All Forum Posts by: Mariel DeVito

Hi there! What would you like to know? I'm a local investor as well as a licensed realtor.

Paul - feel free to reach out to me directly.  I'm an investor as well as a licensed real estate agent in the area.  I am always on the look out for what's in the market and will try to see if I can help you find you future home.

I'm an investor/realtor in the area, with three rentals in the area.  I hate to sound cliche but what is your investment goal in getting a place in Jacksonville?  Understandably, you can still find property under $200k BUT the quality of renters that you will get wont be the same caliber of renters that the average investor looks for (ideal credit score, 3x income, etc.).  At that price point, you are potentially looking at tenants who are looking for landlords who accept section 8 or may have 2 of 3 requirements that you are looking for. 

Congrats on your first one.  Being local to the area, it is hard to find available and 'cost efficient' GC.  The market is still hot and they are in demand.  My husband and I have managed our own fix/rehab and have typically held.  Feel free to send me a pm to talk more about what companies you are looking for to help with your project.

Hi Pedro - I used to live in Ventura and now live in Saint Augustine (city next to Jacksonville).  Since moving here I found the wonderful world of investing and most recently, have become a licensed RE agent. I started with a PM to do my investments initially but decided to do my own management.  I would love to be considered as your future PM if you're still looking.

@Kim Meredith Hampton thanks for the reply.  I filed the first week of February.  I'm surprised that it takes that long as I looked at past evictions on this individual and our court system provided a writ of possession within a week or two of filing the complaint.  None have needed a hearing.  Note that the tenant disclosed that they did have an eviction.  They did not tell me that they had multiple ones and they have also lied on my application, among other issues that I have with them.

Hi everyone! Does anyone have any experience with the court system in St. Johns County?  I've thought that Florida was a pro-landlord state but I'm having some rather questionable experience with an eviction I'm dealing with.  Tenants have been asked to vacate my rental  two weeks ago and they are trying to pull the court's heartstrings over why they need to stay until the end of the lease which is at the end of this month. The court admin schedules a "final eviction hearing" the day after the lease ends.  Is this normal?

No. Utilities should be tenant responsibility.

I don't know if the word "accidentally" is appropriate but we bought our first one - a condo - as a plan for our future retirement home three years ago.  It was located in our city's downtown area where would like to live in someday.  Of course, this was when the market rates dropped and opened up opportunities for others.  It's been about three years now - my portfolio has grown from that one condo to about 6 houses and 1 condo.  Note: we sold the condo and upgraded to a house instead.

Hi everyone - I have read it somewhere but do not remember.  Is it legal to come up with a list of tenants who current landlords need to watch out for?  I have a tenant who I am in the process of evicting now who has slipped through the cracks repeatedly.  There's admittedly some fault at my end in that I had relied too much on personal references and online background checks and never went to court records to view an applicant's file.  In addition to receiving complaints from the neighbors, I found out that the tenant lied on their application and used a personal friend to stand in as their last landlord.  Court records show that I am now going to be her fifth eviction and though I'm only asking to get my property back, the ones she left she is brought back to court for damages.  She uses people's weaknesses by saying that she is a single mother of two, with one having special needs.  She does not say that she is only keeping the children for the child support and has neglected care for both children.  She also does not tell you that the said special needs child is very destructive and has, on record, tried to start a fire at my rental property.  I know everyone needs a place to live but every landlord needs to be aware of what they are taking on.  I had a child with special needs and was a single mom at the time.  I can relate but I cannot relate at how deceitful she has been in the past years.