All Forum Posts by: Marissa Miles

Tampa and the surrounding areas can be a little tricky. It's pretty common to see extremely nice homes right next door to not-so-nice homes. Like Kristina said, you definitely want to be mindful of the neighbors houses and not just the one you're looking at. I'd also recommend having someone (or yourself) drive around the neighborhood during the day, and at night, just to get a feel for it. I think over time more of the small homes in south tampa will give way to much nicer homes, so it really depends on how long you plan to hold. School zones are also super important in South Tampa.

I've seen some crazy good returns in the Brandon/Valrico area over the past year, and I still feel it's undervalued; especially with more jobs becoming remote. The hour drive in rush hour isn't a problem when you work from home! Further south into Riverview and Apollo Beach areas have some very nice neighborhoods as well. 

As far as places to avoid, I would stay away from Seminole Heights and Belmont Heights. Palm River-Clair Mel and Progress Village don't have much going on housing wise, but aren't the nicest areas. There's a lot of industrial and warehouse zoning around there, so the property values don't seem to be doing as well. I'd also be careful in the areas in and around Ybor. There's some potential in that area, but it's risky. 

I would love to connect and talk about some of the areas you're interested in! The Tampa Bay area can be a little strange to get the pulse of, since we literally have old small homes in the same neighborhoods as McMansion style homes. You're definitely going to want some boots on the ground who are familiar with the area. It's beautiful here and I count myself lucky to have lived here my whole life! :)

Hey everyone! My name is Marissa and I just joined on with Keller Williams. I’m focusing on property management and investor buyers/sellers. Keller Williams has provided a wonderful support team, procedures, and helpful tools like Appfolio to get started. I know property managers tend to get a bad rep, and I want to make sure I don't fall into that group. 

So I would love to know:

• Have you worked with Keller Williams property managers before? If so, how was your experience?
• If you've worked with other property mangers, what did you like/dislike about working with them? 
• Any tips you have for me getting started!
  

Thanks everyone! If you invest in the Tampa area, or plan to invest here, I'd love to connect and chat real estate!

@Jana Christo - Thank you so much for the reply 💕

I am currently looking at some of the areas about 30-60 minutes out from Tampa with solid highway access into the city. I've mostly been looking at single family homes, but townhomes/condos with reasonable HOA fees are a possibility as well. I haven't seen much information about investing in condos/townhomes out there though, and I'm kind of curious why.

I like the lower maintenance aspect of a condo and although I can task a tenant with things like pool and lawn care, I don’t really trust the tenant to do it. Having roof and exterior taken care of are also a plus side to me.

I know some condos/townhomes HOAs can be restrictive on tenants or renting. And there are a few more hoops to jump through on renovations. But I think it could be a solid place to start out with investing.

If you have any advice on condo/townhome investing I would greatly appreciate it. :)

@Tyler Lucas

Florida native here! We have four seasons! Summer, tourist, love bug, and mosquito hahaha

@Patricia Steiner - Thanks for the advice. Like I said I’m not sure of her experience, which is why I’d like to talk to her about it. Worst case scenario, I’m just talking houses with my neighbor and I move on to someone else.

@Patricia Steiner Thank you! I reached out to the realtor that we worked with to buy our current home. She was great but I’m not sure how well versed she is in investments. She is conveniently my neighbor now, so I’m going to try to get her to come over for a glass of wine and some chit chat hahaha :)

Hey everyone! 

I'm just starting out in the Tampa Bay area. I have some funds, but I'm obviously nervous about the prospect of my first deal. I figured I would drop a message in here for either a little motivation, or to meet some people who may be interested in a JV with me, or maybe someone who just wants to help me learn out of the goodness of their heart. LOL

I'm pretty tech savvy, so I can help with just about anything online. I also consider myself pretty solid at customer service and talking to people, so maybe I can help you out there as well. I have lived in the Tampa Bay area all my life and most of my family lives in Pinellas. I've recently moved out to Valrico, but I'm always driving all over the area, so location isn't a big deal to me. 

So if you could use some help, or maybe just want to get rid of a headache property that needs a little more hands on/local work, let's chat and see if we can work something out! :)

If anyone has any tips on things I could offer to help with, or just wants to connect, I would love to hear from you as well. I'm eager to get some hands on experience. There's only so much I can learn from books!

@Charles Carillo - I would love to check out your meetup! I'll shoot you a DM as soon as I figure out how to do that haha

@Edgar Rodriguez - Yeah I'm always hesitant to make any major move without educating myself. My hope is by making some industry friends I'll be able to prevent myself from over-educating and not taking action. Hahaha

I'm a very analytical person, so I love digging into data and numbers on things. I'm reading the Rehab Estimates book from BP right now and looking in to some case studies so I can see how the real numbers shake out. 

@Dan Maciejewski - Thank you! Haha it seems almost everyone I meet in the area is originally from out of state! I tried moving away to Maryland for a couple years and I just couldn't stay away! It's such a beautiful area to live. Besides, I missed all the sun.