Hola BiggerPockets community!
I'm Jose from San Juan Puerto Rico. Graduated BA in Business Administration a few years ago. Currently self employed as a whosesaler thru ebay. Trying to be less involve in my mini business so i can find a 9-5 job for a few years.
Crazy since I've been in BP world since 2015 but this is my first post.
Been reading a lot this past years and getting better prepared for my next step. Planning on buying my first investment in Jan 2021. (Can buy one like today but Jan 2021 is my comfort zone)
From my experience, market here is easy and hard at the same time. Dont have Real Estate License and havent bought anything but with time reading i feel confident in the san juan market. I look at homes thru the local sites and bike exercise to see the neighborhood daily. Seen hundreds of homes sold and a lot still in the market. Might got to a point that it gets addicting lol.
The good things:
-With patience you can really hit a cash cow.
-Plenty of houses for sale and plenty abandoned that with a big research you might find the owner.
-Low interest, FHA, Conventional etc is all the same as US states
-With Cash offer you can buy literally anything. No one here is really attached to his property.
Things to be careful:
-Research Flood Zones. House can be perfect but you start asking neighbors and the drain or sewer gets flooded when storms or hurricanes.
-Roof, Electricity, cement leak (not sure if its called like that in english lol) is super high. Labor costs is really high. Need to educate yourself on basic remodel to cut labor costs.
-Careful with areas with lots of multifamily homes. Competition will lower your rent.
-Not properly priced will make your door Vacant. PR Vacancy might be the highest in US
-Unsertity. 70B in debt. What happens if were Statehood/Colony or Republic. Pensions Cut etc
-Realtors can be a pain and snitch............ (Let me be clear, Not all of them). Had a huge potential abandoned home with a insane lot that can be easily coverted in 8 apartment in the B+ heart of San Juan. Made my moves and found the owner. Since i was new, i went to a realtor to educate and in the process he offered it to a giant local investor for cheeeaaapp. That one really hit me hard but you have to move on.
Might have said a ton of bad things that might scare an outsider but believe me, the local investor love PR and will never leave unless is a for a high paying job. And even with a high paying job in the states, they never sells its investments.
All that said, I'm looking for RE investors in Puerto Rico, share knowledge, maybe partner up with a contractor to lower costs.
Mainly looking in specific zones in the heart of San Juan. (Single, Duplex, Triplex or Quad)
I'm really good at finding homes. Test me. Lets talk.
Good Day
-Jose
