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All Forum Posts by: Josh Green

Josh Green has started 21 posts and replied 351 times.

Post: Getting started with my first investment

Josh Green
Posted
  • Realtor
  • Tampa/St Pete/Clearwater, FL
  • Posts 374
  • Votes 340
Quote from @Alex Mcfarlane:

Hello, I am Alex. 
I am new to real estate investing but. I am in the Tampa area. I am currently looking for small  single family homes that will cash flow. 

I appreciate any advice on getting started. I would love to network with other likeminded people to assist with analyzing potential deals.

thanks in advance! 


Best bet is to get a value 4bd+ home and do room by room. OR, as a new investor, really a house-hack is a SOLID way to go. There's a few househacks on the market right now that would be a great start deal ranging from $400k-$600k. Some multifamily and some single family with an ADU. If your cash position is really strong though, you should be looking at STRs with me; those will bring you the most if you do them correctly.

Post: Tampa Real Estate Business Advisor

Josh Green
Posted
  • Realtor
  • Tampa/St Pete/Clearwater, FL
  • Posts 374
  • Votes 340
Quote from @Alec Strahl:

Looking for an experienced real estate business coach to coach me through my first deal over here in the Tampa area. What options would you recommend?


 As Ray mentioned above, hopefully you're working with a great agent to help coach you through something like that!  What strategy or deal are you looking at doing?

Post: Are there any Tampa Meet Ups?

Josh Green
Posted
  • Realtor
  • Tampa/St Pete/Clearwater, FL
  • Posts 374
  • Votes 340
Quote from @Darian Lupton:

Hey guys! I’m new to the Tampa area. Specifically Odessa, and I’m finally at a point where I can start looking to get serious about real estate investing. I’ve searched the forums and the most recent Tampa meet up post is 5 years ago. Also tried Meetup.com and can’t find any meet ups there either. I figure there’s gotta be something like that in this big city! Let me know if you guys know of any, thank you!

Feel free to DM me your number - I'll text you in a group with the two people that I personally know that run the biggest meet ups here in Tampa Bay

Post: Urgent: Need STR Market Advice to Slash Capital Gains Taxes – $250K Ready to Invest!

Josh Green
Posted
  • Realtor
  • Tampa/St Pete/Clearwater, FL
  • Posts 374
  • Votes 340
Quote from @Yair Zarmon:

Hi BP Community,

Newbie real estate investor here looking for some guidance from those with more experience.

I'm in a unique situation where I need to quickly purchase and manage a few short-term rentals (STRs). The reason? I sold a number of securities this year and must reduce my capital gains tax liability. To do this, I need to acquire STRs and prove material participation. That's not the hard part...the real challenge is choosing the right market on a short timeline without prior STR experience.

I’ve spent countless hours researching, underwriting, and convincing myself I’ve found the perfect market - only to second-guess and start over. I’d really appreciate any guidance or recommendations from those who have been through this process before.

Key details:

1. Out-of-state investing: I’m comfortable being a remote investor. With today’s automation tools, managing from a distance isn’t an issue.

2. Budget and financing: I have $250K set aside for this investment, and financing is essential to qualify for bonus depreciation and cost segregation - key strategies for offsetting my long-term capital gains.

3. Time sensitivity: I need to prove at least 500 hours of material participation before December 31, 2025, so time is of the essence.

If anyone has market recommendations or insights, I’d love to hear them! 

Hey Yair!

Pleasure chatting on the phone with you today 👍
I think we covered a ton of info that is super beneficial to you and would be to others.  

I want to add here for others that may be asking themselves if STRs are viable TODAY:
I operate in the Tampa Bay market - mostly Pinellas county (Clearwater, Largo, Seminole, St Pete, etc) and we’re making great returns with Todays rates, todays prices, and todays competition.
There’s three critical components to making this a success for myself and for my clients:
1) Buying the right properties at the right price points with the right locations and features
2) Budgeting for, and executing a professional finished product through a professional design and furnishing team with proven track record of success
3) Boutique property management to ensure your property is taken care of, continues to perform long term, and puts more money in your pocket by passing on the efficiency savings back to you (I charge 15% for clients only; at least at the time of this post)

biggest caveat:
You have to have an adequate cash position to make this work well. For clients who are out of state or otherwise wanting to be completely hands off, this means a cash budget minimum of $225k is recommended (20%-25% downpayment, closing costs, design and furnishing costs) and even better opportunities if you have more. Any less, and you are likely over leveraging, or not budgeting to create a great STR; which is how you fail as an STR investor. OR, you need to be very involved - 100-200 hours of time to self furnish/design/manage etc.

