All Forum Posts by: John Cornelius

 Hey Reid, I'm in Gainesville now actively looking at deals. Just closed on a place near GHS. Lets meet up!

This seems ideal...the owner can hold the note until the property is repaired/rented, then you can refinance into a traditional loan. It might be worth it to meet with a loan officer at a bank and see what type of "verification of mortgage" paperwork they'll need from you/the note holder when it comes time to refinance. Then you'll be ahead of the game!

@Mike Giallanza Great info! It seems that property management is an art in and of itself. 

24 years old, $75K in the bank to buy an investment property?! You're well on your way to millionaire status!!

Hey there, there's deals in Gainesville but looking farther south towards Ocala, The Villages, the I-4 corridor might be a better play.

I prefer Gainesville because I lived here for 6 years until I moved to LA so I'm familiar with the area. I grew up in South Florida but the prices are 50% higher on the front end for the same amount of cash flow!!

Hey Mark are you still looking for a Gainesville agent? I'm here now after closing on a property last week, I can send you some recommendations.. 

I'd suggest anywhere near the I-4 freeway in between Orlando and Tampa. Neal Bawa calls it the "corridor of opportunity". As a native Floridian, the most attractive thing to me about this corridor is it somewhat dulls the effects of a hurricane compared to places on the Atlantic/Gulf coasts. 

Also look into a place called "The Villages", there's a ton of investment going into that area, but the area surrounding it is both underdeveloped and easy to reach (it's where the Turnpike and I-75 conjoin).

Hello everyone, I'm posting this in hopes that other investors can learn from my experience. Luckily everything seems to be resolved, thanks to the big boss of the management company. 

I'm an OOS investor and slowly started exploring other property management options. I arrived in person at the subject property (small multifamily) as one of the units was currently vacant. Over several days I met with other property managers, began to clean the unit, and generally get a "feel" for living in the unit. For instance, the bathroom door knob was backwards, thereby able to lock someone IN the bathroom. This would probably go un-noticed if not for actually residing in the unit for a few days. 

The decision was made to respectfully part ways with my current management company. I emailed them a termination and received among the response.

"management fees through end of new lease for a total of $1650." - this was for the vacant unit I was currently cleaning etc..

This was surprising considering I wasn't previously notified of any lease, any prospective lease, any Section 8 inspections etc..

I spoke with a representative of the management company on the phone and asked for a copy of the new lease, of which they refused. Their reasons were..

1) They never sent me a copy of the lease for previous tenants, so why should they have to send me one now..

2) I've worked with them for years and they're disappointed I'm asking for a lease..

As a property owner, I'm entitled to see the terms in which my property is rented. I demanded to speak with their attorney. Of course they refused. A had a feeling there was no lease (duh).

I emailed them to formally ask for a copy of the lease agreement for the vacant unit. Then I asked to speak with the rogue property manager's boss. Once I spoke to him it became apparent there was no lease. He was a great help throughout the process.

After speaking with him, the original employee emailed me (with the boss on copy) stating there was not an executed lease. 

They did in fact have a prospective tenant in mind that had put down some money to "hold" the unit, the rogue employee represented this was actually a "lease".  I'm chalking this up as a learning experience and resolving to be MUCH more hands on with my OOS rentals. Running it less like a cool, hands off "passive income" stream and more like a business that I watch over constantly. 

Does anyone have similar experiences? I'm wondering how common this is..

There's an "opportunity zone" in Lake Worth that's worth (no pun intended) a look. I don't have the exact neighborhood info on hand but you can google "Florida opportunity zones" and find an interactive map..

For the old properties in WPB...some of those neighborhoods are so dangerous you wouldn't want to drive by in the day time, let alone at night!! I was looking in WPB all last week..now I'm up in North Florida looking at some properties. 

When I'm back in WPB let's meet up and compare notes!

Hey Jonathan, I grew up in WPB before moving to Los Angeles. I'm actually in WPB right now looking at real estate. It might be worth looking into the "Lake Osbourne" neighborhood which is a little south of Lake Worth. There are some pool homes available for a decent price. The only issue is the STR nightly pricing. I've found you can get higher per-nightly rentals in other parts of the state..