All Forum Posts by: Joseph Landis

Hi Adam,

First Thank You for your service.  Secondly, welcome to Brevard!

My wife and I have been investing here in over a decade, but only in flips and long term rentals so I won't be much help for vacation rentals.  If there is anything else you'd like to ask, fire away!  I will be more than happy to share whatever I know.

Joe

@Willie Webb, Business wasn't REI related, but if you are ever considering buying a franchise of any sort, please talk to me first! You can write me a check for 100k and I will punch you in the face and promise that the experience would still be better than what you would have gone through!

@Willie Webb, Education from the school of hard knocks isn't cheap, but I think it's the best there is.  If it's any consolation,  I lost a lot more than that on a failed business.  I call it my bachelor's degree in overhead.  It cost me about the same, took about the same amount of time, but probably learned more!

As others have mentioned, don't get too discouraged.  We've all had our ups and downs.  Welcome to the club!

Hello Jon, I have recently purchased 2 condos in the viera area for rentals.  I also rent and flip single family homes in the area.  I havent seen any condos in the viera area that would make sense for a flip.  I am not saying there arent any but i sure havent seen them!

Hello Will, welcome to BP.

My wife and I are real estate investors in Brevard county.  We hold properties long term but have also done flips.

I wish you the best of luck and I will be glad to share whatever I know.

Regards,

Joe

Sorry, just realized you were looking for something like Viera in Altamonte Springs!

Hello @Christopher Schmidt, have you found an agent yet?

I am not a realtor but I live in the Viera area and am an active investor here.  I can get you contact info for a realtor if you are still interested.

Hi Jordan,  You may wish to consider how I got my start into real estate investing, which is to buy an affordable "beater" in a nice neighborhood, at least it was nice neighborhood to me at the time.  Rent out the 2 spare rooms to colleagues at work.  (I moved to the Melbourne area right out of college.  I am also an engineer and continue to work full time).  The rental income from the additional roommates payed approximately half of my mortgage.  You also get a capital gains exclusion every 2 years if you live in the house as your primary residence.  Living in the house will also allow you to cut your teeth on doing some remodeling, skills that will come in handy in life regardless if you continue as a real estate investor.

Hello @Jordan Vance and welcome to Brevard,

My wife and I are real estate investors, primarily in the Viera area.  We also own some properties down in West Melbourne. 

As @Scott Schuetz mentioned, one of the first steps is deciding on what the best strategy is for you.  We have been investing in single family homes, but have recently started selling them to invest into condos / townhomes / multi-family, moving away from the appreciation play to more of a cash return.  One of my favorite strategies has been a "slow flip", where a distressed property is bought, renovated, rented out, then sold in a few years.  It worked really well with the price appreciation of the past few years.  I've also done flips, but I've gone away from them in favor of the slow flip.  The problem now seems like it's getting harder to find good deals!

I'd be happy to share any knowledge or advice.  I've been doing it for over 10 years now.

@Scott Schuetz, I am drawing a similar conclusion comparing the beach side multi families to newer condos. Still comparing the favorable CAP rate of condos to a "slow flip" of SFH, where buying distressed, fixing up, renting out for 1 to 3 years, then selling. I will have some more time to work on it now that tax season is coming to a close. Nothing like waiting until the last minute!

I'm not the right guy for funding others right now, just trying to get whatever I have invested as best I can.  I am open to anything but I don't have any funds above and beyond what I want to put into my own properties.

This is what they call experience!!  Think about how boring it would be if you didn't have any stories to tell your grandkids.

My experience is that most issues do come up early and then as things are resolved it will quiet down, although I have to admit I haven't had major issues with tenants destroying things.

I agree with @Mike Sattem, get the door fixed ASAP.  I would call the police department and see if a police report was filed.  What you don't want to do is accuse your tenants and then find out you are in the wrong.  You also don't want to assume they are telling the truth if you have some evidence to the contrary.

Also, this is a good time for a display of leadership.  Let the tenants know that you are not a pushover.  You show it by keeping up with your responsibilities (cabinets, outlets, door) and holding the tenants accountable for keeping up theirs (not damaging the property, paying on time)

You can also evaluate the performance of your PM and if you feel you are getting a good value or not.  If not, I wouldn't hesitate to let them know that they are not meeting your expectations.  If they don't improve, get another PM.