All Forum Posts by: Shawn McCormick

@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!

@Damian Thorne, plenty of info right here on BP. But advice will be from many points of view and experience. 

@TylerGibson hosts a local meet up group (actually meeting this morning) I'm happy to help out too, I've walked dozens of other BP members thru the process from an agent perspective. I have lenders, insurance, property manager, host and other local contacts all here to help too. 

Best of luck!

Colleen Pacheco with Secured insurance. Her and her family have been writing for investors specifically for decades. They have ability to insure old roof, aluminum wiring, FP panels, vacant, rehab projects etc. She is awesome.

@Michael Furey Congrats on taking the steps. Not sure where you are living currently, but I've helped dozens of investors purchase for STR near Disney and walked thru the entire process. I have lenders and property managers that are willing to advise and/or be apart of your journey too to make it seemless as possible.

Happy to have a call anytime!

Best of luck!

@Jack Sullivan you've got spot on advice here already and would add that if you don't know Orlando from a price point, neighborhood, appreciation, or demographics point of view..start with those points. Duplexes (decent ones, where you'll want to live, do you have kids or wife/girlfriend/partner that you need to consider location?) have become expensive and will eat into your pro forma if you don't do some homework. 

Househacking and BRRR are becoming far more mainstream than just a few years ago so deals are competitive and harder to find. Right now, there are 29 duplexes on the market within 30 miles of downtown. Only 5 are under $300k and high is $1.5MM. There are many hurdles to find one that is in good enough condition to qualify for financing and also has an empty unit for you to live in too.

Best of luck!

If your local REIA is part of the National, you get Home Depot rebates when you spend $2,000+/year. But that really only works if you are rehabbing properties regularly. Lowes has good perks ($20 delivery fee for anything, veterans discounts etc)

Check out the Points Guy website, they review and recommend what is right based on your usage and desired rewards and the risks (points expiring, blackouts etc). You can sign up for alerts and travel perks too. 

@Michael Furey. For most STR, location is one of the biggest drivers to your property being successful. Typically in Orlando, the closer to Disney the better.

For condos, you will have dozens of communities to choose from, some with condos, towns and single family do well..think Windsor Hills. Others will be all condos. For condos, you are not usually going after families since they are smaller, not themed out like a SFR and are price point driven. If you look at single family, they will have a private pool, a converted garage (game room) and themed out bedrooms to attract people wanting to keep the kids entertained and wanting more of an experience. You also have to consider the community itself, most are geared toward families and have game rooms, lazy rivers, restaurants etc right on site. Some people want to come here to relax and want to limit the noise and distractions of all the kids, so a higher end community (like Reunion) would be a better fit and get a higher nightly rate.

One thing to consider with condos is that it can be race to the bottom, once a few nervous owners start lowering rates to get higher occupancy, more and more do it to fill up their calendar, so you end up with $100 night. If condos are what you are looking at due to price point, that should be a big consideration. 

There is more to it than just those couple of points, but hope this helps answer your questions so far. 

Best of luck to you. 

@Wagner Dias

Our market is ideal for STR, but easy to get caught up with all the information floating out there with trying to sell you on the idea, rather than help you choose the right size and type of home in the right community.

Solara is just one of about a dozen communities that I would recommend that are all in the same proximity to Disney, have newer homes and great amenities for the guests. Happy to have a call and see what you are looking to get in returns, how you will use it and your budget and timeline. 

Feel free to reach out anytime, Best of luck to you.

 @Khurram Humayun, you are correct, the point of doing BRRR is the the first R to add value to the property and force appreciation..and that takes care of your appraisal issue too.

 Cash flow is just one portion of the equation, don't get focused just on that. Real estate will always appreciate over time, so that is 'almost' a given. Cash flow is obtained via buying correctly and in the right area for your criteria. You can cash flow in the worst part of town or in a penthouse if you buy right.

As far as finding off market properties, what is your strategy? Are you aligned with wholesalers or do it yourself? Do you know the pitfalls and what to look for in a wholesale deal, do you have the cash to take one down? If you find an off market property, you still need cash or financing either from the seller or traditional. Clermont is not a strong market for finding deals..on or off market. The area as a whole is too 'new' and doesn't have a lot of distressed properties. 

Hope this helps.