This can seem like a high barrier to entry for most newer investors, and it is, but that’s a part of why it’s lucrative. Much like running a business, you want to have the high barriers of entry - keeps the competition down and you more profitable 👍

If you or someone you know is ready per the above and wants to explore more the process and numbers, feel free to DM me and we can do an introductory consultation for free. I don’t like to blurt on here publicly the numbers or details as I’m also an active buyer (buying 2 more this year personally) and want to keep the business with those I trust and want to work with ✌️

Post: STR Viability in 2025 Onward

Josh Green
Posted
  • Realtor
  • Tampa/St Pete/Clearwater, FL
  • Posts 374
  • Votes 340
Quote from @Andre Lai:

Hello all,

New here and trying to learn different real estate strategies. I currently own a triplex that I am house-hacking. I've been looking into Airbnb for years but never pulled the trigger. What is the current viability of it now? Especially with the high likelihood that 100% bonus depreciation will be coming back. 

My team and I are buying STRs frequently - as long as you have the right people+knowledge in place it’s simply the most lucrative (that I can find anywhere) real estate investment strategy and ROI that doesn’t involve 7+ digits of cash. Taxes are due annually - rather invest to keep my taxes down and create passive cash flowing real estate with the appreciation upside!
I also operate in the Tampa Bay market - mostly Pinellas county (Clearwater, Largo, Seminole, St Pete, etc) and we’re making great returns with Todays rates, todays prices, and todays competition.
There’s three critical components to making this a success for myself and for my clients:
1) Buying the right properties at the right price points with the right locations and features
2) Budgeting for, and executing a professional finished product through a professional design and furnishing team with proven track record of success
3) Boutique property management to ensure your property is taken care of, continues to perform long term, and puts more money in your pocket by passing on the efficiency savings back to you (I charge 15% for clients only; at least at the time of this post)

biggest caveat:
You have to have an adequate cash position to make this work well. For clients who are out of state or otherwise wanting to be completely hands off, this means a cash budget minimum of $225k is recommended (20%-25% downpayment, closing costs, design and furnishing costs) and even better opportunities if you have more. Any less, and you are likely over leveraging, or not budgeting to create a great STR; which is how you fail as an STR investor. OR, you need to be very involved - 100-200 hours of time to self furnish/design/manage etc.

This can seem like a high barrier to entry for most newer investors, and it is, but that’s a part of why it’s lucrative. Much like running a business, you want to have the high barriers of entry - keeps the competition down and you more profitable 👍

If you or someone you know is ready per the above and wants to explore more the process and numbers, feel free to DM me and we can do an introductory consultation for free. I don’t like to blurt on here publicly the numbers or details as I’m also an active buyer (buying 2 more this year personally) and want to keep the business with those I trust and want to work with ✌️

Post: Realtor in Bradenton FL with AirBNB investment experience

Josh Green
Posted
  • Realtor
  • Tampa/St Pete/Clearwater, FL
  • Posts 374
  • Votes 340
Quote from @Raymond J. Rodrigues:

@Josh Green is this in your neck of the woods or can you refer them to anyone that you know? 

Yeah I cover Bradenton ✌️@crystal DM me and we can jump on an intro call next week to discuss 👍

Post: STR/Vacation property financing

Josh Green
Posted
  • Realtor
  • Tampa/St Pete/Clearwater, FL
  • Posts 374
  • Votes 340
Quote from @Dustin Pavlik:

Hello,

I'm an investor located in NWPA. I currently own 50 LTR units in my local area. I am interested in getting a STR in the St. Pete area, which would also be a vacation property for my family. I need some help finding an investor friendly lender in the area who could help me through the process. Also, a realtor who is familiar with dealing with STR investors and the specific area would be helpful. Thanks in advance!

Hey Dustin!

As an agent I've helped at least 50 people buy a successful STR the past 2 years - so all with todays prices, todays competition and todays rates. I've also bought 3 myself the past 18 months. I have all 3 phases for clients out of state: helping you locate and buy the correct buy box for success, a world class designer and furnishing team to create a top listing, and I also co-host property for clients at a discounted rate to ensure you're getting as much cash flow as possible. Feel free to DM me if you'd like to do a consult call and we can see how we can help and if it'd be a good fit 👍

@Raymond J. Rodrigues is an excellent STR lending broker I’ve done a lot of deals with so definitely reach out to him for that!

Post: Investing in a High-Risk Flood Zone (AE) – Worth It or Hard Pass?

Josh Green
Posted
  • Realtor
  • Tampa/St Pete/Clearwater, FL
  • Posts 374
  • Votes 340
Quote from @Mario Niccolini:

Hey BiggerPockets community!

I’m analyzing a potential deal in Florida, but there’s a catch—it’s in an AE (High-Risk) flood zone. Hurricane Milton recently caused widespread flooding, yet this house remained unaffected. Still, I’m weighing the risks.

