Investor · Longwood, FL · Member since 2014 · 10 posts · 5 votes
11y
Hi Shannon! I would greatly appreciate if you shared the details with me as well since I am also looking for investor friendly agents in the area. Thank you!
Investor · Longwood, FL · Member since 2014 · 10 posts · 5 votes
11y
Hi Shannon! I would greatly appreciate if you shared the details with me as well since I am also looking for investor friendly agents in the area. Thank you!
I am the broker for a local real estate office that focus on investment properties. I have lived in Central Florida my entire life and know the area well. Look forward to connecting with you.
I work primarily with out of state and international investors who focus on buy and hold investment grade properties in Central Florida. We've got roughly 300 units under management throughout Orlando and Tampa.
Full Service Brokerage - property acquisition and renovations, sales, and management.
Rental Property Investor · Orlando, FL · Member since 2014 · 132 posts · 24 votes
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@Laura Richards Altura is good, but most of their properties tend to be in C/D areas. They do have all sorts of properties though and occasionally may have a some in the A/B areas. I am on their mailing list, but have yet to work with them. they do sound very professional and helpful from a couple of conversations I have held with them.
@Jason Duprat you should check out @Erin Legler She is not only a RE agent, but is also an active investor and is active here on BP. She is very helpful and being an investor herself, she will understand numbers that would make sense and may also be a good guide since she views investment deals just like us.
Real Estate Broker · Charlotte, NC · Member since 2014 · 285 posts · 248 votes
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I think it depends on the investment. Our Firm has the vacation rental market on lock down near Disney World. You can find us Carlosandteam.com or google "vacation real estate near Disney" and you should see us at the top. When it comes to short term rental investment, be sure to consider us.
I just purchased a vacation rental near Orlando, in Kissimmee, Fl. The transaction was difficult, (due to the seller and his agent's lack of responsiveness), but my Realtor was excellent throughout the whole process. There were a couple times when I got so frustrated, I felt like walking on the deal. But thankfully my agent talked me "off the ledge" and we closed on the home last month.
I highly recommend this Realtor and his team.
Anyway, if PM me if you'd like his contact information.
Investor · Saint Paul, MN · Member since 2012 · 128 posts · 56 votes
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@Jeff Morse I'd be interested in hearing about your experience. I've been looking at Kissimmee area VRs, specifically two neighborhoods. The market is like the Twin Cities used to be, before prices came back up, and you can find good deals in nice neighborhoods with some patience.
@Jason Duprat what are you looking for? I have several names, but it depends on the type of investment you seek.
Investor · Andover, MA · Member since 2015 · 269 posts · 67 votes
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Great discussion folks...
@Levi
@Levi Bennett I would love to hear your experiences since all I heard lately is that numbers don't add up any longer for vacation rentals in Kissimmee.
@Jeff Morse can you please share more details about your frustrations? Plans for the property?
@Jason Duprat interested on the same things as you sir!
My frustrations were with regards to getting enough detailed information for the $15k worth of bookings that were already in place at closing. The seller was not as organized as he should have been and the selling agent didn't want to work very hard to get me the information I needed. In addition to that, it was like pulling teeth to get Flipkey to change the account from the seller to my new PM company. We were eventually successful, however it took 18 days for us to get Flipkey to agree to get the seller's approval to transfer the funds.
So I lost a lot of hair last month as we worked through what seemed to be one roadblock after another. Things had been getting better, but just this last week, we had two more challenges come up.
Turns out, even though Flipkey had approval to transfer the funds at closing, per their policy, they still sit on the booking funds until 24 hours after the guest arrives. Once they confirm the guest has arrived, the funds are released. Unfortunately, for my bookings, the funds were released into the seller's account, not my PM's account. This was pretty nerve racking, because now the seller had over $2000 of my money in his account, and since he lives in the UK, I wasn't sure how this was going to turn out. My PM company repeatedly reached out to Flipkey, but was getting nowhere. Fortunately, after nearly a week, the seller was able to successfully transfer the funds into my bank account. Whew! Dodged a bullet!
Now for today's saga! I just found out that the guest info I received at closing for the 1/19 - 1/28 booking was incorrect. The name, phone number and email address I was giving were wrong. I'll spare you the details, but the bottom-line is, the guest wasn't able to check-in and ended up cancelling his reservation through Flipkey, resulting in nearly $1400 of lost revenue. Woohoo! Good times!!!
Before you ask, I've been corresponding with the seller on various things, and he's been very helpful, so I know this was an innocent mistake. Plus all of the other information he's given me has been correct.
I know I'm typing fast and not giving a whole lot of details. But the bottom-line is, there are a LOT of details with regards to vacation rentals, and I'm learning a TON!
I'll end this on a positive note. Even though we've only owned the home for 6 weeks, we've already secured 7 bookings. Things are moving right along, but man, what a ride it's been!
Real Estate Broker · Orlando, FL · Member since 2014 · 153 posts · 73 votes
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@Jason Duprat I work for Altura Investment Realty and we specialize in buy and hold investment properties. @Sam Alpha is somewhat correct as we did used to sell heavily in the Pine Hills area back in 2011-2013 when the hedge funds all came to Orlando as that area gave the best returns then. We now have moved to higher A/B areas like Longwood, Winter Park, Conway, Downtown Orlando and are now breaking into the short term rental area by Disney. I'd be happy to help you set up your portfolio here in Orlando.
Rental Property Investor · Orlando, FL · Member since 2014 · 132 posts · 24 votes
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@Jeff Morse despite all the mishaps, CONGRATS on getting your investment closed and taking in those bookings.
Take note that the Disney area has a lot of vacation rentals and so the competition can be tough at times. I would suggest getting on the "snow birds" forum and offering your rental at a more "favorable" price during the low season (which coincides with the high season for the snow birds). The Disney area isn't really the most favorable location for them, but at an attractive price, it could be a win-win.
Also take note of management companies. Some are good and some can play a few games. I know that occasionally, if you allow a management company to take a bigger cut of the management fees, or give them multiple properties to manage, your properties tend to have a "lower" vacancy rate.
In @Levi Bennett you have a good source to get some more info.