All Forum Posts by: Shawn McCormick

@Yaseen Khan

There are several investors that hold local meet ups (try Meetup dot.com) and also the local chapter of the National REIA has their monthly meeting on February 14th near downtown. I can send a guest pass for you and they will also have county meetups (6 counties) throughout the month, so it will depend on when you are here which one will be best.

@Stephanie Espinal I always advise my clients to budget for 3% in closing costs. This will depend on what type of loan you are getting (DSCR, investment or conventional) and if you are buying points to bring the rate down as well as how much the lender will require you to escrow for taxes and insurance.

I would suggest you get with your lender and ask those questions so you know what to budget for. Taxes have gone up quite a bit around Orlando, so if the property hasn't been assessed in awhile, expect that to jump up from what is currently showing in property appraiser's site. Since you won't be able to take advantage of the Homestead exemption, that will always make taxes higher here too. 

You may not have as much luck with buying from investors on a competitive product (duplexes), but if its been sitting awhile or needs a lot of work, negotiate some or all of your closing costs into your offer. Or have the seller pay for points  (not a rate buydown...  2/1 or 3/1) meaning have them pay for your points especially if you plan to hold the house for long term.

Hope this helps.

Best of luck

I have an investor/friend starting to look for rules, regs and general information on starting a sober living house. This is just much purpose-driven as profit. What resources and/or advice do you have, should only be geared toward Florida.

Feel free to reply here or DM me. Thanks in advance.

Thank you @Michael Baum

@Steve Wolfrey. There is a lot to go over here in regard to what your experience is, budget, risk level, how you will use the property and overall expectations. This is a crowed market, so making sure you understand what it takes to be successful is critical.

Happy to discuss this further anytime.

Best of luck!

That makes more sense. Depending on the county, ADU's can take a while with permitting, if allowed at all. Orange county is just coming around to the idea since affordable housing is an issue.

If you need help understanding the neighborhoods or need any other help, feel free to message me.

@Catherine Javier

 I would be willing to have a rental with a pool, but it would be neighborhood and demographic specific. I would want it to be in an A or B+ area and hope to get a higher quality tenant. That doesn't mean accidents won't happen, but it might mitigate some of the risk. You will get more in rent, but justifying the insurance and maintenance costs may not earn you enough for the risk. 

You mentioned renting it by the room and that is where you lose me. Now you have 3 or 4 tenants, all with different ideas of safety and accountability that will have access to the pool and your risk goes way up. 

Hope this helps, good luck!

@Devin Janke you've got some good advice here so far. I've sold dozens in these communities and all of the ones you've mentioned and many more will all have pools automatically...it's a must have. Only a select number of communities have townhomes with pools if you are looking for a starter or are more budget conscious. 

Right now, inventory on these homes are higher than we've seen coming out of the pandemic, so you will have to negotiate power in that respect. All of these are owned by investors, so if they are cash-flowing, they won't give them away. However, life happens and sometimes the motivation is more iminate and you can still find a good property. One of the things to look at is do you want something truly turn key with many future bookings or get a better deal on something that isn't performing for the current owner and add value with theming. This takes cash out of your pocket and days/weeks of the unit not being rented, so the time of year and local connections to contractors will be key. 

Happy to go over the ins and outs of STR near Disney with you and offer some insight.

Best of luck to you!

@Sara Malka Welcome and congrats on getting started. Orlando can be a great place to invest and has a well established community to network with and lean on. Foreign investors make up a large portion of investors in all categories. Lenders and tax advisors will be key to your success to get started and offer you protection.

Best of luck to you!

@Thomas Lin congrats on getting started. Orlando is a great place to invest, we've enjoyed over a decade of appreciation, mostly double digits! So building equity should be easy especially if you get a property that you can add value to. 

As far as neighborhoods, that would be a conversation with you on what risks you want to tolerate. Think school scores, employers, average income, families vs young professionals etc. Most investors want a great deal, but realized most of them are in areas that they won't invest in. 

One idea to consider would be new construction, builders are offering pretty good incentives on quick move in homes. You will have equity built in by price increases that the builder forces, a brand new home with warranty (no cap ex) and be able to justify higher rents due to it being new. You lose the value add aspect, but have far less worries.

Happy to have a call and go over some ideas with you.

Best of luck!