All Forum Posts by: Shawn McCormick

@Matt Caviness Welcome!

I am available immediately to speak with you on this. I live near the best resorts and have sold dozens of STR near Disney. I would be happy to walk you thru the do's and don'ts, the must-haves and the stay-away-from scenarios.

Feel free to reach out and I can get you the information to help you make an informed decision., I am also a featured agent here on BP.

@Shayla Corley

Welcome and congrats on getting started. One of the best places IMO is joining the local chapter of the National REIA (CFRI, Central Florida Realty Investors), one of the biggest ones in the country and covers six counties. membership is dirt cheap for what you get..over 20 meetings per month, no pressure selling, awesome, local investors always willing to share and be honest with you. There are some paid classes you can attend, but the free meetings are fantastic.

There is a meeting in Clermont tomorrow and the second Tuesday of each month is the General meeting near downtown Orlando. I can get a guest pass for your first meeting if you like.

Best of luck to you!

You're welcome. The county meetups I was talking about are with CFRI (the local REIA) they cover six counties in Central Florida and have a meeting in each monthly. They also have many focus group meeting for landlords, flippers, taxes, and several others, but you have to be a member to attend those. check out CFRI dot.net for the calendar.

@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!