty rare for most agents. 99x out of 100 the seller's are telling us they want to maximize their profits, they want to expose to the biggest market, and there are plenty of investors who buy ugly houses off the MLS. Super rare is it that a seller calls or we source the lead where they tell us they don't want their house on MLS, that they'll sell at 30-50% discount just to get it off their hands in a week or two and don't want anyone to see the inside of the house. It helps if you have real cash/not hard money and have a proven history of closing quickly.

OFF Market....that's what you're sourcing yourself.  You're sending post cards...2000-10,000 a month offering to buy houses cash and you're calling those leads before and after you mail.  You do that every month...you're calling and mailing and calling and mailing and calling again.  You're calling those leads 10x.  You're running bandit signs, you're running tv and radio adds "we buy ugly houses", you're knocking on doors of all the houses with 3ft tall yards....you're contacting all the distressed leads.

and those OFF MARKET emails you get from wholesalers....it's just a marketing term. They're shopping that normally to a list of 1000s. Show up for the walk thru and see 40-50 other groups of people walking it too. Put your bid in an envelope that we open at 3pm, then you're bidding against 20 others...for that best and final....which actually may go to another bidder even if you are the highest if they have a history of closing, because 70% of the wholesale deals don't close in my area...often some issue...could be on seller side or buyer side. Great wholesalers have written bids for you for rehab and allow you option periods and NEVER have you pay the earnest money directly to them, but to the title company and is refundable if the seller can't close it. I put these words of advise in here, as many will shoot you high on ARV, low on rehab costs, and want no option/inspection period and non-refundable earnest money. Technically I guess these are off market deals, but to me very much ON market, just not on MLS....and that in and of itself do not make them good or great deals.

For sure hard money when getting started. Try to get the rehab funds built in on a decent draw schedule. You are probably considering options besides hard money to save on interest rate, but if you are good at getting rehab done quickly the rate doesn’t matter as much on a flip compared to a long term hold. 12% sounds like a lot yes, but the added difference might be only a few thousand bucks to the total budget and it gives you so much speed and flexibility, which is what matters.

Congrats.
My own biased view is that hard money works fastest and generally is the least restrictive, provided that you have a well thought out [ pay back the lender] exit.
Zero experience can be detrimental as the risk is inversely proportionate to the experience.
Credit scores and experience generally address rate and points, not the lend. It is asset based lending against non-owner occupied properties held by a non-natural legal entity.
Without experience, look toward a 20% self-financed purchase price ante.

Much success.
Bob