🔹 How much does AE zoning hurt resale value?
🔹 Does it make renting harder?
🔹 Have you reduced flood insurance costs (Elevation Cert, mitigation, etc.)?
🔹 Would you still do the deal?

Is this a hidden opportunity or a deal-breaker? Would you buy it? Appreciate any insights! 🚀

1) you have the best data now making this decision easier than ever in the past!  Hurricane Helene was the biggest flooding event in Tampa bay in over 100yrs just last fall.  So if the house did NOT flood at all, I would feel much much more confident in buying.  I also just bought an investment property in AE recently actually!
2) next thing is to see WHY it is in a flood zone and how much of the property is in the flood zone. For example, my property has a pond bordering it and only a small corner of my lot is even called a flood zone.  This is much better than if the house itself is part of the flood zone.
3) get insurance quotes! In my case, flood insurance was under $1800/yr and for the numbers made complete sense for me as a good deal with that added cost. 4) Flood zone AE does not directly impact resale value, but can reduce the number of buyers considering your property which can lead to slower sale through time and potentially lower prices.  To combat this: market the property well, be transparent, secure a great flood insurance rate so a buyer can know the cost and be able to transfer the policy. 5) no flood zone AE does nothing to rental rates 6) if the insurance rate seems high then get a flood cert and maybe it will decrease. Otherwise reducing the premium is not simple but some engineering firms specialize in flood zone updating.  Feel free to dm me and I have a contact for that. 7) if all the above checks out and the deal meets your criteria then yes.  If it did flood though, I personally would steer clear. It will flood again, it’s a matter of when not IF.  

Post: Is it worth seeking lenders with $0 lender fees?

Josh Green
Posted
  • Realtor
  • Tampa/St Pete/Clearwater, FL
  • Posts 374
  • Votes 340
Quote from @Jonathan Blanco:

Is it worth seeking lenders with $0 lender fees (such as origination, processing and underwriting fees) or do they just get that money by increasing rates and charging higher points?

I would definitely reach out to @Raymond J. Rodrigues he’s done a ton of loans for me and clients and he’s always priced better and is super helpful the whole way through a loan

Post: Selecting the right agent

Josh Green
Posted
  • Realtor
  • Tampa/St Pete/Clearwater, FL
  • Posts 374
  • Votes 340
Quote from @Kris L.:

So I have a house I am going to be selling in a couple weeks in the Clearwater Florida area, but I’m confused about what the agents are saying. I have it narrowed down to two agents, one has more general experience in the area and are part of a large organization. The other is a smaller operation which does a lot of business in the specific neighborhood the house is in. The first agent is absolutely certain the house will sell in the high 400’s. The other is equally certain it will sell around 550. This is a pretty critical difference. The one with the higher number has 1 active and 3 pending listings pretty similar to my property. These range low 500s to the mid 600s. there just aren’t many sold properties in the neighborhood in the last 3 months and even out to 6 months is limited. of course the sale of hurricane damaged houses also confuses the issue (my house had no such damage but is only about 4 blocks from houses that did).

Is the higher price agent inflating to get the listing or is the lower price agent just not keyed in well enough in the specific neighborhood?


 Hey saw your other post on this earlier and wanted to repeat for others to see as well:

It's great you are recognizing this. I would really take a close look at their CMAs. What are the comps they're showing you? Should be within the last 6 months sold ideally within 1 mile. SOLD comps vs ACTIVE is very important. I see a ton of sellers and listing agents overpricing homes and end up with big "price drops" back to reality. Only wasted time and many prospective buyers in the mean time. I am selling a house right now that all the comps ACTIVE were showing much higher than the sold. We listed strategically and were under contract in 2 weeks in the slowest part of the year (December) whereas all the other similar homes in the neighborhood have been sitting for months and still sitting on the market. Part of this is due to marketing and pre-marketing of the home - an agent is your marketer. A good sign of an agent is how much business they are doing on the purchase and sale side. If they can't even market themselves to be a top agent, then they don't know how to market your home either. A good example of this is when an agent is selling you on their brokerage brand and saying things like:

1) Our brokerage has "X" agents and "X" employees all working for you! (HA!)

2) Our brand is recognized by "X" agency for your type of home! (LOL, likely a paid co-branding snippet and doesn't do anything for you)

3) We run "X" in ads to attract buyers! (you need to differentiate when a Mark Spain type company is running radio ads to attract business for themselves from it actually helping you out)

4) Our TEAM or BROKERAGE has sold "X" homes! (You're hiring the agent; why are they sharing stats that aren't theirs?)

Feel free to dm me if you want a 3rd opinion on your home. I've sold over 80 homes personally in the last 30 months and I'm usually within $5k of the appraisal report when I run my CMA for clients. I'd say nearly 95% of the time I'm within that margin.