All Forum Posts by: Josh Green

 Where are STRs legal in Tampa though? No where near metro if I am not mistaken. I know there's some unincorporated in Pinellas County, but I know of none in TB proper...

I live in St Petersburg, FL and trying to understand the rules, regulations and loopholes with AirBnb properties. I heard that STR's are banned in St Petersburg but you can only have 2 reservations per year under 30 days and the rest have to be over 30 days which is considered MTR. However, I see hundreds of properties listed on Airbnb that do not follow the rules. I believe both St Pete and Pinellas county have their own rules for Airbnb but not sure of the differences. Trying to understand the risks and implications of running an Airbnb here and if there are any loopholes to the policies. Any feedback or discussion is appreciated!

Nathan thanks for your response. The security deposit was $1,200, but here in Florida, attorney's fees and costs are recoverable to the prevailing party in cases concerning security deposits. (FL statute 83.49.)  If the landlord is making a claim against the tenant's security deposit, he/she must send a written notice to the tenant's "last known address" within 30 days, via certified mail.

In this case, since the tenant did not pay her last month's and stopped communicating with me, I obtained an eviction judgment. The tenant did not challenge the eviction, but apparently hired an attorney who filed a few documents in the eviction case, but I never received any of these documents.

Later I learned that the attorney convinced the tenant to assign her rights to make a claim for the security deposit (presumably because she could not pay the attorney) to an LLC that the attorney created. As previously stated, I never received a copy of the notice regarding last known address change for security deposit. More than 1 year after obtaining the eviction judgment, the LLC sued me for not returning the security deposit and/or not sending the notice to impose a claim on security deposit to the LLC's address in another Florida county.

Though I sent the notice to the tenant's last known address, via certified mail, I cannot prove that the attorney never sent me the address change notice and therefore run the risk of losing the case at trial. If this happens, the attorney will probably seek thousands of dollars in attorney's fees and costs, far greater than the security deposit.

This is incredibly frustrating since this attorney filed many of these type of cases against landlords throughout Florida!!!

 You say 6-8 bedroom house with a pool and spa? I wanted to start small with 3-4 bedroom condo? Is that a bad idea?

Hi everyone! 

I'm looking to buy my first rental property this year or next in Florida and I recently attended a workshop on how to save on taxes using short term rental properties by a tax strategist named Karlton Dennis. He talks about how you can purchase a rental property, manage it as a short term rental during the year you acquire it, do a cost segregation study, use those "losses" to significantly reduce your taxable income that year, and then turn the property into a long term rental in the following year. 

He says he can help set up the required LLCs and even find the properties for you. It sounds great but I'd love to know, has anyone actually successfully used this strategy and/or used his services? If so, is it worth it for the tax savings or is it better to just focus on investing in a long term rental property right from the beginning? 

This will be my first investment property and I am hesitant to just hand $30k+ to someone and trust it'll all work out. I know lots of new investors can get taken advantage of like that and I'd love to avoid that. 

Thanks so much! I greatly appreciate any guidance.

Hi guys. I’m a newbie, I’ve always dreamt of buying multi-family units & now I’m finally at a place where I have proof of income and make decent money. 
upon further research, here in Florida it’s difficult to find any without major rehab work. That being said, I’ve found a townhome, new construction, with the interest rate incentives as low as 3.99 & 4.99 it a a great area. I plan on living there for a year and renting out after. I know it could rent and essentially pay for itself. But I guess my question is, is it worth letting go of the duplex dream for now and rent out single family unit? Or wait and scan the market for a multi family I can afford? TIA. 

Hi

I am looking for good licensed contractors (not expensive ones) in Clearwater area to renovate the STR property. Any leads would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.